- · Claude · mcp
How to Stop MCP Servers Eating Your PC: One Docker Gateway for Every Claude Client
My MCP list grew until orphaned node.exe were quietly eating a 128GB workstation by mid-afternoon. Here's how I put every server behind one Docker gateway - node on bare metal gone, secrets in one gitignored file, and a single URL every Claude client points at. One evening's work you'll feel every day after.
Read article - · Claude · mcp
How to Use the Gemini API (and Why I Run It Next to Claude)
Get a Gemini API key, make your first call in curl and Python, dodge the thinking-token trap that returns an empty answer, and see why running Gemini next to Claude is the real unlock. Written from production - and the bills.
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Claude Desktop Makes a Brilliant Coding Assistant - Here's How to Set It Up
Everyone says if you want AI coding help, you use Cursor. Or Cline. Or GitHub Copilot. Basically anything that hooks into your IDE with inline autocomplete and tab-completion magic. Claude Desktop? That's for chat, not code. I respectfully…
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How to Do a Technical SEO Audit with Claude
A free, step-by-step technical SEO audit with Claude: your Search Console history and a first-party crawl merged in one local database, ranked by recoverable clicks - the Screaming Frog alternative you run by conversation.
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Claude Code API Key Security: A Guide to Token Hygiene
The simplest possible setup that keeps your production tokens out of AI chat windows. 1Password CLI, op run, and the conversational discipline that makes the rest of it work.
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Swapping the Engine: How to Run Claude Code on Local Silicon for Zero Pennies
Claude Code's real power isn't the Anthropic model sitting behind it, it's the agentic : the file-system access, the tool use, the way it chains tasks together without you babysitting every step. I figured this out the expensive way. I ran…
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A Beginner's Guide to Claude Computer Use
I've been letting Claude control my mouse and keyboard on and off to test this feature for a little while, and the honest answer is that it's simultaneously the most impressive and most frustrating AI feature I've used. It can navigate…
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DGX Spark Alternatives and AI Mini PCs: Do You Actually Need One?
NVIDIA's DGX Spark and a wave of tiny AI mini PCs promise local LLMs in a gold box. I run local models on water-cooled 3090s, so here's the honest take: the real DGX Spark alternatives, the one spec that actually matters, and whether you need any of them.
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Using a Local LLM to Audit Your Codebase - What Qwen3 Coder Next Catches (and Misses)
I ran a local copy of Qwen3 Coder Next on a machine under my desk. It pinned down a race condition in my production code that I'd missed. It also told me, with complete confidence, that crypto.randomUUID() doesn't work in Cloudflare…
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How to Make SVGs with Claude and Gemini MCP
SVG is having a moment. Over 63% of websites use it, developers are obsessed with keeping files lean and human-readable, and the community has turned against bloated AI-generated "node soup" that looks fine but falls apart the moment you…
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How to Make Images with Claude and (our) Gemini MCP
My latest version of @houtini/gemini-mcp (Gemini MCP) now generates images, video, SVG and html mockups in the Claude Desktop UI with the latest version of MCP apps. But - in case you missed it, you can generate images, SVGs and video from…
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The Best MCPs for Content Marketing (Research, Publish, Measure)
The content-marketing MCP stack I run through Claude, from the founder of Builtvisible - built around seo-audit, which does the SEO grunt agencies bill for.
Read article - · claude-code · local-llm
How to set up LM Studio: your first local AI model on your GPU
Turn a gaming GPU into a working local AI model with LM Studio - free, no billing, no API key. The complete beginner path, start to finish.
Read article - · claude-code · openrouter
How I Cut My Claude Code Token Spend with Houtini LM (Architect, Drafter, QA)
Claude as the architect. A cheap local model as the drafter. Claude QAs everything. The token bill drops as a side-effect of using each model for what it does best. Here is how I run it on my own rig.
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How to Create LinkedIn Carousel Slides with Gemini and Claude
A developer workflow for turning blog posts into LinkedIn carousel slides using Gemini SVG generation, Puppeteer PDF conversion, and a four-line Python merge script. No Canva, no SaaS tools.
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How to Improve Your AI Prototype Designs with Skills, Prompts and Gemini
I build a lot of single-file HTML prototypes with Claude Code. They work, but they all end up looking the same. I tested three approaches to fix this - Claude Skills, manual prompt engineering, and Gemini MCP feedback.
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How to Run a Free AI Content Detector Locally (RAID #1, No Upload)
The #1-ranked AI detector is free, runs on your own PC, and never uploads your text - unlike Originality.ai or GPTZero. Here's how to run it, or the tool I built.
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Claude for Excel (2026): What Works, What Bites & Prompts to Steal
Claude for Excel went GA in May 2026. What works, the permission default that still bites, and copy-paste prompts for lookups, #N/A fixes and data cleaning.
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How to Make Charts and Data Visualisation with the Data Commons MCP
This morning I found myself tasked with analysing a dataset for a client. While the analysis will be via SEMrush data exports and Python scripts to format the data I need, I was slightly procrastinating at the thought of having to draw…
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Content Marketing Using AI: the Right Way
You can't get away with AI copy if you want your SEO performance to be reliable. My conclusion: AI should be used to enhance human productivity - it can't replace human creativity. But, I do think we can use AI to build interesting…
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Working with AI: Using Gmail in Claude
I've got a client over in Australia who are *just* warming up after a lengthy Christmas break. It's an SAP B1 integration with Shopify and Onetimpim - many moving parts! My client emailed this morning asking for a catch-up meeting and…
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RAG Without RAG: How to Make a Content Research Index for Claude
This weekend's project started with a simple need: collect the transcripts from around 20 YouTube videos from my client's Youtube channel, for a research corpus. The goal was to accurately use the Youtube data to reference in the content…
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Automating Tax Receipt Downloads with Gmail API and Docling
Featured image: Docling analysing 200+ pdfs and converting to simple markdown How does anyone keep track of business expenses for UK self-assessment? For me, this started because I run multiple projects - SimRacingCockpit, this site…
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Create an XML Feed with Google Sheets
I recently had the challenge of facilitating regularly scraped data into an XML feed. In the past, I've devised all sorts of ways to scrape, and prepare data, for example, for retailer and affiliate feeds. So, if you need to be able to…
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Desktop Commander MCP: Give Claude Full Control of Your Computer (2026)
Desktop Commander is the MCP that gives Claude full read-write access to your computer - files, terminal, code. The setup guide that's missing from the docs, plus the gotchas that catch people on day one.
Read article - · claude-code · claude-desktop
Getting Started with Claude Desktop: a Beginner's Guide (2026)
The first hour with Claude Desktop can be confusing - browser, app, Cowork, Claude Code all at once. Here's how the four modes fit together and where to start.
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The Rinse / Repeat Technique in Efficient LLM Context Window Use
I've found lengthy prompt threads cumbersome, particularly in Sonnet 4.5 , where, for some reason Claude absolutely loves to create lengthy summary documents and then, a summary of the summary. This is all incredibly content hogging stuff…
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How to Set Up Claude Desktop with Google Search Console MCP
Claude Desktop's ability to support access to API services using Model Context Protocol (MCP) is impressive stuff. And yes, that means you can get Claude connected to the Search Console API and query it to answer your questions. Better…
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GEO Analyser: Analyse Your Content for Generative Engine Optimisation
I've been watching AI search traffic for the past year, and it's become impossible to ignore. Not because traditional Google is dead - it's not - but because ChatGPT referrals jumped from 14,500 visits per month in early 2024 to over…
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How to Set Up the DataForSEO MCP with Claude Desktop (2026)
Set up the official DataForSEO MCP (v3) in Claude Desktop: the zero-install hosted option, the local setup, and how the new docs-plus-request-gateway model works.
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Chrome DevTools MCP: AI-Powered Website Debugging
Learn how Chrome DevTools MCP transforms website debugging from manual detective work into AI-powered analysis. Get expert-level insights on Core Web Vitals, SEO issues, and performance optimization in minutes instead of hours.
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How to Add an MCP Server to Claude Desktop
For almost all of us, the concept of adding an MCP to your AI assistant is completely new. This is ok, if you're reading this, I think you've come to the right place. I'm going to quickly and simply explain how to add an MCP server to…
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Gemini MCP for Claude Desktop
While this might not appear to be my first post on Houtini, it is a particularly special one. I've had Houtini-LM live for around 3 weeks, built a website, written the user guide, so all in all I've had a very productive time. But, now the…
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