Notes Search
Your notes, searched by meaning.
Apple Notes and any folder of Markdown — an Obsidian vault, a pile of Bear exports — indexed by the same local model that reads your files, and ranked alongside them in the same results.
Notes are where the answer usually is
The half-remembered thing is rarely in a document. It is in a note: the address someone gave you on the phone, the three bullet points from a call, the thought you typed on your phone at a station. Notes apps search by keyword, which means you have to remember a word you actually wrote — and in a note, written fast, you very often did not.
Dhito indexes notes the way it indexes everything else: by meaning. A note about "the plumber's quote" comes back for "how much to fix the boiler" even though it says neither "how much" nor "boiler". The embedding model is the same one that reads your PDFs, so a query runs across notes and files in one pass.
And because notes are ranked by that same model rather than pinned to the top, they sit in with your documents instead of pushing them out. The 🗒️ Notes pill narrows the results to notes alone when that is what you want.
Two sources, two very different permission stories
Notes folders — an Obsidian vault, a folder of Bear exports, or any directory of Markdown files. These are ordinary folders, so this route needs no extra permission at all: it is the same access Dhito already has to the folders you pointed it at. Obsidian vaults on your Mac are found and added automatically, and one you remove stays removed.
Apple Notes — read from the Notes database on this Mac. macOS only allows that with Full Disk Access, which it asks for when you tick the box. That permission is what macOS requires to read the database file; Dhito uses it to read your notes and index them locally, and nothing else. If macOS says access is blocked, Open System Settings switches Dhito on in that list — then quit and reopen Dhito, because macOS only re-reads the permission at launch.
Both sources are off until you turn them on, in Settings → Personal data, or by clicking the greyed 🗒️ Notes pill, which offers to set one up. Turning a source off does not just hide it: those notes are deleted from the index.
What indexing notes actually does
Note text is read on your Mac and indexed on your Mac, exactly like everything else Dhito touches. No note is uploaded, no note is sent to a model in a data centre, and note search works with the network off. Settings shows how many notes are indexed and offers a Sync now button; otherwise Dhito picks up changes on its own as you write.
One honest limit. Chat, smart rename and the file tools do not apply to an Apple note — it lives in a database, not as a file on disk. A Markdown note in a folder is an ordinary file, so everything works on it: chat with it, rename it, convert it to a PDF.
Apple Notes, by meaning
Read from the Notes database on your Mac, behind the Full Disk Access macOS demands for it, and indexed locally. A note about the plumber's quote comes back for "how much to fix the boiler" — no keyword match required.
Obsidian and any Markdown folder
Vaults on your Mac are found and added automatically; any other notes folder can be added by hand. These are ordinary folders, so this route asks for no extra permission at all — and a Markdown note is an ordinary file, so chat, rename and the file tools all work on it.
Off until you say so, and reversible
Both sources are off by default, switched on in Settings → Personal data. Note text never leaves your Mac, and unticking a source deletes those notes from the index rather than hiding them.
Common questions
Can Dhito search Apple Notes?
Yes, since 0.4.30. Tick Apple Notes in Settings → Personal data and Dhito reads the Notes database on your Mac and indexes it locally, so your notes come back in ordinary search results by meaning rather than by keyword. macOS requires Full Disk Access to read that database, and it will ask for it when you tick the box.
Does it work with Obsidian?
Yes, and without any special permission. An Obsidian vault is a folder of Markdown files, so Dhito indexes it as a notes folder. Vaults on your Mac are found and added automatically, and you can add any other notes folder — Bear exports, a plain directory of .md files — by hand.
Are my notes uploaded anywhere?
No. Note text is read and indexed on your Mac by the same local embedding model that handles your files. Nothing is sent anywhere, and notes search works offline.
Why does Apple Notes need Full Disk Access?
Because that is the only way macOS allows any app to read the Notes database. It is a macOS requirement, not a Dhito design choice — which is also why the Markdown route exists and needs no permission at all. If you would rather not grant it, point Dhito at a notes folder instead.
How do notes rank against my files?
By the same model, so they interleave with documents rather than being pinned above them. If you want notes only, the 🗒️ Notes filter pill narrows the results to them.
What happens if I turn a notes source off?
Those notes are removed from the index, not merely hidden from the results. Turning the source back on re-indexes them.
Can I chat with a note or run a tool on it?
With a Markdown note, yes — it is an ordinary file, so chat, smart rename and every file tool work on it. With an Apple note, no: it lives inside the Notes database rather than as a file on disk, so it can be searched but not acted on.