Brainstem

What it does

Brainstem bridges your personal knowledge management (PKM) repo on GitHub to AI chat clients via MCP. Whether you use Obsidian, Logseq, or plain markdown files, Brainstem indexes your content with semantic search so your AI can retrieve, search, and save to your notes from anywhere — mobile, desktop, or any MCP-compatible tool.

Key features

• Semantic search (search_brain) — AI searches your knowledge base using meaning, not just keywords; results link back to GitHub sources
• Inbox composer (brain_inbox) — interactive note editor with live markdown preview and auto-save; for non-UI clients, brain_inbox_save writes directly
• Email-to-brain forwarding — forward emails to your @brainstem.cc address and they appear in your inbox/ folder within a minute
• Web clipper — browser bookmarklet extracts articles and saves them to your inbox
• Auto-sync on push — GitHub webhook triggers incremental reindex; new content is searchable in ~1 minute
• Tenant isolation — each installation's data is stored under a unique R2 prefix with scoped search queries

Installation

Claude.ai (Web) — easiest:

1. Visit brainstem.cc/setup and connect your repo
2. Copy your unique MCP endpoint URL
3. Go to Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector and paste the URL

Claude Desktop / Claude Code:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-brain": {
      "url": "https://brainstem.cc/mcp/{your-uuid}"
    }
  }
}

VS Code Copilot (settings.json):

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "brainstem": {
      "url": "https://brainstem.cc/mcp/{your-uuid}"
    }
  }
}

Supported hosts

Claude.ai (web), Claude Desktop, Claude Code — confirmed in README. HTTP transport means any MCP-compatible client with remote server support can connect.