DeveloPassion's Newsletter 195 - Model Context Protocol (MCP)
A newsletter discussing AI, Knowledge Work, Knowledge Management Systems, Zen Productivity, Personal Organization, and everything in between!
Hello everyone! I’m Sébastien Dubois, your host. You’re receiving this email because you signed up for DeveloPassion’s Newsletter. Thank you for being here with me ✨
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Welcome
Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩
This week has been exciting! I hit $200 Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) with Knowii! 🎉. This is a major milestone. It means the community now pays for itself, making this experiment officially a real success. I've decided to continue investing more time and energy into it.
Knowii was also added to Circle Discover: https://discover.circle.so/product/knowii-knowledge-system-community-tools-courses. For some strange reason, they decided to change my haircut using AI 😂
I also recorded the second Knowii Community live session on Model Context Protocol (MCP), building upon our first session about AI Master Prompts. The feedback has been really positive so far! ❤️
Our next live event is scheduled for Tuesday, and will be about CLARITY. There's still time to join us and RSVP.
This Week's Highlights
- Model Context Protocol (MCP): The missing piece for powerful AI integrations
- New experiments with video recordings and Claude Code
- Latest tools and discoveries in the PKM space
Before You Go Any Further
I want to reach more people. Got 60 seconds? Then share the link with one friend/colleague who would benefit from joining us! And of course, don't forget to also mention the Knowii Community ❤️
If you bought some of my products or courses? Then please leave a rating/review. It really helps a lot ❤️
The Lab 🧪
I'm experimenting with selling the video recordings of Knowii live events separately in my store, so people who don't want to join Knowii (or become paid members) can still get access to the content. After a while, I'll probably also make some videos available on YouTube as yet another experiment to help people discover Knowii.
The first two video recordings are now available:
I've also started experimenting with Claude Code and how to leverage it to create the perfect AI Assistant for myself (cfr last week's event about AI Master Prompts: Knowii Community Event - Knowledge Builders - 2025-06-03 - AI Master Prompt). I strongly believe that Claude Code has HUGE potential for Knowledge Management. I'll share progress updates in the coming weeks!
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
If you've been using AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, you've probably noticed one major limitation: they only have a limited number of native integrations. They can't access all your data and systems. That's exactly what the Model Context Protocol (MCP) solves.
During this week's Knowii live session, I did a deep dive into the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a way to make Large Language Model (LLM) 1000x more powerful by giving them hundreds of tools to use.
What is MCP?
MCP is essentially an open standard that describes how to connect AI models with external data sources and tools. Think of it as giving your AI assistant superpowers such as:
- Reading your Obsidian notes directly
- Control your Web browser
- Check your inbox
- Add events to your calendar
- Search the Web
- Create or update Notion pages
- Control Spotify
- Transcribe videos
- And so much more!
Why This Matters
MCP bridges the gap between AI's reasoning capabilities and YOUR data. Instead of copy-pasting information back and forth, your AI can directly access what it needs.
I demonstrated several powerful use cases during the session. I've shown that MCP builds upon what I covered in the first Knowii event about AI Master Prompts (cfr Knowii Community Event - Knowledge Builders - 2025-06-03 - AI Master Prompt). When you combine a well-crafted AI Master Prompt with MCP integrations, you get an incredibly powerful personalized AI assistant.
Getting Started with MCP
There are several ways to install/configure/use MCP servers:
- GUI tools: Dockmaster, Toolbase, OneMCP, ...
- Command line: MCP-Get, Smithery, npm/npx, ...
- AI clients: Claude, Claude Code, Cursor.com, Cline, Visual Studio Code (VSCode) with GitHub Copilot, etc
Want to see this in action? The full 1-hour recording is available here: https://www.store.dsebastien.net/l/knowii-model-context-protocol-mcp
Latest Articles
This week I published two articles:
Sebastien Dubois
The way I recommend approaching reading. Not one book at a time, but many in parallel.
Sebastien Dubois
Why constantly optimizing your productivity setup might be holding you back from actual progress.
Books
- Tiny Experiments (book) by Anne-Laure Le Cunff
- Sketch Your Mind by Zsolt Viczián: https://sketch-your-mind.com/
- By the way, Zsolt is a member of the Knowii Community, and he's soon going to present a mastermind session about visual thinking ❤️
- Build a Better Brain (book) by Pete Hollins
Quotes of the week
- First make the change easy, then make the easy change
- You don't find a solution without having a problem first
- If you can't measure it, you can't improve it
- What matters is not the tools, but what you achieve with those
- Most people don't really give up on their dreams. They see the price tag then decide it's too expensive
Meme of the week
New & Interesting Links
AI & MCP
- Great visualization of how LLMs work: https://bbycroft.net/llm
- Official MCP documentation: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/introduction
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) explanation and tons of useful links and resources
- Run MCP servers easily with Dockmaster
Obsidian
- How to export Snipd podcast highlights to Obsidian: https://blog.snipd.com/how-to-export-your-podcast-highlights-to-obsidian-54208c06d491
- Obsidian really needs a better plugin marketplace discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/1kxjr2m/for_a_better_obsidian_plugin_market
- Combining Obsidian and NotebookLM is powerful: https://www.xda-developers.com/using-notebooklm-with-obsidian/
- Renaming redundant properties by Tim Miller: https://x.com/WebInspectInc/status/1927464862835425713
- Obsidian Zettelkasten Workflow using Canvas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP83vUSUOIk
- Replacing Notion by Obsidian: https://www.xda-developers.com/replacing-notion-with-obsidian-as-main-note-taking-app-here-how-it-went/
- How to manage the folders of your Obsidian attachments: https://zachshirow.medium.com/probably-the-best-way-to-manage-the-folders-of-your-attachments-in-obsidian-66cce6b9ce6f
- Why Obsidian is the best privacy-focused productivity app: https://www.xda-developers.com/reasons-obsidian-is-the-best-privacy-focused-productivity-app/
- I agree: Why Obsidian is All You Need - From Simple Notes to Complete Productivity - Interesting RSS plugin: https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/1l3f6si/rss_dashboard_beta_version_is_finally_here
PKM & Knowledge Work
- Personal ontologies as the future of information management: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/personal-ontologies-future-information-management-martijn-aslander-nkjle
- Improve Your Knowledge Management by Building These Two Traits: https://medium.com/obsidian-observer/improve-your-knowledge-management-by-building-these-two-traits-581839e2fe38
- More ways to connect AI to Obsidian notes with RAG: https://medium.com/@haiyangli_38602/make-knowledge-graph-rag-with-llamaindex-from-own-obsidian-notes-b20a350fa354
About the Author
Hey there! I'm Sébastien, and I'm on a mission to help knowledge workers escape information overload. After 20+ years in IT and seeing too many brilliant minds drowning in digital chaos, I've dedicated myself to building systems that actually work. Through the Knowii Community, my courses, and this newsletter, I share practical approaches to knowledge management that help you think clearly and create confidently.
Ready to get to the next level?
If you're tired of information overwhelm and ready to build a reliable knowledge system:
🎯 Join Knowii - Get access to our complete knowledge transformation ecosystem: https://www.store.dsebastien.net/l/knowii
📚 Take the Course - Master Knowledge Management fundamentals: https://knowledge-management-for-beginners.com
🎁 Grab Free Resources - Start with the Knowledge System Checklist: https://www.dsebastien.net/free-knowledge-management-system-checklist/
💬 Get Personal Coaching - Work with me 1-on-1: https://store.dsebastien.net/l/pkm-coaching
That's it for today! ✨
About Sébastien
I'm Sébastien Dubois, and I'm on a mission to help knowledge workers escape information overload. After 20+ years in IT and seeing too many brilliant minds drowning in digital chaos, I've decided to help people build systems that actually work. Through the Knowii Community, my courses, products & services and my Website, I share practical and battle-tested systems. You can follow me on X 🐦 and on BlueSky 🦋.
I am an author, founder, and coach. I write books and articles about Knowledge Work, Personal Knowledge Management, Note-taking, Lifelong Learning, Personal Organization, and Zen Productivity. I also craft lovely digital products.
If you want to follow my work, then become a member and join our community.
Ready to get to the next level?
If you're tired of information overwhelm and ready to build a reliable knowledge system:
- 🎯 Join Knowii and get access to my complete knowledge transformation system
- 📚 Take the Course and Master Knowledge Management
- 🚀 Start with a Rock-solid System: the Obsidian Starter Kit
- 🦉 Get Personal Coaching: Work with me 1-on-1
- 🛒 Check out my other products and services. These will give you a rock-solid starting point for your note-taking and Knowledge Management efforts
