The shelf | Master AI Automation in 4 hours Master AI Automation in 4 hours Course About Ayush Modules Sample chapter Toolbox The Microcap Minute Classroom / Module 05: MCP: Plug-ins With Standards / Chapter 4 The shelf Watch first, then read. Same lesson, your pace. What you will learn – A curated starter set of servers – What each unlocks in practice – How many is too many Five that earn their place The ecosystem grows weekly (browse github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers and PulseMCP for the full library), but this starter shelf covers most student needs: Server Unlocks Killer use Filesystem (done) Your folders “Organise my downloads by file type” Fetch/Web search Live web pages & search “Summarise today’s news about ISRO, with sources” GitHub Repos, issues, PRs “List open issues in my repo and draft replies” Memory Persistent notes across chats Remembers project decisions between sessions SQLite/Postgres Databases “Query my expense DB: top 5 categories this month” Notice each converts a manual chore into a sentence . That’s the selection criterion for everything else you’ll ever install: does this turn something I do weekly into something I can ask for? Wiring follows Chapter 3’s exact ritual, add a block to mcpServers , save, restart, verify the tool list. Two minutes each now that you speak config. Less is more Temptation says install twenty. Restraint says five. Every connected server adds tools into the model’s menu, and an overstuffed menu degrades choices and slows startup. Curate like a chef: keep the knives you use, drawer the rest. Revisit quarterly as needs change. Also worth knowing: remote servers are emerging, hosted versions you connect via URL instead of local commands (no npm needed). Same protocol, less plumbing. Expect this to become the default over time; another example of why learning concepts beats memorising installs. Try it yourself Install exactly two from the shelf (web search first). For each: wire, restart, verify tools listed, run one real task (“find and summarise one article about any Indian space mission, citing the source”). Then uninstall nothing but audit : list every installed server with one line on why it stays. Post the audit in learn/mcp-shelf.md . Key takeaways – Starter five: filesystem, web search, GitHub, memory, database. – Install criterion: turns a weekly chore into a sentence. – Fewer servers = better model decisions; audit quarterly. – Remote/hosted servers are the low-plumbing future of the same protocol. Download the exercise sheet (PDF) Module workbook (PDF) ← Prev: Plug in your first server Next: Build a tiny server + the safety checklist → Classroom / Module 05: MCP: Plug-ins With Standards / Chapter 4 The shelf What you will learn – A curated starter set of servers – What each unlocks in practice – How many is too many Five that earn their place The ecosystem grows weekly (browse github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers and PulseMCP for the full library), but this starter shelf covers most student needs: Server Unlocks Killer use Filesystem (done) Your folders “Organise my downloads by file type” Fetch/Web search Live web pages & search “Summarise today’s news about ISRO, with sources” GitHub Repos, issues, PRs “List open issues in my repo and draft replies” Memory Persistent notes across chats Remembers project decisions between sessions SQLite/Postgres Databases “Query my expense DB: top 5 categories this month” Notice each converts a manual chore into a sentence . That’s the selection criterion for everything else you’ll ever install: does this turn something I do weekly into something I can ask for? Wiring follows Chapter 3’s exact ritual, add a block to mcpServers , save, restart, verify the tool list. Two minutes each now that you speak config. Less is more Temptation says install twenty. Restraint says five. Every connected server adds tools into the model’s menu, and an overstuffed menu degrades choices and slows startup. Curate like a chef: keep the knives you
The shelf
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