Problems with my first test of Al in Tinderbox 11. Document is empty (but it isn’t)

This is the message I’m getting from Claude. Essentially it tells me it cannot find any information because the document is empty but it isn’t. I have the document open in Tinderbox (it opened when I opened Claude after enabling AI integration via MCP) and it has a lot of content.

Message from Claude:

Now let me explore the document for information about non-verbal predicates. I’ll search for relevant terms:

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `$Text.contains(\"non-verbal\") | $Text.contains(\"support verb\") | $Name.contains(\"predicate\")`, `attributes`: `Text` }

Response

Found 0 notes matching '$Text.contains("non-verbal") | $Text.contains("support verb") | $Name.contains("predicate")':

Let me search more broadly for terms that might relate to this concept - perhaps looking for

Let me search more broadly for terms that might relate to this concept - perhaps looking for “support”, “copula”, “auxiliary”, etc.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `$Text.contains(\"support\") | $Text.contains(\"copula\") | $Text.contains(\"auxiliary\")`, `attributes`: `Text` }

Response

Found 0 notes matching '$Text.contains("support") | $Text.contains("copula") | $Text.contains("auxiliary")':

Let me try a different approach - let me get an overview of the document structure to see what’s in

Let me try a different approach - let me get an overview of the document structure to see what’s in it.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `$Container==\"\"` }

Response

Found 0 notes matching '$Container==""':

Let me try to get all top-level notes to see the structure.

Let me try to get all top-level notes to see the structure.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `$OutlineDepth==0` }

Response

Found 0 notes matching '$OutlineDepth==0':

Let me try a broader search - just search for all notes and see what’s in the document.

Let me try a broader search - just search for all notes and see what’s in the document.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `$Name!=\"\"` }

Response

Found 0 notes matching '$Name!=""':

This is strange - the document appears to be empty or I’m not querying it correctly.

This is strange - the document appears to be empty or I’m not querying it correctly. Let me try to look at the document info again or try a simpler approach.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `true` }

Response

Found 0 notes matching 'true':

The document appears to be empty or there’s an issue with accessing it.

The document appears to be empty or there’s an issue with accessing it. Let me check if there are any available documents or if I need to switch to a different one.

T

Get document

Request

{ `name`: `Adjectives` }

Response

• file: (null) size: Zero KB uuid: 9833C240-71A4-4D2A-BBA9-D0E6EF70E029 user attributes: Other available documents: :- Adjectives

Detected empty document, preparing to report findings.

The document shows “Zero KB” size, which suggests it might be empty or newly created. The user asked me to explore it, but there doesn’t seem to be any content. Let me report this finding to the user.

I’ve explored the Adjectives document, but it appears to be empty (showing Zero KB size) with no notes currently in it.

I had also seen this when another (empty) document was created next to the one being edited. It is usually in the background. When you close it, Claude finds the correct document to edit.

Do not leave unsaved documents open when using Tinderbox 11.0.1 with Claude. An oversight when programming the set_document tool makes an unsaved document take priority over other documents.

This will be fixed in 11.0.2 and is addressed in the current backstage version.

I followed your recommendation and I’m still not able to consult my notes via AI. I’m still getting this error:

I’ll help you explore the Adjectives.tbx document to find information about non-verbal predicates. Let me start by checking the available documents and then look for the hints you mentioned.

T

Get document

Request

{ `name`: `Adjectives.tbx` }

Response

Tool execution failed

The get_document call failed. Let me try with an empty name to see what documents are available.

The get_document call failed. Let me try with an empty name to see what documents are available.

T

Get document

Request

{ `name`: `` }

Response

Tool execution failed

Both attempts failed.

Both attempts failed. Let me try a different approach - let me try to get notes from the document to see what’s available. I’ll search for notes about hints first.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `$Path.contains(\"/Hints/AI/Claude/Readings\")`, `attributes`: `Text` }

Response

Tool execution failed

The queries are failing.

The queries are failing. Let me try a simpler approach - just get all notes without a specific query to see what’s in the document.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `notes`: `/Hints/AI/Claude/Readings`, `attributes`: `Text` }

Response

Tool execution failed

Still failing.

Still failing. Let me try to search for notes with a broader query to see what’s available in the document.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `$Name.contains(\"adjective\") | $Name.contains(\"predicate\") | $Name.contains(\"verb\")`, `attributes`: `Text` }

Response

Tool execution failed

All queries are failing. This might mean that no Tinderbox document is currently open or connected.

All queries are failing. This might mean that no Tinderbox document is currently open or connected. Let me try a very simple query to get any notes at all.

T

Get notes

Request

{ `query`: `$Name!=\"\"`, `attributes`: `Text;Path` }

Response

Tool execution failed

Realized Tinderbox document connection needed for task.

All attempts are failing. This suggests that there’s no Tinderbox document currently connected to the MCP session. I should let the user know that I need them to open the Adjectives.tbx document in Tinderbox first.

I’m having trouble connecting to the Tinderbox document. It appears that no Tinderbox document is currently active in the MCP session.

Please email a copy of the file ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-tinderbox.log to bernstein@eastgate.com,

Check (a) that you’re letting Claude launch Tinderbox; (b) that Tinderbox ▸ Enable AI Integration is enabled (and offering you the option to disable AI integration, and (c) that no other Tinderbox documents are open, especially not empty, unsaved documents.

I believe you may have not enabled MCP in some or all of your open documents (Document Settings:General:Enable MCP in this document)

I’d say the MCP is enabled. I have added images that show the error messages that appear on the upper right corner of the desktop Claude app.