Nisshi and your AI assistant
Set it up with your AI tool, have it log your work, and use your company's AI
Nisshi works with the AI tools you already use on your Mac, including the ChatGPT and Claude apps. Once they're connected, you and your assistant build your work history together. Tell it what you did, or let it notice when you finish something, and it writes the entry for you, under the right heading. Ask it what you got done this month, or what to bring up in your next 1:1, and it reads your journal to answer.
The easy way: ask your AI tool
First, open Nisshi, go to Settings, then Connections, and turn on Connect an App. Then paste this into your AI tool:
Tools that can work on your Mac, like Claude Code, will do the whole thing themselves. Chat apps, like ChatGPT and Claude, will tell you exactly what to click. If you'd rather do it yourself, Nisshi shows the step for each tool in Settings, Connections, with a Copy button.
Use the Mac app of your AI tool. Nisshi connects to apps running on your Mac, so your journal never has to go on the internet.
Connecting the ChatGPT app by hand
In the ChatGPT app, open Settings, then Plugins, then MCPs, and choose to connect a custom MCP. Fill in the form like this, then save it:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Name | Nisshi |
| Type | STDIO |
| Command to launch | /usr/bin/nc |
| Arguments | 127.0.0.1, then Add argument and enter 35468 |
| Everything else | Leave empty |
/usr/bin/nc is a small connector that comes with every Mac. ChatGPT runs it to talk to Nisshi on your Mac, so there's nothing to install. Then start a new chat and ask "What's in my Nisshi journal this week?"
Connecting the Claude app
In Nisshi, open Settings, then Connections, choose Claude and click Add to Claude. Claude asks whether to install Nisshi: choose Install, then Install again to confirm. That's it, with nothing to type.
Setting it up from somewhere else? Download the Nisshi extension for Claude and open it, and Claude shows the same Install button. If Nisshi is closed when Claude needs it, it opens in the background.
Have it log your work automatically
Once it's connected, your assistant writes to Nisshi when you ask. To have it log your work without being asked, add this line to its custom instructions, which some tools call personal preferences, rules or memory. Or just ask your assistant to remember it:
Change the wording to suit how you work. A few versions that work well:
- Fewer, bigger entries: "At the end of each session, add one short entry to my Nisshi journal covering what we did and why it mattered."
- You decide each time: "When we finish a piece of work, ask me whether to log it to my Nisshi journal."
- Sorted by project: "When we finish a piece of work, log it to my Nisshi journal and tag it with the project name."
Your assistant reads before it changes anything, and it asks before adding someone new to your People list.
Use your company's AI
This is a separate option. If your company gives you AI for work, Nisshi can use that same AI to write its summaries, from weekly recaps to review drafts. Your work then stays inside the setup your company already approved: the text a summary needs goes from your Mac to your company's AI and nowhere else, under the agreement your company has with its AI provider. Nothing passes through Nisshi. There's no Nisshi server for it to pass through.
Nisshi needs two things from your company's setup: an address and a key. If you use an AI coding tool at work, both are probably already on your Mac, and the easiest way is to ask that tool to "point Nisshi at the same AI you use". It sends the address to Nisshi for you to approve. Then paste the key yourself in Settings, Connections, under Other. If you don't have a coding tool, your IT team's setup guide will list both.
This works with Google Vertex AI and Amazon Bedrock too. Companies that run their AI on either usually hand it out as an address and a key, and those go in the same place. If your company has you sign in with a Google Cloud or AWS account instead, ask IT for the gateway address and use that.
Where your data goes
- Your AI tool reads your journal through Nisshi on your Mac. Nothing else on your network can reach it. What your AI tool reads is handled under that tool's terms, the same as anything else you show it.
- Your company's AI gets only the text a summary needs, sent straight from your Mac.
- Your keys stay in your Mac's Keychain. They're never given to an AI tool and never included in an export.
- Nisshi has no server, no account and no analytics. Read the privacy policy.
None of this is on by default. Out of the box, Apple's on-device model writes everything on your Mac, and nothing leaves it.
Setup details, for your AI tool
The steps below are what your AI tool follows when you ask it to read this page. You don't need them unless you're setting things up by hand.
- Nisshi runs an MCP server on the user's Mac, on
127.0.0.1port35468, once Connect an App is turned on in Settings, Connections. Nisshi must be running. Connect over stdio with/usr/bin/nc 127.0.0.1 35468. - ChatGPT app: Settings, Plugins, MCPs, connect a custom MCP. Name
Nisshi, type STDIO (not Streamable HTTP), command to launch/usr/bin/nc, arguments127.0.0.1and35468as two separate entries, everything else empty. This is stored in~/.codex/config.toml, socodex mcp add nisshi -- /usr/bin/nc 127.0.0.1 35468does the same. - Codex: run
codex mcp add nisshi -- nc 127.0.0.1 35468. - Claude app (Claude Desktop): install the extension: open
https://nisshiapp.com/downloads/Nisshi.mcpbwith Claude, or use Settings, Extensions, Install Extension, then choose Install twice. Inside Nisshi, Settings, Connections, Claude, Add to Claude does the same. By hand instead: Settings, Developer, Open Developer Config File opensclaude_desktop_config.json; add thenisshientry below tomcpServers, keeping any servers already there, then quit and reopen Claude. - Claude Code: run
claude mcp add --scope user nisshi -- nc 127.0.0.1 35468, then check with/mcp. - Cursor: add the same entry to
~/.cursor/mcp.json. - Any other MCP client that runs local servers: the same entry, or the command above. Use the full path to
nc, since apps opened from the Dock don't inherit the shell's PATH.
- Standing instruction: put the line from "Have it log your work automatically" in custom instructions under Settings, Personalization (ChatGPT app),
~/.claude/CLAUDE.md(Claude Code), personal preferences under Settings, Profile (Claude app), User Rules (Cursor), or~/.codex/AGENTS.md(Codex). - After connecting: call
get_setup_statusto confirm, and offer to finish any setup it lists. - Company AI: any gateway that speaks OpenAI's or Anthropic's API works, including company gateways in front of Vertex AI or Bedrock. If the user's environment has
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL(often in~/.claude/settings.jsonunderenv), callrequest_ai_endpointwith that address. Never send a key. The user approves the address and pastes the key in Settings, Connections, and Nisshi reports whether it connected.
Questions people ask
Does Nisshi work with ChatGPT?
Yes. In the ChatGPT app for Mac, open Settings, then Plugins, then MCPs, and connect a custom MCP: name it Nisshi, choose STDIO, set the command to launch to /usr/bin/nc, and add 127.0.0.1 and 35468 as two arguments. Or ask ChatGPT to read this page and walk you through it.
What is MCP?
Model Context Protocol, the standard way AI tools connect to apps. Nisshi has it built in, so there's nothing extra to install. You turn it on in Settings, Connections.
Does Nisshi need to be open for my AI tool to use it?
Yes. Your AI tool talks to the Nisshi app on your Mac. To keep it available, turn on Launch at login & keep running in the background in Settings, Connections.
Does my company's AI see my whole journal?
No. When Nisshi writes a summary, it sends only what that summary needs: your profile and the entries involved. Nothing is sent until a summary is written.
Can my AI tool see my keys?
No. Keys are kept in your Mac's Keychain and Nisshi never gives them to an AI tool. You add a key yourself, in Settings, and that's the only way one gets in.