# Add x-callback-url support for \*reading\* a note's contents

**URL:** <https://community.bear.app/t/add-x-callback-url-support-for-reading-a-notes-contents/18363>\
**Category:** Feature Request\
**Tags:** workflow, x-callback-url, features\
**Created:** [October 20, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/add-x-callback-url-support-for-reading-a-notes-contents/18363 "2025-10-20T17:13:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mrwaturi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@mrwaturi](https://community.bear.app/u/mrwaturi)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/add-x-callback-url-support-for-reading-a-notes-contents/18363/1 "2025-10-20T17:13:50Z")

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**Request:**  
Please add an x-callback-url endpoint that returns the _content_ of a note, given a title or ID.

**Why it matters:**  
Bear already has excellent x-callback support for **creating** and **opening** notes, but there’s currently no way to **read** an existing note’s text via automation. This limits what users can build with Bear’s otherwise fantastic integration system.

Many workflows – including mine – depend on reading a template note, processing it, and creating a new note based on that template. Without read access, our options are:

- Accessing Bear’s SQLite database directly on macOS (works, but not portable to iOS)
- Storing templates outside Bear (which breaks Bear’s role as the single source of truth)
- Initiating automation from Bear’s _Share_ sheet (possible but clunky and not fully automatable)

**Proposed behavior:**  
Add a URL action such as:

```auto
bear://x-callback-url/read-note?id=<note_id>

```

or

```auto
bear://x-callback-url/read-note?title=<encoded_title>

```

that returns the note’s text to the calling app (e.g., Shortcuts, Scriptable, or a custom app) via `x-success`.

**Benefits:**

- Enables full round-trip automations (read → process → write) on both macOS and iOS.
- Keeps user data local and private – no need for external APIs.
- Fits naturally with Bear’s existing x-callback model.
- Unlocks advanced workflows for templates, journaling, spaced repetition, and note-generation.

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**Author:** ![trix180](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.bear.app/trix180/32/588_2.png) [@trix180](https://community.bear.app/u/trix180)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 7:59am UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/add-x-callback-url-support-for-reading-a-notes-contents/18363/2 "2025-10-24T07:59:41Z")

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Hello,

The [/open-note](https://bear.app/faq/x-callback-url-scheme-documentation/#open-note) x-callback-url provides a way to read note content via the x-success parameter and using the in-app token. The problem with xcallbacks is x-success has to be a registered app protocol to work, and this might be a huge limitation for the average script. Unfortunately, the x-callbacks do not contemplate other ways to return information.

Regarding Shortcuts, Bear’s `get note` action returns a note object containing the note text.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mrwaturi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@mrwaturi](https://community.bear.app/u/mrwaturi)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/add-x-callback-url-support-for-reading-a-notes-contents/18363/3 "2025-10-24T12:48:14Z")

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I am embarrassed that I missed that in the x-callback-url documentation. It’s a challenge for a simple script, but this is totally workable. Thank you!