Granola Encrypted Your Meeting Notes. Here's What Changed and How to Get Them Out

For about a year, your Granola notes lived in a plain JSON file on your Mac. Developers wired it straight into Claude, Obsidian and their own scripts (one of many guides). In March 2026 Granola changed how it stores that cache, and it then encrypted it. Every one of those tools broke.

Granola's co-founder owned the first break in public: "A week ago, we updated how we store data in our cache and broke the workarounds. This is on us" (Chris Pedregal on X). Granola's answer was its own MCP server and a public API. The API needs a paid plan, and on the free plan the MCP only reaches your last 30 days of notes.

I went through Granola's changelog, its docs, the founder's posts and the GitHub history of the tools that broke. Here's the timeline, what you can still get out, and what it means when you pick a notetaker.

Key takeaways

1. June to August 2025: the open file. Granola cached your notes in ~/Library/Application Support/Granola/cache-v3.json. Tools like GranolaMCP read it "directly from Granola's local cache file (cache-v3.json) without making any API calls to Granola's servers."
2. February 2026: the first API, for admins only. Granola's API v1.0.0 offered "API key authentication for workspace administrators" (API changelog).
3. February 4, 2026: the official MCP. "Granola has an MCP! It works with ChatGPT / Claude / whatever tool you want" (Pedregal). On the free Basic plan it reaches "your last 30 days of meeting notes"; "paid plans open up your full history and transcripts" (Granola blog).
4. Around March 10, 2026: the cache changes. The file moved from cache-v3 to cache-v6 with a new structure. Community tools started failing with errors like "cannot unmarshal object" (GitHub issue).
5. March 16–17, 2026: the backlash and the apology. See the next two sections.
6. March 25, 2026: the personal API. Alongside its $125 million Series C, Granola shipped "a personal API for people to access their notes... (available on Business and Enterprise plans)" (Granola).
7. April to May 2026: encryption confirmed. One plugin was deprecated on April 12 because "Granola encrypted their local cache starting with v6" (granola-claude-plugin). Another tool's maintainers found that "sometime before May 12 2026, Granola began encrypting its local cache", with the real data now in cache-v6.json.enc and a new granola.db file (granary issue).
8. July 16, 2026: the key moves out of reach. In Granola 7.427.0 for macOS, "Granola deleted the storage.dek file and moved the data-encryption key into an iCloud (data-protection) keychain item... that only the Granola app can read" (obsidian-granola-sync docs). That plugin's README said at the time: "There is no workaround" (commit). It has since moved to Granola's paid API.
9. July 30, 2026: the export tool gives up. Granary, a popular Markdown exporter, was archived: "keeping up with Granola's cache format changes is a game of whack a mole that isn't worth the maintenance" (granary).

Granola has not published a changelog entry announcing the encryption, so the exact day it started isn't public. The dates above come from the founder's posts and the repositories that broke.

The loudest reaction came from Guido Appenzeller, a partner at a16z, on March 16, 2026: "Sorry to see Granola @meetgranola going closed. They encrypted their local db, no local and no cloud API. In a world where notes are managed by agents, the app now has zero value" (X). The post drew more than 344,000 views.

His follow-up explained why it stung: "They broke local access to notes which broke everyone's agent implementation. And now we need to find a new tool" (X). One detail was off: Granola did have an admin-only API by then. But for most users there was no supported way to read their own notes locally.

What other users said

"Unsubscribed to Granola. To me the value is in the raw transcript... tools like Granola are I/O peripherals of the new age. I don't want a subscription attached to them." (@ku1deep on X, March 18, 2026)

"Granola: We have to encrypt the local db for… reasons / Apple: lol every text you've ever sent or received is in the clear in chat.db GLHF" (Ilya Abyzov on X, March 17, 2026)

"Granola notes silently stopped working when they decided to encrypt the DB" (Hacker News, July 2026)

TechCrunch's Series C coverage summed it up: "a bunch of users, including an a16z partner, were mad at Granola for locking down its local database and breaking on-device AI agent workflows they had set up" (TechCrunch).

Granola's co-founder Chris Pedregal answered on March 17, 2026 (X):

"A couple months ago, we noticed that some folks had reversed engineered our local cache so they could access their meeting data. Our cache was not built for this (it can change at any point), so we launched our MCP to serve this need. A week ago, we updated how we store data in our cache and broke the workarounds. This is on us."

He also conceded the MCP wasn't enough: "while MCPs are great for connecting to tools like Claude or chatGPT, they don't meet your needs for agents running locally or for data export / pipeline work." He floated "expanding our MCP, launching a CLI, a local API, etc."

Eight days later the personal API shipped, on paid plans. As of September 26, 2026, we found no official CLI or local API.

What Granola didn't say

Granola hasn't given a security reason for encrypting the cache, and none of its security reports links the change to an incident. So we won't claim one.

The fair counterpoints

• The cache was never a promise. Granola never documented it as a way in. Reading an app's private cache always carried the risk that the next update would break it.
• Encryption at rest has real benefits. With the key in Granola's keychain, other apps and malware on your Mac can't read your notes. The cache also held integration keys for tools like Affinity and Zapier, according to the obsidian-granola-sync docs. That's our reading of the design, not a reason Granola has given.
• Some defended the move. Michael Mignano, an early Granola investor, called it a "great move by Chris and the Granola team" (X).
• Your data isn't locked away completely. A CSV export still covers your full history on every plan (details below).

The problem isn't encryption itself. It's that the supported replacements are narrower than what users had: summaries-only CSV, a 30-day MCP on the free plan, and an API that starts at $14 a user a month.

Here's every official route, and what each one gives you:

Export every note to CSV (any plan)

1. Open Granola and go to Settings, then Profile.
2. Click Generate CSV.
3. Wait for the email. Granola says it can take a few hours.
4. Download the file within 24 hours, before the link expires.

Get full notes and transcripts (paid plans)

1. Upgrade to Business ($14/user/month, billed monthly) or Enterprise.
2. Create an API key in Granola's settings. Since May 2026 any member of a Business or Enterprise workspace can create one.
3. Pull notes with the API, or use a tool built on it, such as obsidian-granola-sync 2.1.0 or later.

If you're leaving Granola, turn off "Use my data to improve models for everyone" in Settings before you export, and delete what you no longer need. Granola keeps notes indefinitely unless you set a retention policy.

Meeting notes are some of the most useful data you own. More and more of it gets read by agents: Claude drafting a follow-up, a script updating your CRM, an Obsidian vault building your memory. Whoever controls access to those notes controls those workflows.

Granola's lockdown is a reminder to check four things before you commit to any notetaker:

1. Where do the notes live? On your computer, or on the vendor's servers?
2. Can you get everything out on every plan, including transcripts, not just summaries?
3. Is the export route documented? An undocumented cache can change with the next update, as Granola's did.
4. Does export depend on your plan? If full access starts at a paid tier, a price rise or a plan change can cut you off.

How the alternatives handle it

• Voibe Work (ours) saves transcripts and summaries on your Mac, not on Voibe's servers, with one-click copy and PDF export on every Voibe Work plan. Meeting audio is processed by open-source models on zero-retention providers and deleted as soon as processing completes. It also includes Voibe's dictation app, for $14 a month or $140 a year.
• Anarlog (formerly Hyprnote) is MIT-licensed and keeps notes in a local SQLite database, with a local API, CLI and MCP on its free plan (GitHub).
• Quill Meetings records and transcribes locally on Mac and Windows and runs a fully local MCP server (Quill).

We rank these and six more in our list of the best Granola alternatives, and cover the whole category in our roundup of the best no-bot meeting note takers. For Granola's other open issues, see the Granola lawsuit, explained and Granola's entry in our AI Privacy Tracker, where it scores 31 out of 100.

What Happened

Did Granola encrypt its local cache?

Yes. In early 2026 Granola replaced its plain-text cache file (cache-v3.json) with a new format and then encrypted it. By May 2026 the notes lived in an encrypted cache-v6.json.enc file and a granola.db database. In Granola 7.427.0 for macOS, released July 16, 2026, the encryption key moved into a keychain item that only the Granola app can read.

Why did Granola lock down its local notes?

Granola co-founder Chris Pedregal said the cache "was not built for this (it can change at any point)" and that Granola launched its MCP to give people access instead. He said breaking the community workarounds was "on us". Granola has not given a security reason for encrypting the cache.

When did Granola break the community integrations?

Around March 10, 2026, when Granola changed how it stores its cache. Pedregal confirmed it on March 17: "A week ago, we updated how we store data in our cache and broke the workarounds." Encryption of the cache was confirmed by community tools between April and May 2026.

Exporting Your Notes

How do I export my Granola notes?

Go to Settings, then Profile, and click Generate CSV. Granola emails a CSV of your full note history within a few hours; it includes only notes that have a summary, and the link expires after 24 hours. For full notes and transcripts, use Granola's API, which needs a Business or Enterprise plan.

Can I export Granola notes on the free plan?

Yes, as a CSV of note summaries covering your full history. The free Basic plan does not include API access, and its MCP only reaches notes from the last 30 days, without transcripts.

Does the Granola API work on the free plan?

No. Granola's docs say "You need a Business or Enterprise plan to create API keys." Business costs $14 per user per month, billed monthly, and Enterprise costs $35 per user per month.

Do Obsidian and Claude integrations still work with Granola?

Only through official routes. Tools that read Granola's local cache stopped working; obsidian-granola-sync switched to the official API in version 2.1.0, which needs a paid Granola plan. Claude can connect through Granola's MCP, which is limited to the last 30 days of notes on the free plan.

Alternatives

Which meeting note takers keep notes on my own computer?

Voibe Work saves transcripts and summaries on your Mac, not on Voibe's servers. Anarlog keeps notes in a local SQLite database, and Quill Meetings records and transcribes on your computer. Granola stores notes in its US cloud and caches them locally in an encrypted file.

Granola didn't delete anyone's notes. It changed who gets to read them, and on what terms. The open file is gone, the free plan's MCP stops at 30 days, and full programmatic access now starts at $14 a user a month.

If your notes feed agents, scripts or a second brain, pick a notetaker that keeps them where you can reach them. Voibe Work saves them on your Mac and exports them in one click, with dictation included.

Try Voibe Work free for 7 days → No credit card.