Use Meeting Transcripts in Claude or ChatGPT via MCP on Mac

Rebrief for Mac can run a local MCP server so an assistant that supports the Model Context Protocol, such as Claude, can search and read your saved meeting transcripts and notes. The server is off until you switch it on, runs on your Mac, and is read-only. The connection is local, but if the assistant uses a cloud model, the meeting text it reads can be sent to that model's provider.

This helps when you ask an assistant to draft a follow-up and then spend several messages explaining what happened in the call. With the connection on, it can look up the meeting itself, and you check the passages behind its draft before sending anything.

What a meeting transcripts MCP server does

MCP is a standard way for an assistant to ask another app for information. Rebrief's meeting connection gives a connected assistant tools to list your meetings, search transcripts, read a meeting and its transcript, and list people and meeting groups. Rebrief names ChatGPT and Claude as examples of tools that can use it. Every tool only reads. The assistant cannot edit a transcript, delete a meeting or start a recording, and the server shares transcripts and notes, not audio.

Rebrief already has Ask built in, which answers questions across your meetings with a small model on your Mac. The MCP server is for questions that need a larger model, such as reading every meeting on a project since July and listing the commitments nobody mentioned again.

Is a local MCP server private?

The connection is made on your Mac, not through a Rebrief server. By default it listens only on your own Mac (127.0.0.1, port 3927, or the next free port shown in Settings). Your recordings, transcripts and notes stay on the Mac.

What happens after the assistant reads a meeting depends on the assistant. A cloud-backed assistant may send the retrieved meeting text to its provider, and Rebrief's local connection does not control that. Check the assistant's data handling before connecting sensitive meetings; Rebrief's privacy policy covers Rebrief's own side.

How to connect an assistant to your meeting transcripts

1. Record a meeting in Rebrief and wait for the transcript and notes to finish.
2. Turn on the MCP server in Rebrief's Settings. It is off by default.
3. Check that your assistant can connect to an MCP server running on your own Mac, then follow its current setup instructions. For Claude Desktop, Anthropic's help page on getting started with local MCP servers is the place to start.
4. Ask a first question about one meeting you know well, and check the answer against the transcript.

Setup differs between assistants, and not every app that supports MCP can reach a server on your own computer. If you can't confirm the setup for yours, contact Rebrief support.

A prompt to draft a follow-up from a meeting

Tell the assistant which conversation matters and who will read the result. A client or project name, the meeting date and the purpose of the message help it find the right meeting. Start with one meeting before asking it to compare a longer history. You can copy this prompt and change the details:

"Use yesterday's client review in Rebrief to draft a short follow-up email. Include the agreed next steps and anything we still need the client to answer. Keep proposed dates separate from confirmed deadlines, and list the transcript passages that support each commitment below the draft."

Asking for the passages outside the email gives you two things to review: the message and what it is based on. You can then check a commitment without searching the whole transcript again.

Check the promises before you send

Open the meeting in Rebrief and compare the draft with the passage it cites. Look closely at who accepted a task and whether a date depended on something else happening first. A suggestion can sound like a promise once it has been shortened into an email.

If the assistant can't show a passage that supports a claim, find it in the transcript yourself before keeping it, and listen to the recording for a disputed name or number. Leave uncertain details as questions for the recipient.

Add anything that happened after the meeting yourself. The transcript shows what someone agreed to do; it cannot prove a document was sent afterward. Before writing "I've attached the revised proposal," make sure the revision exists and attach it in your email app.

Bringing in earlier meetings

Sometimes a follow-up needs an earlier decision: why the scope changed, what a client rejected, or which condition still applies. Ask the assistant to search the relevant meetings for that point, give it a date range or topic, and ask it to name the meetings it used.

Read the later passage next to the earlier one. If the latest discussion only revisits an idea, it may not replace the earlier agreement. When the record leaves that unclear, ask the recipient to confirm instead of quietly picking a version.

When the built-in Ask is enough

For a quick check you may not need an outside assistant. Rebrief's Ask searches your recorded meetings on your Mac, works offline once its models have downloaded, and shows the lines each answer came from. See how to search past meeting transcripts by asking questions. If you'd rather keep meetings in your own notes app, here is how to get meeting notes into Obsidian.

Recording the meetings first

The assistant can only read meetings Rebrief recorded. Ask for permission before recording and follow your organization's rules; tell people you're recording, as recording laws differ by place. Rebrief needs an Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 15 or later. Free recordings stop at 15 minutes, and a one-time purchase removes that limit.

For your first try, pick a meeting that isn't sensitive. Ask for one short draft with its supporting passages, check the commitments, and send the version you've reviewed.