Trunkbase hosts a local MCP server that lets AI clients read your vault — grounded in your own documents, entirely on your machine. Turning it on takes about a minute.
Turn it on
- Find the chip. The status bar carries an MCP chip: gray means off, cyan means on with nothing connected, green means a client is talking to it. Click it to open the popover.b
- Flip the master toggle. The listener comes up — but nothing is exposed yet.
- Expose a vault. In the Vaults section, toggle on the vault(s) you want the AI to see. This is the switch that actually shares anything, and it's off until you flip it.
- Connect a client. Pick a client row and click Connect. A short wizard confirms consent, gives you the connection details, then waits for the client's first call and flips green when it lands.
Connect Claude Desktop
Claude Desktop connects through a connector bundle. Click Connect on its row, save the .mcpb file it generates, and open it — Claude's own install dialog handles the rest. No JSON to hand-edit.
Connect Claude Code
Claude Code connects with a single command. The Connect card generates it for you — copy and run it in your terminal:
claude mcp add --transport http trunkbase http://127.0.0.1:<port>/mcpThen confirm the connection:
claude mcp listYou want to see trunkbase listed as ✔ Connected.
Test it
Ask your AI something only your documents would know — "According to my notes, what did we decide about the Q3 budget?" The client calls search_vault behind the scenes, the chip goes green, and you get an answer grounded in your vault and cited back to the note it came from.
Nothing exposed, nothing shared. If the answer isn't grounded, check the popover: the master toggle must be on and the specific vault must be exposed. Exposure is per vault, and always off until you say otherwise.
Next: Supported Platforms covers which clients work and exactly what each can and can't do.