erdalgunes/ustad-mcp

Üstad-MCP 🧠🔍

MCP server using sequential thinking to understand user intent and Tavily for web searches

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that will orchestrate multiple MCPs to provide intelligent, collaborative AI assistance. It embodies the proven pattern: "be collaborative, show me what you are thinking, use sequential thinking to understand my intent, use tavily for best practices, use todo tool to keep track of your work, use yagni principles, keep me on the loop"

🎯 Vision

Build an AI assistant that:

• 🧠 Uses sequential thinking to understand user intent
• 🔍 Uses Tavily for web searches and research
• 📋 Tracks tasks and shows progress clearly
• 🤝 Keeps humans in the loop with transparent decisions
• ⚡ Applies YAGNI principles - builds only what's needed

🛠️ Current Status

⚠️ Early Development - Nothing Implemented Yet

This is a planning repository. We're following YAGNI principles:

• Start with minimal viable implementation
• Build only what we need right now
• Avoid complexity that leads to hallucination

🚀 What We'll Build First

Phase 1: Basic MCP Server

• TypeScript MCP server that starts successfully
• Single tool: cognitive-search
• Integrates sequential-thinking MCP for intent analysis
• Integrates Tavily MCP for web search
• Integrates todo MCP for progress tracking

Simple Architecture

Claude Desktop → Üstad-MCP → [Sequential Thinking, Tavily, Todo MCPs]

📦 Getting Started

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18+
• Claude Desktop
• API keys: Tavily

Setup:

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/erdalgunes/ustad-mcp.git
cd ustad-mcp

# Install (when package.json exists)
npm install

# Build (when implemented)
npm run build

⚙️ Configuration (Planned)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ustad-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["./dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "TAVILY_API_KEY": "your-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

🎨 Usage Vision

User: "Research democratic technology cooperatives"

Üstad-MCP:
🧠 Understanding your intent...
🔍 Searching with Tavily...
📋 Progress: Found 3 sources, synthesizing...
✅ Here's what I found: [results with citations]

🤝 Contributing

YAGNI Development Approach:

1. Build the minimal thing that works
2. Test it thoroughly
3. Only add complexity when actually needed
4. Keep humans in the loop for all decisions

Current Priority: Get the basic MCP server running with one simple tool.

🏛️ Democratic Technology

This project is part of the democratictech ecosystem, building technology that serves human agency and collective intelligence.

Our Principles:

• Human agency over automation
• Transparency in decision-making
• YAGNI: Build what you need, when you need it
• Quality over features

📄 License

Hippocratic License 3.0 - Prohibits use for violating human rights.
Learn more: firstdonoharm.dev

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Cognitive Efficiency MCP: Research foundation for structured thinking
• Sequential Thinking MCP: Intent understanding capabilities
• Tavily: Web search and research capabilities
• MCP Community: Building the future of AI tool integration

Üstad (اُستاد) means "teacher" - reflecting our goal of creating AI that teaches and collaborates rather than replaces human thinking.