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_notes/ATProtocol Dev.md

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       A blog, newsletter, and event series following the development of protocol apps building on top of [[ATProtocol]].

     

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       I’m running this as an independent project where I’ll be interviewing devs in a series of tech talks.

     

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       This follows my belief in [[Proto Apps]] and [[Open Social Protocols]] in general. 

     

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       Started in late August 2024.

     

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       As of February 2025, we've created the [[AT Protocol Community Fund]], and this website is part of the activities of the Community Fund.

     

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       ## Tech Talks

     

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       Presentations by developers on what they're building / how they built it, followed by Q&A and an off the record developer hang out.

     

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       This follows my belief in [[Proto Apps]] and [[Open Social Protocols]] in general. 
     

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       <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/pvoLfGzjmPc?si=q6_CC-RbeTVLalI8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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_notes/ATmosphereConf.md

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       ---

     

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       link: https://atprotocol.dev/atmosphereconf

     

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       tags:

     

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         - event

     

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         - unconference

     

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         - ATProtocol

     

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         - Seattle

     

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       ---

     

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       I'm one of the organizers for this [[ATProtocol]] community conference, March 22nd & 23rd in Seattle, Washington.

     

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       Other organizers include [[Ted Han]], [[Erik Marks]], and [[Josh Shaker]].

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_notes/DWeb Meetup - Bluesky and Beyond.md

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         - dweb

     

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       event-date: 2025-02-19

     

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       I'm one of three speakers, along with [[Bryan Newbold]] and [[Mallory Knodel]].

     

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       I'm one of three speakers, along with [[Bryan Newbold]] and [[Mallory Knodel]]. Video was recorded and will be shared.

     

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       PDF of my slides: ![PDF - DWeb Bluesky and Beyond - Growing the ATmosphere, Feb 19th, 2025](/assets/2025/DWeb_Bluesky_and_Beyond-Growing_the_ATmosphere.pdf)

     

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       Text from the slides included below. Notes callouts are speaker notes.

     

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       ## Growing the ATmosphere

     

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       _The AT Protocol ecosystem beyond Bluesky and microblogging_

     

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       ###  ATprotocol.Dev

     

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       Decided to start doing Tech Talks - presentations by and for AT Protocol developers, Aug 2024 https://atprotocol.dev/ [[ATProtocol Dev]]

     

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       By December, decided to put on the first in-person community AT Protocol conference aka [[ATmosphereConf]] https://atprotocol.dev/atmosphereconf

     

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       * tech talks with live video have been great

     

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       * in-person connections help to build strong ties that carry us through online discussions

     

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       > [!NOTE]

     

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       > User 22 on the network, November 2022 https://atproto-browser.vercel.app/at/bmann.ca

     

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       ---

     

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       ### ATmosphere

     

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       The [[ATmosphere]] is what the collection of all the apps and data on the AT Protocol is called.

     

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       For example, Recipes! https://recipe.exchange

     

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       With a full featured Schema.org data model, attribution, images, etc

     

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       ![Screenshot of Chick Peas with Garlic Mousseline on Recipes.Exchange](/assets/2025/recipes-exchange-chickpeas.png)

     

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       > [!NOTE]

     

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       > [Chick Peas with Garlic Mousseline](https://recipe.exchange/recipes/01JGJ97VWB9YCWHKE24HC1K1SP) on Recipes.Exchange. You can also [browse it in my user repo](https://atproto-browser.vercel.app/at/did:plc:2cxgdrgtsmrbqnjkwyplmp43/exchange.recipe.recipe/01JGJ97VWB9YCWHKE24HC1K1SP) to get a sense of what custom Lexicon records look like.

     

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       ---

     

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       ### Many data types and app front ends

     

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       Here’s a small selection of other apps

     

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       * WhtWnd: long form blogging https://whtwnd.com/

     

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       * Smoke Signal: events & rsvps https://smokesignal.events/

     

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       * Frontpage: hacker news clone that might grow up to be Reddit https://frontpage.fyi/

     

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       * And cool experimental stuff like Roomy Chat - atproto + localfirst + p2p https://roomy.chat/

     

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       All of this data is stored in your own user account, and can have multiple client front ends.

     

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       > [!NOTE]

     

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       > Blog posts and video interviews all available at https://atprotocol.dev

     

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       ---

     

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       ### What about the clones?

     

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       Most of them are client apps that sit on top of the Bluesky microblog Lexicon.

     

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       Some of them are starting to add custom Lexicons

     

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       I love them all equally but for simplicity will link you to Pinksky, an “Instagram clone” https://pinksky.app/

     

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       > [!NOTE]

     

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       > There are tons of Instagram and TikTok “clones” popping up.

     

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       > 

     

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       > Most of them are client apps that sit on top of the Bluesky microblog Lexicon, but with a novel UI customized for images or videos. Which is cool by itself! 

     

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       > 

     

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       > Some of them are starting to add custom Lexicons for layout preferences and other features. At least one plans to not use the microblog Lexicon.

     

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       > 

     

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       > These are 1 - 2 person teams mostly without funding. Many are native mobile only.

     

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       ---

     

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       ### Small AT Protocol

     

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       People are generally talking about “small Bluesky” or “alternative Bluesky”. 

     

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       Can ATproto scale down? [1B links on a homelab RPi]( https://bsky.bad-example.com/can-atproto-scale-down/)

     

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       Also many other app architectures: e.g. Smoke Signal talks to PDS directly

     

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       > [!NOTE]

     

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       > Alternative to Bluesky is an extremely boring take. Bluesky means a lot of things, one of them is the bluesky Lexicon which defines 300 character microblogging.

     

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       > 

     

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       > A German only – or even better, a Canadian only - microblogging site would both be relatively cheap to run.

     

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       > 

     

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       > The architecture for different shapes of things isn’t fully figured out yet. People need to try things!

     

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       > 

     

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       > [[PDS]] are small, simple and cheap to run per account.

     

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       ---

     

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       ### AT Protocol data is public

     

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       It’s a protocol, anyone can run a firehose (these are cheap to run, more expensive if you keep the data, index it, run search queries, and serve it up as a full AppView)

     

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       You delegate your hosting to a Personal Data Server ([[PDS]]) which has a repo with all of your data, of all Lexicon types and all apps.

     

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       _Example:_ A follow record is stored in your user account, as a record that points to the account (DID) of the user you’re following.

     

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       Same for likes and blocks.

     

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       Kind of like HTML – you host a website that has links to point to others.

     

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       > [!NOTE]

     

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       > This has kind of covered a lot – private data on AT Protocol is a work in progress. I’m personally very interested in this, not just for social media use cases, but for app use cases of all kinds.

     

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       ---

     

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       ### ActivityPub for nuanced group privacy

     

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       * I helped setup and run [[CoSocial]], a Canadian co-operative that runs some [[ActivityPub]] powered services

     

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       * 

     

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       * [[ATmosphereConf]] is the [[ATProtocol]] community conference in Seattle, March 22nd & 23rd. It's run by the [[AT Protocol Community Fund]] which has [[Raft Foundation]] as its fiscal host
     

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       I’ve run/test/administered  various ActivityPub servers, mostly microblog (aka “Note”) shaped ones. 

     

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       Am a member of [[CoSocial]]  https://blog.cosocial.ca

     

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       Next on my personal list: a [[Hometown]] server for my hometown of Bowen Island, to displace Facebook from the core of the community.

     

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       ---

     

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       ### Join us in Seattle for talks & working groups

     

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       [[ATmosphereConf]] March 22nd & 23rd, Seattle Washington https://atprotocol.dev/atmosphereconf

     

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       Volunteer community organized. Hosted by [[AT Protocol Community Fund]], with fiscal sponsorship  by [[Raft Foundation]] https://raft.foundation

     

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       For this crowd, some of the in progress working group topics https://notes.commonscomputer.com/atmosphereconf

     

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       Try things! Pool funds, pool collaboration, gather and serve what community means to you!

     

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_notes/DWeb.md

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       > [Since 2016](https://getdweb.net/origin-story) we have been a bridge enabling diverse communities to freely exchange ideas about the technologies, values, markets and agreements we need to move forward.

     

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       [[DWebYVR]] is the Vancouver regional node.

     

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       ## Principles

     

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       The [DWeb Principles](https://getdweb.net/principles/) go into detail in the following 5 areas:

     
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       4. Humanity

     

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       5. Ecological Awareness

     

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       ## Resources

     

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       * [DWeb Discord](https://discord.gg/YsJ3RrTBaJ) - chat with different nodes and topics. In progress Matrix bridge

     

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       * [DWeb.Camp](https://dweb.camp) - a [[HedgeDoc]] install for collaborative note taking in Markdown. Installed and maintained by me on a [[Railway]] install.

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_notes/Introducing the Model Context Protocol.md

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       link: https://www.anthropic.com/news/model-context-protocol

     

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       tags:

     

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         - Anthropic

     

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       author:

     

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         - Anthropic

     

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       published: 2024-11-25

     

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       ---

     

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       [[MCP]] is a new standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data lives, including content repositories, business tools, and development environments. Its aim is to help frontier models produce better, more relevant responses.

     

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       As AI assistants gain mainstream adoption, the industry has invested heavily in model capabilities, achieving rapid advances in reasoning and quality. Yet even the most sophisticated models are constrained by their isolation from data—trapped behind information silos and legacy systems. Every new data source requires its own custom implementation, making truly connected systems difficult to scale.

     

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       MCP addresses this challenge. It provides a universal, open standard for connecting AI systems with data sources, replacing fragmented integrations with a single protocol. The result is a simpler, more reliable way to give AI systems access to the data they need.

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_notes/MCP.md

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       title: Model Context Protocol

     

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       link: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/

     

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         - llm

     

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       github: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol

     

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       ---

     

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       MCP is an open protocol that standardizes how applications provide context to LLMs.

     

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       Created by [[Anthropic]] in November 2024: [[Introducing the Model Context Protocol]]

     

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       From the [intro page](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/introduction) of the docs:

     

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       MCP is an open protocol that standardizes how applications provide context to LLMs. Think of MCP like a USB-C port for AI applications. Just as USB-C provides a standardized way to connect your devices to various peripherals and accessories, MCP provides a standardized way to connect AI models to different data sources and tools.

     

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       ## Why MCP?

     

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       MCP helps you build agents and complex workflows on top of LLMs. LLMs frequently need to integrate with data and tools, and MCP provides:

     

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       - A growing list of pre-built integrations that your LLM can directly plug into

     

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       - The flexibility to switch between LLM providers and vendors

     

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       - Best practices for securing your data within your infrastructure

     

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       ### General architecture

     

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       At its core, MCP follows a client-server architecture where a host application can connect to multiple servers:

     

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       - **MCP Hosts**: Programs like Claude Desktop, IDEs, or AI tools that want to access data through MCP

     

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       - **MCP Servers**: Lightweight programs that each expose specific capabilities through the standardized Model Context Protocol

     

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       - **Local Data Sources**: Your computer’s files, databases, and services that MCP servers can securely access

     

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       - **Remote Services**: External systems available over the internet (e.g., through APIs) that MCP servers can connect to

_notes/Running community meetups in 2025.md

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         - WIP

     

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       ---

     

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       I had a great call with [[Ankesh Bharti]]. He's based in Bangalore now, and we had two things to discuss. One, is his interest in potentially organizing a [[Causal Islands Bangalore]] event this fall. And two, his new [[User & Agents]] community.

     

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       This made me reflect on community meetups. I've been booting up [[DWebYVR]] for the past two years, and generally like to

assets/2025/DWeb_Bluesky_and_Beyond-Growing_the_ATmosphere.pdf

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