What Flow Notes does
Three things happen around every meeting you record — and after you press Stop, all three are automatic.
Botless recording
Audio is captured on your own device. Nothing joins the call, so guests never see a recorder bot. Works with Zoom, Teams, Meet, and in‑person meetings.
Cloud transcription
When a recording ends it's transcribed in Applab's cloud, with per‑line timestamps and strong Arabic + English support.
AI meeting notes
A summary, topics, decisions, key points, and assignable action items — written on your device by Claude after each meeting.
You press record and get back to the conversation. Flow Notes handles the transcript and the write‑up — you just review and share.
The business value
Meetings are where decisions and commitments are made — and where they quietly get lost. Flow Notes closes that gap: capture any conversation, internal or external, and turn it into shared, accountable action that anyone can pick up and drive forward with AI.
Capture any discussion
Internal team syncs or external client & stakeholder calls — botless, on any platform or in person. Nothing important goes unrecorded.
Turn talk into tasks
Every decision and commitment becomes a clear, structured action item the whole team can see — no more “who owns this?”
One source everyone trusts
Notes and tasks live in one place people can search and inquire about — instead of scattered memories, chats, and inboxes.
Ask & act with Claude
Through the MCP connection, anyone can ask Claude about their tasks in plain language — and start addressing them with AI.
- Nothing falls through the cracks. A commitment made to a client, or across teams, is captured the moment it's spoken — not left to whoever remembers to write it down.
- Shared accountability. Action items are explicit and owned, so every stakeholder knows exactly what they're responsible for.
- Answers on demand. “What did we promise the client last week?” or “What are my open tasks?” — Claude answers from the actual meetings through MCP, not guesswork.
- From insight to action. Because Claude can read the notes and tasks, it doesn't just recall them — it helps draft the follow‑up email, the status update, the next step.
Every stakeholder conversation becomes durable, searchable, accountable work — and the leap from “we discussed it” to “it's being handled” happens in Claude, not in someone's memory.
First-time setup
The very first launch asks you to sign in and walks you through a short setup. It takes about a minute.
Download Flow Notes for macOS or Windows at flownotes.applab.qa/download — always the latest version. You only need that page for a first install or a new machine; after that the app keeps itself up to date.
- Sign in with Applab. Flow Notes uses your Applab work account — a browser window opens for sign‑in and no password is ever stored in the app.
- Read the welcome. A quick tour of the three things above. Select Get set up to continue.
- Grant recording permissions. Give Flow Notes access to your Microphone (your voice) and System audio (everyone else on the call). You only do this once.
- Connect your calendar (optional) so meetings link to the right event automatically, and set up your notes engine — Flow Notes writes notes on‑device with Claude (see section 09).
- You're all set — start your first recording or head to your library.
On a Mac, macOS itself will pop up to confirm Microphone and Screen Recording / System Audio access. If you skip them here you can grant them later from Settings ▸ General ▸ Privacy — but recording stays silent until you do.
Want to run through setup again later? Open Settings ▸ General ▸ Setup and choose Run again.
Recording a meeting
Start a recording the moment a conversation begins — capture starts instantly, so you never miss the first minute.
- Press New Recording at the top of the sidebar (or ⌘+R / Ctrl+R). Recording begins right away.
- Rename the meeting inline any time — just click the title.
- Use Mute, Pause, and Stop as needed. Watch the live level meters for you and for participants to confirm both sides are captured.
- Press Stop when you're done and confirm. Very short, silent recordings are discarded automatically.
Interviewing someone? Turn on Copilot
Flip the “This is an interview” toggle during a recording to reveal live suggested questions and under‑covered competencies — mark each one asked or dismiss it as you go.
Navigate away and the recording keeps going in the background. A red pill (with the elapsed time and a Return button) brings you straight back to the live session.
Never miss a call
Flow Notes watches for meetings so you don't have to remember to hit record. Two small helpers make that effortless.
Prefer it hands‑off? In Settings ▸ General ▸ Meeting Detection you can have Flow Notes prompt you when a call starts, or start recording automatically.
Need a different choice for a single meeting? Open a Teams meeting in your calendar and set its Auto-record control to Always or Never (or Use default) to override the global setting for just that event or series. A small red dot on the event marks a meeting that will record; a muted dot marks one that will be skipped.
Notes & transcript
Open any meeting from your Library. Once processing finishes (you'll see it move from Processing to Ready), you get two tabs: Notes and Transcript.
The Notes tab
A structured recap — Summary, Topics, Key Points, Decisions, and Action Items. Topics and points are timestamped, so a click jumps the audio to that moment.
The Transcript tab
The full, timestamped transcript with speakers separated out. Turn on Auto‑scroll to follow along as the audio plays, or click any line to jump there.
Re‑transcribed or edited a recording? Use the meeting's Actions (…) menu to Regenerate Notes or Re‑transcribe. A prompt also appears automatically when the transcript changes.
Action items & sharing
Turn a recap into follow‑through. Action items can be assigned to attendees, and the whole note can be sent or exported in a couple of clicks.
- Assign action items to invitees from the linked calendar event, or type any name.
- Share Notes… — pick recipients, choose what to include (Notes, Notes + Transcript, or just Action Items), add a message, and send.
- Copy the note, the note with transcript, the transcript, or just the summary — with or without timestamps.
- Manage Access… to grant people Viewer or Editor roles, plus Download Audio, Rename, and Reveal in Finder.
Your calendar
Connect your Outlook calendar and Flow Notes ties recordings to the right meeting automatically — the title, time, and attendees come along for free.
- Start a recording directly from a calendar event — the meeting is named and linked from the first second.
- Recorded events are flagged so you can see at a glance what's already captured.
- Need to fix a link? Use Actions ▸ Link to Meeting… on any recording to search your calendar and attach the right event.
AI notes with local Claude
Flow Notes writes your meeting notes on your own device, using Claude through the Claude command‑line tool (claude -p). Nothing about your notes leaves your machine for a third‑party notes service — and it handles Arabic and English equally well.
One-time setup
You don't need to install anything by hand first — Flow Notes sets the Claude command‑line tool up for you from inside Settings.
- Open Settings ▸ Notes and select Add Claude account…
- Get the CLI in place. If the
claudecommand isn't on your machine yet, the sheet shows an Install Claude Code… button — click it and Flow Notes installs it for you. (Already have it? Click Re‑check.) Once it's detected you'll see a green claude CLI · Found. - Sign in. Select the sign‑in button — your browser opens the Claude sign‑in. Approve access, then click Copy code on the confirmation page; Flow Notes picks the code up and captures the token automatically. No Terminal needed — and if you prefer the old way, Sign in via Terminal is one click away on the same sheet.
- Back in Settings ▸ Notes, set Notes engine to Claude — <your account>.
- Pick a Model — Opus for the richest notes, Sonnet for a fast, balanced default, or Haiku for the quickest turnaround.
You can add more than one Claude account (e.g. Work and Personal), rename them, and switch the active one from this screen. Changing the model applies to the next notes you generate — use Actions ▸ Regenerate Notes on a meeting to re‑run it with your new choice.
If claude CLI still shows as missing after installing, click Re‑check, or quit and reopen Flow Notes. Your organization may also require a specific engine, in which case the picker is managed for you.
Flow Notes can also generate notes on‑device with ChatGPT via the Codex command‑line tool — the setup is the same: Settings ▸ Notes ▸ Add ChatGPT account…, install the CLI if prompted, then sign in. Your browser opens the ChatGPT sign‑in; approve it there and Flow Notes detects the finished sign‑in automatically — no Terminal here either. Then set the engine.
Other settings worth a look
Appearance
Light, Dark, or match your System theme — under General.
Meeting Detection
Prompt to record when a call starts, or start automatically.
Recording devices
Choose your microphone and speaker, and test each with a live meter.
Your name
Set the name shown instead of “Me” across transcripts and notes.
Connect your AI assistant (MCP)
Flow Notes includes a secure, read‑only MCP server — so an AI assistant like Claude can search and read your meetings, notes, transcripts, and action items, and answer questions about them in plain language. Ask “what did we decide last week?” and let the assistant pull it from your recordings.
1. It only ever sees the meetings you already have access to — your own and ones shared with you. 2. It's off until an admin enables it for your organization, so if the steps below don't connect yet, check with your Flow Notes admin.
How to connect
- In your MCP client — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or the connectors settings on claude.ai — add a remote / HTTP MCP server.
- Paste the Flow Notes MCP endpoint as the server URL. That's all the client needs — no client ID or secret to enter.
- When prompted, sign in with the same Microsoft account you use for Flow Notes. Approve access and you're connected.
What the assistant can do
The server exposes five read‑only tools:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
search_meetings | Find or list the meetings you can access. Filter by free text (title + summary), participant, and/or a date range. |
get_meeting | Get one meeting's detail — title, date, duration, participants, and whether it has notes / a transcript. |
get_notes | Get a meeting's AI notes: summary, topics, key points, decisions, and action items. |
get_transcript | Get a meeting's full transcript, one page at a time (needs transcript‑level access). |
list_action_items | List action items across your meetings — filter to just yours, open items only, a date range, or one meeting. |
Try asking
search_meetings (query + that date), then reads the decisions with get_notes.list_action_items with assignedToMe and openOnly.search_meetings → get_meeting → get_transcript to locate the exact moment.search_meetings (participant: Sarah, last month) then list_action_items per meeting.Shortcuts & tips
- ⌘+R / Ctrl+R — start a new recording (and, while recording, arm Stop).
- ⌘+I — Import a recording to transcribe an existing audio file.
- Click any timestamp in the notes or transcript to jump the audio to that moment.
- Use the Library search, date grouping, and filters to find a meeting fast — switch between grid and list views up top.
- Found a rough edge? Send feedback from the bottom of the sidebar goes straight to the team — see section 12.
Turn on Meeting Detection so the record prompt finds you, set your name so notes read naturally, connect your calendar, and confirm your local Claude engine. A few small settings, far better notes.
Feedback & getting help
Flow Notes is actively developed, and the fastest way it gets better is you telling us what's rough or missing. Every note goes straight to the team — please don't hold back.
Send feedback or report a bug
- Select Send feedback at the bottom of the sidebar (next to Settings).
- Pick a category — Bug if something's broken, Idea for a suggestion, or Other.
- Describe it in your own words. For a bug, what you did and what you expected helps most.
- Attach screenshots if they help show the problem — you can add a few images or paste one straight in.
- Send. Flow Notes automatically includes your app version, operating system, and the screen you were on, so you don't have to.
If you're viewing a meeting when you open feedback, you can tick the option to attach a reference to it. Only the meeting's identifier is sent so the team can find it — never your recording, transcript, or notes content.
Found a bug
Something didn't work, looked wrong, or crashed — send it as a Bug with a screenshot.
Have an idea
A feature you wish existed or a rough edge to smooth — send it as an Idea.
Something you love
Tell us that too — knowing what's working helps us keep it that way.
Stuck on setup or not sure how something works? Send a note through the same Send feedback button, or reach out to your Flow Notes admin — they can check organization policy (which engine is allowed, whether MCP is enabled) and escalate to the team.
FAQ
Does a bot join my meeting?
Where are my notes generated?
claude -p) to write the summary, topics, decisions, and action items. Transcription runs in Applab's cloud; the note write‑up stays local.