See how we used AI Coding, Claude Code, and MCP to build this tool on the @IndyDevDan youtube channel.
As engineers we end up reusing ideas, patterns and code snippets all the time but keeping track of these snippets can be hard and remembering where you stored them can be even harder. What if the exact snippet or idea you were looking for was one prompt away?
With Anthropic's new MCP (Model Context Protocol) and a minimal portable database layer - we can solve this problem. Pocket Pick is your personal engineering knowledge base that lets you quickly store ideas, patterns and code snippets and gives you a DEAD SIMPLE text or tag based searching to quickly find them in the future.
- Personal Knowledge Base: Store code snippets, information, and ideas
- Tag-Based Organization: Add tags to categorize and filter your knowledge
- Flexible Search: Find content using substring, full-text, glob, regex, or exact matching
- MCP Integration: Seamlessly works with Claude and other MCP-compatible AI assistants
- SQLite Backend: Fast, reliable, and portable database storage
- Command-Line Interface: Easy to use from the terminal
Install uv
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/indydevdan/pocket-pick.git
cd pocket-pick
# Install dependencies
uv syncUsage from JSON format
Default Database for Claude Code
{
"command": "uv",
"args": ["--directory", ".", "run", "mcp-server-pocket-pick"]
}Custom Database for Claude Code
{
"command": "uv",
"args": ["--directory", ".", "run", "mcp-server-pocket-pick", "--database", "./database.db"]
}You can configure Pocket Pick in your project's .mcp.json file for easy integration with Claude Code:
{
"servers": {
"pocket-pick": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["--directory", "/path/to/pocket-pick", "run", "mcp-server-pocket-pick"]
}
}
}With custom database location:
{
"servers": {
"pocket-pick": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["--directory", "/path/to/pocket-pick", "run", "mcp-server-pocket-pick", "--database", "./custom-database.db"]
}
}
}Place this file in your project directory, and Claude Code will automatically detect and use the configured MCP servers when started in that directory.
# Add the pocket-pick server to Claude Code (if you're in the directory)
claude mcp add pocket-pick -- \
uv --directory . \
run mcp-server-pocket-pick
# Add the pocket-pick server to Claude Code
claude mcp add pocket-pick -- \
uv --directory /path/to/pocket-pick-codebase \
run mcp-server-pocket-pick
# With custom database location
claude mcp add pocket-pick -- \
uv --directory /path/to/pocket-pick-codebase \
run mcp-server-pocket-pick --database ./database.db
# List existing MCP servers - Validate that the server is running
claude mcp list
# Start claude code
claudeThe following MCP tools are available in Pocket Pick:
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
pocket_add |
Add a new item with a specified ID to your knowledge base |
pocket_add_file |
Add a file's content with a specified ID to your knowledge base |
pocket_find |
Find items by text and/or tags |
pocket_list |
List all items, optionally filtered by tags |
pocket_list_tags |
List all tags with their counts |
pocket_remove |
Remove an item by ID |
pocket_get |
Get a specific item by ID |
pocket_backup |
Backup the database |
pocket_to_file_by_id |
Write an item's content to a file by its ID (requires absolute path) |
After setting up Pocket Pick as an MCP server for Claude Code, you can use it your conversations:
Add items directly
Add "claude mcp list" as a pocket pick item with ID "claude-mcp-list". tags: mcp, claude, codeAdd items from clipboard
pbpaste and create a pocket pick item with ID "python-fib" and the following tags: python, algorithm, fibonacciAdd items from a file
Add the contents of ~/Documents/code-snippets/fibonacci.py to pocket pick with ID "fib-algorithm" and tags: python, algorithm, fibonacciList all items or tags:
list all my pocket picks
Search for items in your knowledge base with tags
List pocket pick items with python and mcp tags
Search for text with specific content
pocket pick find "python"
Get or remove specific items:
get the pocket pick item with ID 1234-5678-90ab-cdef
remove the pocket pick item with ID 1234-5678-90ab-cdef
Export a pocket pick item's content to a file by its ID. This allows you to save code snippets directly to files, create executable scripts from stored knowledge, or share content with others:
export the pocket pick item with ID 1234-5678-90ab-cdef to /Users/username/Documents/exported-snippet.py
The tool requires an absolute file path and will automatically create any necessary parent directories if they don't exist.
backup the pocket pick database to ~/Documents/pocket-pick-backup.db
When adding items to Pocket Pick, you must now provide a unique ID:
- IDs must be unique across your database
- Choose descriptive IDs that help you identify the content
- If you attempt to add an item with an ID that already exists, you'll receive an error
- Descriptive IDs: Use meaningful names like
python-sort-algorithmorcss-flexbox-cheatsheet - Namespaced IDs: Use prefixes like
py-,js-,css-to categorize items - UUID-style IDs: Continue using UUIDs if you prefer automatically generated unique identifiers
Pocket Pick supports various search modes:
- substr: (Default) Simple substring matching
- fts: Full-text search with powerful capabilities:
- Regular word search: Matches all words in any order (e.g., "python programming" finds entries with both words)
- Exact phrase search: Use quotes for exact phrase matching (e.g.,
"python programming"only finds entries with that exact phrase)
- glob: SQLite glob pattern matching (e.g., "test*" matches entries starting with "test")
- regex: Regular expression matching
- exact: Exact string matching
Example find commands:
Find items containing "pyt" using substring matching
Find items containing "def fibonacci" using full text search
Find items containing "test*" using glob pattern matching
Find items containing "^start.*test.*$" using regular expression matching
Find items containing "match exactly test" using exact string matching
Pocket Pick uses a simple SQLite database with the following schema:
CREATE TABLE POCKET_PICK (
id TEXT PRIMARY KEY, -- UUID identifier
created TIMESTAMP NOT NULL, -- Creation timestamp
text TEXT NOT NULL, -- Item content
tags TEXT NOT NULL -- JSON array of tags
)The database file is located at ~/.pocket_pick.db by default.
# Run all tests
uv run pytest
# Run with verbose output
uv run pytest -v# Start the MCP server
uv run mcp-server-pocket-pick
# With verbose logging
uv run mcp-server-pocket-pick -v
# With custom database location
uv run mcp-server-pocket-pick --database ./database.dbclaude mcp add http-fetch -- uvx mcp-server-fetchBuilt with ❤️ by IndyDevDan with Claude Code, and Principled AI Coding