Texts
Let's file your texts
Texts → Second Brain

Auto-file your texts into your Second Brain

Connect Claude to your iMessages once. It files the conversations that matter into your Second Brain, links the people and companies, and checks for new ones every day.

iMessage is the example. Slack, Teams, WhatsApp and other messaging apps work the same way, and the last step shows how.

You need a Mac, the Claude desktop app, and your Second Brain folder. Your progress saves as you go.
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Step 1 of 10

Open Customize

Open the Claude app on your Mac. Click the </> button at the top to switch to Code, then click Customize on the left.

Top left of the Claude app: the Code button at the top and Customize in the left sidebar

1 Code  2 Customize

⬇️ Get the Claude app claude.aiOpen →
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No Customize on the left? Press Cmd + , (the comma key) to open Settings, then click Connectors. Same place.
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Step 2 of 10

Find the iMessage connector

Click Connectors, then Discover, then the magnifying glass. Type imessage.

The Customize page with Connectors, Discover and the search button marked 1, 2 and 3 Search results for imessage with Read and Send iMessages first

4 Click Read and Send iMessages. It’s made by Anthropic.

Want Slack, Teams or another app too? Finish this guide with iMessage first. Step 10 shows how to add the rest.
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Step 3 of 10

Install it

Click Install in the top right corner.

The white Install button
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If a box asks you to confirm, click Install again.
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See a blue Enabled switch instead? It’s already installed. Move on.
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Step 4 of 10

Set the permissions

Click Configure.

The Read and Send iMessages page with the Configure button marked

Then set the two menus:

Tool permissions: Read-only tools set to Always allow, Write/delete tools menu open with Needs approval marked
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Read-only tools: pick Always allow. Claude reads your texts without stopping to ask each time.
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Write/delete tools: pick Needs approval. Claude has to ask you before it sends a text in your name.
Why not let it send too? A scam text could tell Claude to text your contacts. Reading is all this job needs.
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Step 5 of 10

Let Claude open your Messages

Your Mac keeps texts locked until you let an app in. Click the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen, then System Settings.

System Settings with Full Disk Access typed in the search box and the Full Disk Access row marked

1 Type Full Disk Access in the search box. 2 Click it.

The Full Disk Access list with the switch next to Claude turned on

3 Turn on the switch next to Claude (orange logo).

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Claude not in the list? Click the + at the bottom, click Claude in your Applications folder, then click Open.
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Your Mac may ask for your password, then ask to quit and reopen Claude. Say yes to both. This page keeps your spot.
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Step 6 of 10

Open your Second Brain in Claude

Back in Claude, press Cmd + N for a new session. Click the folder button and pick your Second Brain folder.

A new Claude Code session with the folder button marked

Your folder’s name shows up here.

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Your Second Brain is the folder where your notes live, like an Obsidian vault.
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Step 7 of 10

Paste this and press Enter

Copy this, paste it in the message box, and press Enter.

Pull relevant messages from my connected messages and texts into my second brain. For each conversation that matters, file it in the right folder, cross-link the people and companies involved, and add the right tags so everything is connected. Once you're done doing an entire backlog of all of my important messages, we need to set up a daily routine that will search through any new messages that have come in since the previous scan, determine what is important, and file those to the brain as well. That way the brain stays updated every single day.
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Claude files your old texts first. That can take a while, so leave it running.
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If your Mac asks to let Claude use Contacts or Messages, click OK.
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The daily check only runs while your Mac is on and the Claude app is open. If Claude asks for a time, pick one when that’s true.
Use another AI that can read your texts and your notes folder? Paste the same prompt there.
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Step 8 of 10

Allow bypass mode

Press Cmd + , to open Settings. Click Claude Code, scroll down, and turn on Allow bypass permissions mode.

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This only adds the choice. You turn it on for your routine in the next step.
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On a Team or Enterprise plan there’s no switch here. Your company decides, so ask whoever runs your Claude account.
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Step 9 of 10

Let the routine run on its own

Click Routines on the left, then your new routine.

The Claude sidebar with Routines and a routine named Messages to second brain marked

Yours has whatever name Claude gave it.

Click Edit routine. Under Instructions, change the permissions to Bypass permissions, then click Save.

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Skip this and the routine stops every morning to wait for you to click Allow. Nothing gets filed.
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Sending a text still waits for your OK, even here. That’s the Needs approval you picked in Step 4.
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Step 10 of 10 · Optional

Add your other messaging apps

For Slack, Teams or any other app: go back to Step 2 and search its name instead of imessage. If it shows up, repeat Steps 2 to 4 for it, then paste this:

Add [app name] to my daily messages routine. File what matters from it into my second brain the same way: right folder, people and companies cross-linked, tags added.

Swap [app name] for the app, like Slack.

App not in the search? Claude can use your computer instead. Install the app on your Mac (like WhatsApp), sign in, and paste this:

Use my computer to open WhatsApp, read my recent chats, and file the ones that matter into my second brain the same way: right folder, people and companies cross-linked, tags added. Then add WhatsApp to my daily messages routine.
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Claude asks before it uses the app. Click Allow. Swap WhatsApp for any app you use.
✓

Your texts file themselves now

Your backlog is in your Second Brain, and Claude files new texts every day. The people and companies are linked, so everything connects.

✓ iMessage connector installed
✓ Reading allowed, sending needs your OK
✓ Claude can open your Messages
✓ Backlog filed into your Second Brain
✓ Daily routine runs on its own
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More step-by-steps at stringersteps.com