Give Your AI a Second Brain: Mente's MCP Server

If you use AI tools like Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible assistant, you know the pain: the AI is smart, but it doesn't know you. It doesn't know what articles you've been reading, what notes you've taken, or what ideas you've been collecting. Every conversation starts from zero.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) changes that. It's an open standard that lets AI assistants connect to external tools and data sources. Think of it as a USB port for AI — plug in a service, and your AI can use it.

Mente now has an MCP server. That means your AI assistant can search your knowledge base, save new links, read your notes, and browse your categories — all without leaving your workflow.

What Is MCP (and Why Should You Care)

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It was created by Anthropic as a way for AI applications to connect to external tools in a standardized way. Instead of every app building its own integration, MCP provides a common interface.

In practical terms: you add a config block to your AI tool, and suddenly it can call Mente's tools. No browser tab, no copy-pasting, no context switching. You ask your AI a question about something you saved three weeks ago, and it goes and finds it for you.

This matters because the real power of a knowledge base isn't just storage — it's retrieval at the right moment. And the right moment is often when you're in the middle of working on something, inside your AI tool.

What Mente's MCP Server Can Do

The MCP server exposes six tools that your AI can call:

• search — Search your knowledge base by meaning. Returns items and notes that match your query semantically. Ask things like "what did I save about machine learning" and get real results.
• save_link — Save a URL to your Mente knowledge base. AI processes it automatically — summarization, categorization, concept extraction, and todo generation all happen in the background.
• get_item — Get full details of a saved item including the AI-generated summary, key concepts, categories, tags, and connections to other items.
• list_items — Browse your recently saved content. Filter by type (articles, videos, tweets, papers, products) and control how many results you get.
• list_notes — Access your notes. Get titles, summaries, and timestamps for your most recent notes.
• list_categories — See how your knowledge is organized. Returns all your categories with item counts, so you can understand what topics you've been collecting.

Every tool authenticates with your personal API key, so it only accesses your data. Nobody else's.

How to Set It Up

It takes about two minutes.

Step 1: Generate an API Key

Go to Settings in your Mente dashboard. Under API Keys, click Generate API Key. Copy it — you'll need it in the next step.

Step 2: Connect Your AI Tool

For Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE" mente https://app.getmente.com/api/mcp/mcp

That's it — one command and Claude Code is connected to your knowledge base.

For Cursor and other MCP clients, add this JSON to your MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mente": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://app.getmente.com/api/mcp/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with the key you generated in Step 1.

Step 3: Start Using It

That's it. Your AI now has access to your entire Mente knowledge base. Try it out.

Example Use Cases

Here's what this looks like in practice:

Research retrieval. You're writing a report and need that article about market trends you saved two months ago. Instead of opening Mente and searching manually, you tell your AI: "Search my Mente for articles about market trends in Latin America." It comes back with the titles, summaries, and URLs.

Quick capture. You're reading a thread on Twitter and want to save it. Tell your AI: "Save this link to Mente: https://x.com/..." Done. AI processing starts immediately.

Knowledge check. You're making a decision and want to recall what you've read about a topic. Ask: "What do I have saved about pricing strategies?" Your AI searches your knowledge base and gives you a summary of everything relevant.

Project context. Starting a new project and want to pull in all your related notes? "List my notes about the product launch." Get a quick overview of everything you've captured.

Content audit. Wondering what areas you've been reading about most? "Show me my Mente categories." See your topics ranked by how much content you've saved in each.

Why This Matters

Your knowledge base is only useful if you can access it when you need it. And increasingly, "when you need it" means "while I'm working with an AI."

MCP bridges that gap. Instead of your AI starting every conversation as a blank slate, it can draw on everything you've ever saved. The articles you've read. The notes you've taken. The concepts you've been thinking about.

It's like giving Claude a memory — your memory.

The people who get the most out of AI tools aren't the ones who write the best prompts. They're the ones who give their AI the best context. And there's no better context than your own curated knowledge base.

FAQ

Does it work with Claude Desktop?

Not yet — Claude Desktop doesn't support remote MCP servers. Use Claude Code or Cursor instead. We'll add support as soon as Claude Desktop supports streamable HTTP MCP servers.

Is it free?

The MCP server is included in your Mente subscription. You just need an API key.

What data can the AI access?

Only your own saved content — items, notes, and categories. The AI authenticates with your personal API key. It can't access anyone else's data, and nobody else's AI can access yours.

How do I get an API key?

Go to Settings in your Mente dashboard and generate one under API Keys. You can create multiple keys and revoke them at any time.

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Give your AI the context it deserves. Try Mente free and connect your MCP server in under two minutes.