Introducing DEVONthink's MCP Server

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a mechanism that allows AI assistants to communicate with apps to accomplish tasks for you. On macOS Sequoia and later, DEVONthink now has its own MCP server built-in, presenting new opportunities to access and work with your databases from outside the application.

First, set up DEVONthink’s MCP server in Settings > AI > MCP by enabling the server for one of the built-in providers: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI Codex, or the Hermes Agent. Then switch to that application and try describing what you want, e.g., Find all my notes about project X or Create a summary document in my Research database's inbox. The AI checks the available commands and carries out the task, including: reading and summarizing records, creating and updating documents, moving items between groups, and adding tags or annotations, etc. The more specific and thorough the prompt, the better the result.

Information provided via MCP responses, like the content of invoices you’ve requested to be examined and graphed, is sent to the AI provider’s servers online. But DEVONthink reinforces data privacy by redacting or obscuring personal information like credit card numbers, email addresses, etc. if you’ve enabled Redact sensitive content in the MCP settings.

Also, the AI acts on whichever databases are open at the time. If you don’t want the external AI to “see” an item, enable Exclude from Chat & MCP in the Generic Info inspector. For databases, enable the same option in the File > Database Properties or merely close that particular database.

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