jakerains Plaud
Plaud ships two agent-facing surfaces from one vendor and one account:
@plaud-ai/cli— terminal, scriptable, pipeable.@plaud-ai/mcp— Model Context Protocol server that auto-installs into Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor/Windsurf/VS Code/Zed, plus an HTTP variant for Claude Web and ChatGPT.
Both authenticate via OAuth in the browser. Both live under ~/.plaud/ but use separate token files (tokens.json for CLI, tokens-mcp.json for MCP), so they can coexist.
Skill structure
plaud/
├── SKILL.md ← Router + install + quick reference (this file)
└── references/
├── cli.md ← Full CLI command reference + config + env vars + exit codes
├── mcp.md ← Full MCP install per client + manual JSON + HTTP variant + tool inventory
├── workflows.md ← Cookbook: bulk export, date-range digest, cross-surface recipes
└── troubleshooting.md ← Auth, token refresh, install, MCP "server disconnected"
Choose a surface
| User intent | Use |
|---|---|
| "Summarize Tuesday's standup" / "draft follow-up from this meeting" — conversational, inside an AI client | MCP |
| "Bulk-export every transcript from April to .txt files" — shell pipeline, cron, scripted | CLI |
| Working in Claude Web or ChatGPT (no local install possible) | MCP via HTTP (https://mcp.plaud.ai/mcp) |
| Headless / remote / CI machine | CLI with PLAUD_* env vars |
| Want both | Install both — they share auth but use separate token files |
When in doubt: if the agent should call Plaud on the user's behalf inside an AI client → MCP. If a shell script or human in a terminal needs the data → CLI.
Install — MCP
Run once. The installer detects local AI clients, writes config, and opens the browser for OAuth:
npx -y @plaud-ai/mcp@latest install
Then fully restart the AI client (close and reopen the window — for Claude Code, exit and start a new claude session). Flags:
--yes— auto-configure all detected clients, no prompts--no-login— skip browser sign-in (for remote/headless machines)
For clients not auto-detected, add this manually to their MCP config:
{ "mcpServers": { "plaud": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@plaud-ai/mcp@latest"] } } }
For Claude Web / ChatGPT Web (HTTP variant): see references/mcp.md. Note: HTTP requests pass recording data through Plaud's US-hosted MCP server in transit.
The installer also loads Plaud's own built-in skills (plaud-browse, plaud-find, plaud-read, plaud-digest, plaud-followup, plaud-export) into Claude Code. This skill defers to those for the in-MCP execution playbooks — do not re-implement their logic here.
Install — CLI
npm install -g @plaud-ai/cli
plaud login # opens browser for OAuth
plaud me # confirm sign-in
Requires Node.js ≥ 20.
Quick reference
| Task | CLI command | MCP tool |
|---|---|---|
| Sign in | plaud login |
login |
| Whoami | plaud me |
get_current_user |
| List recordings | plaud files / plaud recent / plaud today |
list_files |
| Search by keyword | plaud search "Q2" |
list_files with query |
| Filter by date | plaud search ... --from 2026-04-01 --to 2026-04-30 |
list_files with date_from / date_to |
| Get one recording | plaud file <id> |
get_file |
| Audio download URL (24h) | plaud audio <id> |
get_file → presigned_url |
| Transcript | plaud transcript <id> |
get_transcript |
| AI summary | plaud summary <id> |
get_note |
| Sign out | plaud logout |
logout |
Pipe-friendly: CLI errors go to stderr, results go to stdout. plaud transcript <id> -o file.txt or plaud summary <id> -o file.md write to disk.
Deep references
| Read when… | File |
|---|---|
Need a full flag table, exit codes, config file, or PLAUD_* env vars |
references/cli.md |
| Setting up MCP in a non-default client, or using the HTTP variant in Claude Web / ChatGPT | references/mcp.md |
| Writing a shell pipeline, scheduled job, or cross-surface workflow | references/workflows.md |
| Auth errors, token refresh, "command not found", MCP "Server disconnected", Claude Code plugin reset | references/troubleshooting.md |
Upgrade / uninstall
# CLI
npm install -g @plaud-ai/cli@latest
plaud update # check for new version
# MCP
npm install -g @plaud-ai/mcp@latest
# Claude Code only — also run:
npx -y @plaud-ai/mcp clean-plugin
# then inside Claude Code:
/plugin install plaud
# Full uninstall
plaud-mcp unsetup # for Claude Desktop
claude mcp remove plaud --scope user # for Claude Code
npm uninstall -g @plaud-ai/cli @plaud-ai/mcp
rm -rf ~/.plaud
See references/troubleshooting.md for the Codex Desktop unsetup command and other client-specific cleanup.