Which feature uses what
- Transcribing the meeting
- Your Mac, always
- The first note, with On this Mac
- Apple Intelligence on your Mac
- The first note, with Neither
- Local highlights, no AI
- Improve or rewrite a note
- Your provider, with your key
- Ask, and playbooks you apply
- Your provider, with your key
KeptNote has no AI service of its own. It never sends your audio anywhere. Text goes to a provider only for the features marked with your provider above, and only if you added a key.
How notes are written
Open Settings and choose the Writing tab. Under Note writing, the row Notes are written has three choices.
- On this Mac. Apple Intelligence writes the note, and nothing leaves your Mac. It needs macOS 26 or later with Apple Intelligence. When your Mac cannot do it, the line under the choice says Requires Apple Intelligence on macOS 26 or later. When it can, it says Available. No key needed.
- With my own API key. Models from the provider you pick enhance your notes, using your key. KeptNote still keeps a local note. In the first start, this choice is called With my own AI key. It is the same choice.
- Neither. Notes are local highlights from the transcript, with no writing step.
On Macs that can run Apple Intelligence, On this Mac is the starting choice.
Ask is different. It does not follow this choice. It needs only a saved key for the provider you picked. You can use On this Mac for notes and still ask questions with a key.
Add your key
On the Writing tab, choose With my own API key.
Choose a Provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Google or Custom endpoint.
Get a key from that company. Open your account on their website and make an API key. KeptNote cannot do this for you.
Paste it into Paste your key and press Save key.
Press Test next to Connection. KeptNote sends one tiny request and shows The key works with and a model name. If it fails, you see Could not reach the provider and the provider’s message.
Saving a key does not check it. Only Test does. To remove a key, press Remove.
KeptNote keeps your key in the macOS Keychain, one for each provider, on this Mac only. It never writes the key to a file or a log, and error messages hide it.
Your provider bills your account. Each run costs tokens. For some Anthropic and OpenAI models, the Improve menu shows an estimate before you run.
A custom endpoint
If your provider is not in the list, or you run a model on your own machine, choose Custom endpoint. Open Advanced at the bottom of the tab. Under Provider details, fill in Model and Endpoint. The endpoint must start with https. A local server may use http on localhost. KeptNote sends requests to the address you give, followed by /v1/chat/completions. Anthropic keys that belong to a Console workspace also need a Workspace ID there.
Which model answers
For a note you improve yourself, for Ask, and for Test, KeptNote uses Auto. That is the strongest model your provider offers for your key. You can pick another model in the menu at the top of a note. KeptNote then remembers it for that provider, and Ask uses it too. The Ask bar has its own model menu, with Auto, Standard Models, Thinking Models and AI settings….
The notes that KeptNote writes by itself after a meeting use a mid-size model, to keep the cost down, unless you picked a model. Advanced has a Models row with a Refresh button. KeptNote refreshes the list by itself about once a day.
Automatic improving
Enhance automatically decides when KeptNote uses your key without a click: Never (I will tap Enhance), Only calendar meetings or Every meeting. When you save your first key, KeptNote sets it to Every meeting and tells you. See Improve a note.
Your profile
On the Profile tab, About you holds Your name, Job title, Company and About your company. All are optional. KeptNote uses them as background when it writes a note on your Mac, and when you improve a note or ask a question. In those cases your provider receives them. KeptNote cuts the company description at 1,000 characters.
Use your own AI app
At the bottom of the Writing tab, Use your own AI app lets you connect Claude Desktop or Claude Code to your meetings.
- Claude Desktop: press Connect. KeptNote adds its own entry to Claude’s settings file and makes a backup first. Then restart Claude. Press Disconnect to undo it.
- Claude Code: press Copy command and paste it in a terminal.
KeptNote sends nothing on its own. Claude reads a meeting only when you ask it about that meeting, and your Claude account’s terms then apply.