Mensch, Maker and Nerd

WxO (Watsonx Orchestrate) Builder MCP Server

Manage IBM Watsonx Orchestrate tools, agents, and connections from VS Code, Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, or Cline. Accelerate your agentic workflow development.

• Manage tools, agents, and connections
• Scale your Orchestrate capabilities with AI
• Interactive connection management
• Same MCP server in VS Code, Cursor, Bob, and the other editors

WxO Agent MCP

Minimal MCP server that invokes a single Watson Orchestrate agent remotely. Configure once via env vars — the same stdio server in VS Code, Cursor, Bob, Antigravity, Windsurf, Cline, and Langflow when you only need chat with one agent.

• invoke_agent(message) and get_agent() tools
• No tool management, listing, or flows — just agent chat
• npx wxo-agent-mcp stdio transport
• Listed in the MCP Registry

Slack ↔ WxO MCP Gateway

Gateway that routes many Slack channels to many Watsonx Orchestrate agents, with in-thread replies and a streamable HTTP toolkit for VS Code, Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, and Cline. Install from npm. The GitHub repo is the docs and registry metadata.

• Channel-to-agent bindings in one config
• Poller or Slack Events wake the agent
• npx @markusvankempen/slack-wxo-mcp-gateway

WxO Builder (Watsonx Orchestrate Development Tool)

Visual tool builder and agent manager for Watsonx Orchestrate. Develop, test, and deploy skills and agents from VS Code, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, or Windsurf.

• Visual & JSON tool editor with templates
• Import OpenAPI or public APIs
• Local & remote tool testing
• Agent creation and drag & drop tool assignment
• Integrated chat for agent testing

WxO ToolBox (VS Code Extension)

Export, import, compare, and replicate Watson Orchestrate agents, tools, flows, and connections from VS Code, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, or Windsurf. Activity bar browser, form-based editors, observability traces, and multi-environment management — powered by the bundled WxO-ToolBox CLI.

• Browse agents, tools, toolkits, flows, connections, plugins
• Form-based create/edit with YAML/JSON sync
• Export, import, compare, replicate across environments
• Observability traces, secrets editor, WxO project tree

WxO CLI Utilities Toolkit (Bash)

Original Bash CLI toolkit to export, import, compare, and validate IBM Watson Orchestrate resources. For the newer TypeScript CLI + VS Code extension, see WxO ToolBox.

• Bulk export/import agents, tools, and flows
• Move assets between environments
• Compare differences between WxO deployments
• Safely manage and migrate connection credentials

MCP Ticket Demo

Full-stack MCP reference server — 10 tools, 3 resources, 5 prompts, auth, rate limiting, and a live observability dashboard. Run it with npx mcp-ticket-demo. Personal open-source project, not an IBM product.

• stdio, SSE, and Streamable HTTP from one codebase
• Auth modes, API keys, per-tool gates, and rate limits
• Works with VS Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, and Cline
• Companion to the MCP Dev Summit talk

LF MCP Demo

Control-plane extension for the ticket demo. Registers the server in VS Code, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, or Windsurf, then checks health, tools, and diagnostics from the editor. Published as MarkusvanKempen.lf-mcp-summit-demo.

• Register the server from the extension
• Diagnostics panel for health and tool inventory
• Same repo as the MCP server, under extension/

Code Engine MCP Server

Model Context Protocol server for IBM Code Engine and Docker/Podman. Deploy, manage, and monitor containerized workloads from VS Code, Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, or Cline — no CLI required.

• 43 tools: apps, jobs, builds, secrets, configmaps
• Build & run containers with Docker or Podman
• Full application lifecycle management
• Works in VS Code, Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, and Cline
• IBM Cloud IAM authentication via API key

Zendesk MCP Server

Model Context Protocol server that connects AI agents to Zendesk Support. Create, search, assign, comment, and close tickets through natural language in VS Code, Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, Cline, Claude Desktop, or watsonx Orchestrate. Solves requester attribution so Zendesk email replies route correctly.

• 14 tools — create, get, update, search, assign, close tickets
• TypeScript (npx) and Python (pip) implementations
• Works in VS Code, Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, and Cline
• IBM Code Engine SSE deployment for remote access
• watsonx Orchestrate agent integration

MCP as a Platform

Linux Foundation MCP Dev Summit talk deck, outline, and PDF. The live demo is the MCP Ticket Demo server and the LF MCP Demo extension.

• Slide deck hosted on GitHub Pages
• Toronto, 5 October 2026
• Pairs with the ticket demo repo

Quantum OpenQASM Assistant

VS Code extension for OpenQASM 2.0 on IBM Quantum — Quantum Lab, job polling, histograms, diagnostics, and one-click MCP setup in VS Code, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, and Cline. Local stdio or remote Code Engine SSE.

• Quantum Lab with Bell-state and example circuits
• Submit OpenQASM jobs, poll status, fetch histograms
• Setup MCP for AI assistants (npm or bundled server)
• Remote MCP mode via Code Engine /sse
• IBM API key + Service CRN diagnostics panel

Quantum OpenQASM MCP Server

Model Context Protocol server for IBM Quantum — list backends, submit OpenQASM 2.0 circuits, poll jobs, and fetch histograms via natural language in VS Code, Copilot, Cursor, Antigravity, Bob, Windsurf, and Cline. Deploy remotely on IBM Code Engine with dashboard and SSE gateway.

• 10 tools — backends, jobs, QASM submit, credentials check
• npx @markusvankempen/quantum-openqasm-mcp (stdio)
• IBM Code Engine SSE — server-side credentials
• Setup script: setup-remote-mcp.sh for IDE mcp.json
• Connection test UI + admin panel on gateway

Stanza Clock

A word clock for your Chrome new tab. 8×8 and 16×16 letter plates in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Portuguese. Companion to the ESP-WordClock8x8 desk clock.

• New tab, toolbar popup, and options page
• 18 plates, speaking clock, and night dimming
• English 8×8 faces match the ESP firmware

ESP Word Clock 8×8

English 8×8 WS2812 word clock for ESP32-S3 and ESP8266, with a web dashboard, live face simulator, MQTT, and OTA updates.

• Home, ATWENTYD, and TWFIFTHA faces
• Web dashboard and face simulator
• Same letters as Stanza Clock on a new tab

Ink O'Clock

Alexa skill that tells the time with a line from a book. Voice on Echo, and a cream page on Echo Show and Fire TV. Say “Alexa, open ink clock.”

• A literature line for the current minute
• Echo Show and Fire TV page layout
• Quotes from the literature-clock collection

ESP TFT Plane Radar

Live ADS-B plane radar on ESP32-C3 with a round GC9A01 TFT, a self-hosted web dashboard, MQTT, and OTA updates.

• Round radar plot with range rings
• Leaflet map and flight table on the device
• Public ADS-B, MQTT, or a local receiver

ESP32 Traffic Paxcounter

Dual-LiDAR traffic counter for vehicle speed, length class, and ferry queue depth on ESP32, with LoRaWAN telemetry and a Node-RED dashboard.

• Directional counts, speed, and length class
• LoRaWAN uplink and Node-RED dashboard
• M5Stack, TTGO, and Heltec targets

TTGO T-Beam Sensor Node

LoRaWAN sensor node on a TTGO T-Beam: BME280, GPS, OLED, and a WiFi dashboard with a live map. Pax counting over WiFi and BLE is on the same board.

• LoRaWAN OTAA and ABP
• Web dashboard and OpenStreetMap marker
• WiFi manager for setup

FerryLight

Real-time Englishtown ↔ Jersey Cove ferry tracker for Cape Breton. The public site covers the blog, slides, podcast, and architecture — AIS, a progressive web app, Node-RED, and a WLED status display.

• Live ferry status at ferrylight.online
• Blog, slide deck, and podcast
• Weather, events, and wait-or-drive guidance for the North Shore

Software Has a New Customer: AI

AI writes the code. More and more, AI is also the one who asked for it. A person still pays the bill.

Error Messages Are the New Prompts

Traditional software rejected bad input. AI accepts bad input, guesses what you meant, and ships it anyway.

The Trust Gap: Why "All Checks Passed" Doesn't Mean It Worked

When machines verify machines, you get flawless execution of the wrong goal.

Nobody Is Reading the Code Anymore

When AI writes the code, checks it, and is the client that runs it, the old human safety net disappears. Here is what replaces it.

Machine-to-Machine: When AI Codes for AI Without Human Supervision

What happens when humans leave the daily loop, and where we must draw the "Thermostat Line."

Never Let the Robot Grade Its Own Homework

A rule the AI can edit is only a suggestion. A log the AI can rewrite is only a story.

The Smart Switch Fallacy: Why Every AI Workflow Needs a Manual Toggle

If the only way to stop an automated system is to politely ask the system to stop, you are no longer in control.

Too Many Tools Spoil the Agent

Scaling an MCP server isn’t about traffic. It’s about how many choices you hand the model. From the MCP Dev Summit in Toronto.

The Great Inversion: Nearly 40 Years of Software Engineering in Reverse

How code went from cathedral to sketch, and what’s still left for us humans. From a RAM test on an Amiga in 1988 to judging code a machine wrote in 2026.

From Scratch to watsonx Orchestrate: What Building MCP Servers Taught Me

From a 40-line first server to a portfolio on npm, the VS Code Marketplace, and watsonx Orchestrate. What I learned building MCP servers — from the MCP Dev Summit Toronto.

ThinkLab 1239

Hyper-localized weather and crop prediction for IBM Think 2020. A Raspberry Pi, temperature sensors, and a camera feed Watson IoT. Node-RED sends that into Weather Underground, Watson Studio builds a model from historic and live data, and Visual Recognition reads the camera image. Vegetable attributes extend the forecast to what would grow in a garden three to six months out.

• Lab setup, Node-RED flows, and notebooks
• Session 1239, with a PDF of the lab

RAM-TEST

Memory diagnostic for GIGATRON Amiga 500 and 1000 expansion boards, written as a teenager in a living-room startup and recovered so it runs again in Amiberry.

• Bootable ADF images and screenshots
• Tests map failures to chips on the board