The Build Vault MCP Server

Overview

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that transforms The Build Podcast into a searchable knowledge base with thousands of AI insights using advanced hybrid search. Combines vector semantic similarity with full-text search to help you discover business ideas, frameworks, and product strategies. Access the collective wisdom of builders and entrepreneurs through natural language queries, making podcast knowledge instantly actionable.

Background

Our MCP Server sources it's information from The Build Vault. The Build Vault is an intelligent archive of AI-focused insights, products, ideas and news extracted from The Build Podcast episodes. The backend powers a sophisticated AI-driven data processing pipeline that consists of the following stages:

Core Processing Pipeline

• YouTube Episode Extraction and Audio Download
• AssemblyAI Transcriptions with speaker diarization, sentiment analysis, and auto highlights
• Segment Processing with AI-enhanced titles, topics, and key phrases

LLM Driven Content Extraction

• 150-250 word summaries
• Extract insights across Frameworks & Exercises, Points of View, Business Ideas, Stories & Anecdotes, Quotes, and Products
• Product Extraction: Automatically identifies and tracks product mentions from insights, preparing them for enrichment workflows
• Link Processing: Extracts URLs from YouTube descriptions and enriches them with AI-powered summaries, categorization, and key takeaways

Advanced Search & Discovery

• Vector Embeddings: Generates embeddings for semantic search capabilities
• Hybrid Search: Combines vector similarity search with full-text search

MCP Client Configuration

Known Client Compatibility:

• Claude Desktop
• Claude Code
• Goose
• OpenAI ChatGPT (chat.openai.com)
• OpenAI Playground

Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "build-vault": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.buildaipod.com/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add build-vault -s user --transport http https://mcp.buildaipod.com/mcp

Goose AI Extension

OpenAI ChatGPT (Custom Connectors)

OpenAI Playground

MCP Version Compatability

MCP 2025-06-18 Compliance

• Protocol Version: 2025-06-18 with full specification compliance
• Structured Output: Enhanced tools with outputSchema and structuredContent
• Elicitation Support: Declared capability with intelligent follow-up suggestions
• Title Fields: All tools, resources, and prompts include descriptive titles
• Resource Links: Cross-referencing between related content
• Transports: stdio + Streamable HTTP

Enhanced Compatability

• OpenAI Deep Research: Compatible with OpenAI's Deep Research Custom Connectors

Vault Discovery Tools (12 Total)

• List Products: Browse AI products with filtering and pagination
• Search Products: Semantic search using embeddings (3072 dimensions)
• Product Details: Comprehensive product information with resource links
• Find Similar: Vector similarity search for related products
• Search by Speaker: Filter insights by podcast speakers (Tom Spencer, Cameron Rohn)
• Search by Date Range: Find products within specific time periods
• Search by Category: Filter by 6 content categories (business_ideas, frameworks_and_exercises, products, points_of_view, stories_and_anecdotes, quotes)
• Search by Timeframe: Find insights within episode timestamps
• Speaker Summary: Comprehensive speaker statistics and insights
• Timeline Insights: Chronologically ordered insights with metadata
• Search (Deep Research): Natural language search for AI insights and episodes
• Fetch (Deep Research): Get complete content with full context and metadata

Analytics Resources with Elicitation (4 Total)

• Trending Insights: High-confidence insights with smart follow-up suggestions
• Category Distribution: Live analytics on content breakdown by category
• Episode Timeline: Chronological episode data with insight counts
• Speaker Analytics: Real-time speaker statistics and content analysis

Guided Prompts (4 Total)

• Find Business Ideas: Discover business insights and opportunities
• Explore Frameworks: Structured exploration of frameworks and exercises
• Timeline Analysis: Chronological exploration of topics and themes
• Compare Content Types: Compare different categories of insights

Enhanced Elicitation Features

When accessing resources, the server provides intelligent follow-up suggestions:

• Category Analysis: "Found 9 product insights, 6 points_of_view insights"
• Speaker Breakdown: "Cameron Rohn (11 insights), Tom Spencer (8 insights)"
• Tool Recommendations: Specific next-step suggestions with usage examples
• Semantic Search Guidance: Query suggestions based on actual content

OpenAI Deep Research Integration

This server is compatible with OpenAI's Deep Research Custom Connectors. The search and fetch tools are specifically designed to work with Deep Research models:

• Search Tool: Accepts natural language queries (e.g., "insights about AI agents") and returns results in the format {id, title, text, url}
• Fetch Tool: Retrieves complete content with metadata for deep analysis and citation

Usage Examples

Discovering AI Products

1. Browse Categories: Use search_by_category with "products" to see 334 product insights
2. Semantic Search: Try search_products with "AI agents" or "LangChain"
3. Trending Content: Access vault://trending_insights resource for top 20 high-confidence insights
4. Follow Suggestions: Look for "What's Next?" sections with intelligent recommendations

Example Searches

Try these searches to get started:

• "What frameworks exist for prompt engineering?"
• "Business ideas in the healthcare AI space"
• "What did Tom Spencer say about LangChain?"
• "Insights about AI safety and alignment"
• "Products for building chatbots"

Available Tools

Tool	Name	Description	Parameters
List Products	list_products	Browse AI products with filtering and pagination	limit, offset, category, approved_only
Search Products	search_products	Semantic search across all products	query, limit, category
Get Product Details	get_product_details	Get comprehensive information about a specific product	product_id
Find Similar Products	find_similar_products	Find products similar to a given one	product_id, limit
Search by Speaker	search_by_speaker	Filter insights by podcast speaker	speaker_name, limit
Search by Date Range	search_by_date_range	Find products within date range	start_date, end_date, limit
Search by Category	search_by_category	Filter by content category	category, limit
Search by Timeframe	search_by_timeframe	Find insights within episode timestamps	start_time, end_time, episode_id
Get Speaker Summary	get_speaker_summary	Get comprehensive speaker statistics	speaker_name
Get Timeline Insights	get_timeline_insights	Get chronologically ordered insights	limit, start_date, end_date
Search	search	Natural language search for ChatGPT Connectors	query
Fetch	fetch	Get complete content with metadata for ChatGPT Connectors	id

Available Resources

Resource	URI	Description
Trending Insights	vault://trending_insights	Most recent and popular insights with engagement metrics
Category Distribution	vault://category_distribution	Analytics on content breakdown by categories
Episode Timeline	vault://episode_timeline	Chronological episode data with duration and metadata
Speaker Analytics	vault://speaker_analytics	Speaker-specific statistics and content breakdown
Discovery Guide	vault://guide/discovery	How to find and evaluate AI products
Product Catalog	vault://product_catalog	Overview of all products with categories and approval status
Technical Domains	vault://technical_domains	Analysis of technical domains and tool categories
Episode-Insights Map	vault://episode_insights_map	Comprehensive mapping of episodes to their insights and products

Available Prompts

Prompt	Name	Description	Arguments
Find Business Ideas	find_business_ideas	Guided workflow to discover business insights and opportunities	industry (optional), focus (optional)
Explore Frameworks	explore_frameworks	Structured exploration of frameworks and exercises	domain (optional), purpose (optional)
Timeline Analysis	timeline_analysis	Chronological exploration of topics and themes	speaker_focus (optional), theme (optional)
Compare Content Types	compare_content_types	Compare different categories of insights and content	categories (optional), criteria (optional)

Architecture

Key Technical Features

• Triple Transport Design: stdio, HTTP, and Cloudflare Workers
• Type Safety: TypeScript with Zod runtime validation
• Vector Search: Real-time semantic similarity
• Elicitation: Intelligent follow-up suggestions based on content analysis
• Health Monitoring: Built-in health check endpoints
• Deep Research Compatible: Implements search/fetch tools for OpenAI integration

Data Overview

Primary Data Source: The Build Vault Database

• DB Tables: Index with vector embeddings
• Content: Thousands of AI insights from vault.buildaipod.com
• Categories: 6 types (business_ideas, frameworks_and_exercises, products, points_of_view)
• Embeddings: 3072-dimensional vectors from text-embedding-3-large

Version Information

• Version: 0.2.0
• Protocol: MCP 2025-06-18
• SDK: @modelcontextprotocol/sdk 1.16.0
• Features: Full specification compliance with elicitation, structured output, resource links, and Deep Research compatibility
• stdio: Default MCP transport for direct client integration
• http: MCP 2025-06-18 Streamable HTTP with header validation

Testing

• MCP Central Lab: Test the server interactively at https://lab.mcpcentral.io/

MCP Registry

This server is published in the official Model Context Protocol Registry. The registry configuration is defined in server.json, which specifies:

• Server Metadata: Name, description, and repository information
• Remote Endpoints: HTTP transport endpoints at https://mcp.buildaipod.com/mcp and https://mcp.demos.build/mcp
• Package Distribution: Available on npm as build-vault-mcp-server
• Client Compatibility: Supports Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Goose, and OpenAI ChatGPT
• Feature Declaration: 12 tools, 8 resources, 4 prompts with semantic search and deep research capabilities

The registry enables automatic discovery and installation of this MCP server across compatible clients.

Support

• GitHub Issues: For bug reports and feature requests
• Health Check: GET /health endpoint for status monitoring

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Working Examples

Example 1: AI Agent Research for Developers

Scenario: A developer wants to research AI agents and autonomous systems to build their own agent framework.

Tools Used: search, fetch, search_by_speaker

1. Initial Search: Search for "AI agents and autonomous systems"
2. Get Detailed Content: Fetch the full content for a specific insight ID
3. Find Expert Perspectives: Search for insights by speaker "Tom Spencer"

Expected Results: Framework discussions, real-world implementations, and expert opinions on agent architecture.

Example 2: Business Idea Discovery for Entrepreneurs

Scenario: An entrepreneur wants to find validated business ideas in the AI space discussed by industry experts.

Tools Used: search_by_category, find_similar_products, get_speaker_summary

1. Browse Business Ideas: Search by category "business_ideas"
2. Find Similar Concepts: Find products similar to interesting results
3. Expert Analysis: Get comprehensive summary for speaker "Cameron Rohn"

Expected Results: SaaS opportunities, AI product concepts, and market validation insights.

Example 3: Framework Research for Product Managers

Scenario: A product manager needs proven frameworks for building AI products and managing development processes.

Tools Used: search_by_category, get_timeline_insights, search_by_date_range

1. Find Frameworks: Search by category "frameworks_and_exercises"
2. See Evolution Over Time: Get timeline insights for 2024
3. Recent Best Practices: Search by recent date range

Expected Results: Product development methodologies, AI implementation strategies, and team management approaches.