Model Context Protocol

Standard for connecting AI clients to tools and data (LSP/ODBC analogy).

Takeaways

• MCP separates client (Cursor, Claude Desktop) from server (Gmail, Raindrop, QMD, filesystem).
• Prefer lean servers; streamable HTTP / efficient tool design matters at scale.
• Registries and product wrappers (e.g. mcpt) can die; the protocol and first-party servers matter more than meta-stores.
• Auth reality: Bearer tokens often beat broken OAuth redirects in IDE hosts.

Vault usage

QMD + Raindrop via gitignored .cursor/mcp.json. Gmail stays CLI (gws), not MCP.