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Bear stores notes in its own database, not as files on disk, so it isn’t folder-watched. A native Send to Bear integration via URL scheme is on the roadmap. For now, the path into Bear is manual import of .md files written by Local Sync.

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Today: Local Sync + manual import

Local Sync is free on Mac, iPhone, and iPad and writes every Cleft note to disk as a .md file. Pick a folder you can easily reach from Bear, or use Cleft’s Documents/Cleft Notes folder, then drag the file into Bear or use Bear’s File → Import From → Files to pull it in. Once imported, the inline #hashtags Cleft appends after the body resolve as Bear tags. No manual tagging required. 
---
cleft_id: 12431
title: "Meeting with Jonny"
tags: ["work", "ideas"]
created: 2026-05-06T10:30:00Z
updated: 2026-05-06T11:15:00Z
source: cleft
transcript: "full transcript on one line, newlines collapsed to spaces"
---
AI-generated summary body goes here.

#work #ideas
After import, this looks like:
  • A new Bear note with the AI summary as the body
  • #work and #ideas registered as Bear tags in the sidebar
  • The YAML block visible as text at the top of the note (Bear has no Properties concept)

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Bear-specific tips

  • Tags work after import. Bear’s #tag syntax matches the inline hashtags Cleft appends, so tags resolve correctly the moment you drop a Cleft .md into Bear.
  • Frontmatter shows as text. YAML keys like title:, tags:, cleft_id: appear as plain text at the top of the imported note. If that bothers you, edit it out after import, or wait for the URL-scheme integration, which sends just the body content.

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Limitations

  • Bear isn’t folder-watched. Cleft’s .md files won’t appear in Bear automatically. Drag-drop or File → Import From → Files is required for now.
  • No frontmatter rendering. Bear has no Properties UI, so YAML appears as visible text at the top of imported notes.
  • No bidirectional sync. Edits you make in Bear after import don’t propagate back to Cleft, and the original .md in your Local Sync folder will keep updating from Cleft on its own.

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Coming: native Send to Bear

A native integration via Bear’s bear://x-callback-url/create?title=…&text=…&tags=… URL scheme is on the roadmap, same shape as the planned Drafts URL-scheme action. It’ll send a Cleft note straight into Bear with title, body, and tags pre-populated, no manual import. We’ll add a setup guide here when it ships.