Lenny RAG MCP Server

Lenny RAG MCP Server

An MCP server providing hierarchical RAG over 299 Lenny Rachitsky podcast transcripts. Enables product development brainstorming by retrieving relevant insights, real-world examples, and full transcript context.

Quick Start

# Clone the repository (includes pre-built index via Git LFS)
git clone git@github.com:mpnikhil/lenny-rag-mcp.git
cd lenny-rag-mcp

# Create and activate virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# Install the package
pip install -e .

Claude Code

claude mcp add lenny --scope user -- /path/to/lenny-rag-mcp/venv/bin/python -m src.server

Or add to ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lenny": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/path/to/lenny-rag-mcp/venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["-m", "src.server"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/lenny-rag-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lenny": {
      "command": "/path/to/lenny-rag-mcp/venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["-m", "src.server"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/lenny-rag-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project or ~/.cursor/mcp.json globally:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lenny": {
      "command": "/path/to/lenny-rag-mcp/venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["-m", "src.server"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/lenny-rag-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/lenny-rag-mcp with your actual clone location in all configs.

MCP Tools

`search_lenny`

Semantic search across the entire corpus. Returns pointers for progressive disclosure.

Returns: Ranked results with relevance scores, episode references, and topic IDs for drilling down.

`get_chapter`

Load a specific topic with full context. Use after search_lenny to get details.

Returns: Topic summary, all insights, all examples, and raw transcript segment.

`get_full_transcript`

Load complete episode transcript with metadata.

Returns: Full transcript (10-40K tokens), episode metadata, and topic list.

`list_episodes`

Browse available episodes, optionally filtered by expertise.

Returns: List of 299 episodes with guest names and expertise tags.

Data Curation Approach

Hierarchical Extraction

Each transcript is processed into a 4-level hierarchy enabling progressive disclosure:

Episode
├── Topics (10-20 per episode)
│   ├── Insights (2-4 per topic)
│   └── Examples (1-3 per topic)

This allows Claude to start with lightweight search results and drill down only when needed, keeping context windows efficient.

Extraction Schema

{
  "episode": {
    "guest": "Guest Name",
    "expertise_tags": ["growth", "pricing", "leadership"],
    "summary": "150-200 word episode summary",
    "key_frameworks": ["Framework 1", "Framework 2"]
  },
  "topics": [{
    "id": "topic_1",
    "title": "Searchable topic title",
    "summary": "Topic summary",
    "line_start": 1,
    "line_end": 150
  }],
  "insights": [{
    "id": "insight_1",
    "text": "Actionable insight or contrarian take",
    "context": "Additional context",
    "topic_id": "topic_1",
    "line_start": 45,
    "line_end": 52
  }],
  "examples": [{
    "id": "example_1",
    "explicit_text": "The story as told in the transcript",
    "inferred_identity": "Airbnb",
    "confidence": "high",
    "tags": ["marketplace", "growth", "launch strategy"],
    "lesson": "Specific lesson from this example",
    "topic_id": "topic_1",
    "line_start": 60,
    "line_end": 85
  }]
}

Implicit Anchor Detection

Many guests reference companies without naming them ("at my previous company..."). The extraction prompt instructs the model to infer identities based on the guest's background:

• Brian Chesky saying "when we started" → Airbnb (high confidence)
• A marketplace expert saying "one ride-sharing company" → likely Uber/Lyft (medium confidence)

This surfaces examples that wouldn't b