How do I install ASTGL Knowledge?

Copy the stdio config for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or VS Code on this page. It uses the publisher's install, not a PlugMCP proxy.

Does ASTGL Knowledge need an API key?

No required environment variable is listed on this record.

What transport does ASTGL Knowledge use?

ASTGL Knowledge runs locally over stdio.

When was ASTGL Knowledge last checked?

Last checked 2026-11-09. Search and cite ASTGL articles about MCP servers, local AI, and AI automation.

ASTGL Knowledge MCP server

Power your agent

Add this server

The publisher's own command. Not a PlugMCP endpoint.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code Run on PlugMCP

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Local command

npx -y [email protected]

Claude Code has no install link for a local command. Copy the command below and run it in a terminal.

shClaude Code

1claude mcp add io.github.jmeg8r-astgl-knowledge -- npx -y mcp-astgl-knowledge@1.3.1

Run in a terminal.

jsonClaude Desktop

1{2  "mcpServers": {3    "io.github.jmeg8r-astgl-knowledge": {4      "command": "npx",5      "args": [6        "-y",7        "[email protected]"8      ]9    }10  }11}

claude_desktop_config.json

Local · npmPublisher installStep-by-step: add this in Claude

Remote URL or a command on your machine? How the two installs differ

Run on PlugMCP

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

A new server you create. It is not this listing's official endpoint. Use the publisher install when you want their URL and their credentials.

Launch

Server facts

Local

Transport: stdio
Version: 1.3.1
Last checked

Tools

No tool list yet. Remote servers get one after the first health check.

FAQ

Questions

mcp-astgl-knowledge

An MCP server that lets AI assistants search and cite content from As The Geek Learns — covering MCP servers, local AI, AI automation, and ASTGL project documentation.

When an AI assistant connects to this server, it can search the indexed ASTGL entries (articles, tutorials, comparisons, guides, and project docs). Search results include source URLs back to astgl.ai.

Requirement: the semantic tools (search_articles, get_answer, get_tutorial, compare_topics) embed your query at runtime with a local Ollama running nomic-embed-text (default http://localhost:11434). The metadata tools (find_articles, list_tags, list_topics, get_latest) work without Ollama.

Quick Start

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astgl-knowledge": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-astgl-knowledge"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add to your project's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astgl-knowledge": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-astgl-knowledge"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / Generic MCP Client

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astgl-knowledge": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-astgl-knowledge"]
    }
  }
}

With Registration (500 queries/day)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "astgl-knowledge": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-astgl-knowledge"],
      "env": {
        "ASTGL_API_KEY": "astgl_your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

`search_articles`

Search the knowledge base by query. Returns ranked results with relevance scores and source URLs.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	Yes	Search query (e.g., "how to build an MCP server")
`limit`	number	No	Max results, 1-20 (default: 5)
`content_type`	string	No	Filter by type: article, tutorial, faq, comparison, guide, newsletter, project

`get_answer`

Get a direct answer to a specific question. Prefers FAQ entries for concise responses.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`question`	string	Yes	A specific question (e.g., "What is an MCP server?")
`content_type`	string	No	Filter by content type

`get_tutorial`

Get step-by-step instructions from tutorial and guide content.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	string	Yes	What you want to learn (e.g., "setup Ollama on Mac")

`compare_topics`

Side-by-side comparison of two topics.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`topic_a`	string	Yes	First topic
`topic_b`	string	Yes	Second topic

`get_latest`

Get the most recently added content.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`limit`	number	No	Max results, 1-20 (default: 5)

`list_topics`

Browse all topics in the knowledge base with content types and section headings.

`register`

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`email`	string	Yes	Your email address

More tools

The server registers 17 tools in total. The others:

Tool	What it does	Main parameters
`find_articles`	Structured lookup by tag, type, title text and date range (no embeddings)	`tag`, `content_type`, `title`, `date_from`, `date_to`
`list_tags`	Every tag with its article count	—
`suggest_ideas`	Topic suggestions from query analytics (gaps, low-confidence queries)	`days` (default 7), `limit`
`add_idea` / `list_ideas` / `export_ideas`	Idea journal stored alongside the index	`title`, `description`, `status`, `priority`, `source`
`export_article`	One article as a markdown post	`url`
`export_topic_roundup`	Roundup post from related articles	`topic`, `limit`
`export_qa_compilation`	FAQ-style markdown from article Q&A pairs	`topic`, `limit`
`generate_dashboard_data`	JSON analytics snapshot (optionally written to `data/dashboard.json`)	`days` (default 30), `output_file`

Content Types

Type	Description
article	Informational content about MCP, local AI, automation
project	ASTGL project documentation
tutorial	Step-by-step how-to guides
comparison	Side-by-side topic analysis
guide	Comprehensive reference material
newsletter	Personal updates and announcements
faq	Primarily Q&A content
concept	Wiki concept pages (only allowlisted pages are public)
entity	Wiki entity pages (only allowlisted pages are public)

Counts change as content is added; call list_topics or list_tags for the current index. draft and synthesis entries exist only in the maintainer database and are removed from the published one. The content_type descriptions in the tool schemas list only the first seven types.

Rate Limits

Tier	Limit	How to Get
Public	50 queries/day	Default (anonymous)
Registered	500 queries/day	Use the `register` tool with your email

Limits reset at midnight UTC. Rate limit info is included in every response.

Limits and registrations are enforced by the server process itself: usage and registrations are kept in a local SQLite file (data/query-log.db next to the package, or ASTGL_QUERY_LOG_DB), and anonymous clients get a persistent ID in ~/.astgl-client-id. An ASTGL_API_KEY only counts as registered if it exists in that local registrations table.

How It Works

The knowledge base is pre-built from ASTGL articles using semantic embeddings (nomic-embed-text, 768 dimensions). Content is chunked by section and FAQ entry, embedded, and stored in a SQLite database with sqlite-vec for vector similarity search.

Article embeddings are pre-computed and shipped in the npm package, so you never re-index content. Your query is still embedded at runtime through Ollama for the semantic tools (see the requirement above).

The server opens data/knowledge.db when it exists (a maintainer checkout) and otherwise build/knowledge-public.db. The npm package ships only build/knowledge-public.db, which npm run build-public-db produces by physically removing every non-public row (see docs/adr/).

Performance

Typical response time: 100-500ms (embedding lookup + vector search)
Embedding results are cached in memory (LRU, 200 entries) — repeated queries are near-instant
Ollama calls include 10s timeout + automatic retry
Query logging is async/batched to avoid blocking responses
Rate limit checks are cached for 5 seconds

For Maintainers

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Jmeg8r/mcp-astgl-knowledge.git
cd mcp-astgl-knowledge
npm install

Scripts

Script	Description
`npm run build`	Compile TypeScript
`npm test`	Run the test suite (node:test via tsx)
`npm run dev`	Run MCP server in dev mode (tsx)
`npm start`	Run compiled MCP server
`npm run ingest`	Rebuild knowledge.db from local markdown (requires Ollama)
`npm run ingest-projects`	Index project docs from astgl-site projects.json
`npm run discover`	Poll RSS/sitemap for new content
`npm run structure`	Process discovered content (classify, embed, index)
`npm run pipeline`	Discover + structure in one step
`npm run daily-report`	Generate AEO analytics report
`npm run alerts`	Run content gap alert checks
`npm run freshness`	Check for stale content and ecosystem version changes
`npm run publish-drift`	Compare local publishable content against what npm actually serves
`npm run citation-test`	Manual AI citation testing
`npm run related`	Generate internal article links via vector similarity
`npm run build-public-db`	Write `build/knowledge-public.db` with non-public rows removed (runs in `prepack`)

Other maintainer scripts (draft ingest and reconcile, rewrite queue, wiki sync, backup pruning, dashboard data, MCPB bundle) are listed in package.json.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`OLLAMA_URL`	`http://localhost:11434`	Ollama endpoint (dev/rebuild only)
`EMBED_MODEL`	`nomic-embed-text`	Embedding model
`DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL`	—	Discord webhook for reports/alerts
`ASTGL_API_KEY`	—	Registered tier API key
`ASTGL_ARTICLES_DIR`	`~/Projects/astgl-site/src/content/answers`	Local markdown source
`ASTGL_PROJECTS_JSON`	`~/Projects/astgl-site/src/data/projects.json`	Projects data source
`ASTGL_QUERY_LOG_DB`	`data/query-log.db`	Query log, rate limits and registrations
`ASTGL_CITATION_TEST_DB`	`data/citation-test.db`	Citation test results

Automated Jobs

Job	Schedule	Purpose
Content pipeline	Every 6h	Discover + structure new content
Daily report	8 AM	Query analytics + health metrics (JSON report)
Content alerts	9 AM	Gap detection, zero-citation, competitor scan (JSON report)
Freshness check	10 AM	Stale content + ecosystem version tracking (JSON report)
Draft pipeline	Midnight	Index pre-publication drafts
Wiki sync	00:30	Incremental sync of tagged wiki pages into the index
Draft reconciler	2 AM	Retire draft entries whose source is gone
Citation testing reminder	Mondays 9 AM	Reminder to run citation tests

Schedules are defined in cron/*.json; the scheduled report jobs print JSON that an external scheduler picks up and delivers. Run the report scripts with --discord to post to DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL instead. macOS launchd plists for the pipeline, draft and wiki jobs are in launchd/.

Architecture

flowchart TD
    Client["MCP client<br/>(Claude, Cursor, ...)"] -->|"stdio"| Server["MCP server<br/>src/index.ts (17 tools)"]
    Server --> RL["Rate limit + query log<br/>data/query-log.db"]
    Server --> Search["src/search.ts"]
    Search -->|"embed query"| Ollama["Ollama<br/>nomic-embed-text"]
    Search -->|"sqlite-vec KNN"| KDB[("knowledge.db<br/>or knowledge-public.db")]
    Sources["astgl.ai RSS / sitemap<br/>+ local markdown"] -->|"discover, structure, ingest"| KDB
    KDB -->|"build-public-db"| Pub[("build/knowledge-public.db<br/>(shipped in npm)")]
    Jobs["Report jobs<br/>daily report, alerts, freshness"] -.->|"--discord (manual)"| Discord["Discord webhook"]

A rendered diagram is in docs/diagrams/mcp-astgl-knowledge.architecture.svg (source: docs/diagrams/mcp-astgl-knowledge.architecture.json).

License

MIT

Add this server

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Server facts

Tools

Questions

How do I install ASTGL Knowledge?

Does ASTGL Knowledge need an API key?

What transport does ASTGL Knowledge use?

When was ASTGL Knowledge last checked?

Documentation

mcp-astgl-knowledge

Quick Start

Claude Desktop

Claude Code

Cursor / Generic MCP Client

With Registration (500 queries/day)

Tools

search_articles

get_answer

get_tutorial

compare_topics

get_latest

list_topics

register

More tools

Content Types

Rate Limits

How It Works

Performance

For Maintainers

Setup

Scripts

Environment Variables

Automated Jobs

Architecture

License

`search_articles`

`get_answer`

`get_tutorial`

`compare_topics`

`get_latest`

`list_topics`

`register`