Workshop

Mosaic

Build your headless AI workspace — from zero to working, in one session.

The way we work is broken.

Every day, you open a dozen apps to do one task.

  • Email for context
  • Calendar to schedule
  • Docs to write
  • Slack to coordinate
  • ChatGPT to think
  • Drive to store

The apps don't talk to each other.

You are the integration layer.

You spend your cognitive energy switching between tools, not doing the actual work.

What if you never opened an app again?

One interface. Natural language. Everything else is invisible infrastructure.

"Schedule a call with Rajesh tomorrow at 3"
→ Event created. Invite sent from your email.
"Send the draft to Priya"
→ Latest draft picked up. Sent from your address.
"What's on my calendar this week?"
→ Full schedule, summarised in plain English.
"Summarise the last 5 emails from the client"
→ Done. Key asks highlighted.

What is Mosaic?

Mosaic is a workshop that gets you from zero to a fully working headless AI workspace — in a single session.

By the end, you will have:

  • Your own VPS running in the cloud
  • Claude Code installed and configured
  • A personal @yourdomain email address
  • Calendar and contacts — no GUI needed
  • Connected to proprietary AI workflows
  • Your first agent command working

This is not a demo.

You build the actual thing, on your own machine, today. You leave with a working setup — not a prototype.

No coding experience required.

You'll use the terminal. We'll walk every step together. If you can follow instructions, you can do this.

What you're building

You ────────────────────────────────────────────────── chat interface (Telegram / terminal) ↓ Claude Code running on your VPS or laptop ↓ ↓ ↓ MCP Server Mailcow Your Files proprietary email · calendar · drafts · notes · AI workflows contacts working data

Your data never leaves your machine. The intelligence comes from the MCP layer.

Before we start

// You need

  • A laptop (Mac, Linux, or Windows with WSL)
  • A credit card (for VPS — ~₹500/month)
  • An Anthropic account
  • A Telegram account
  • A domain name (optional but recommended)

// You don't need

  • Coding experience
  • Any existing tools set up
  • To understand everything today
  • A GUI, a dashboard, or an app
$ ssh root@your-vps-ip
Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Last login: ...
root@vps:~# _
Step 01

Your server

Spinning up a VPS on Hetzner

Step 01 — Your server

We'll use Hetzner — best specs for the price.

  • Create account at hetzner.com
  • Create new server — Ubuntu 24.04
  • CX22 plan (~€4/month) is enough
  • Add your SSH key
  • Note the IP address

That IP is your home base. Everything runs here.

# Connect to your server
$ ssh root@<your-ip>

# First things first
# apt update && apt upgrade -y
# adduser yourname
# usermod -aG sudo yourname

Done. You have a server.
Step 02

The agent

Installing Claude Code

Step 02 — Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic's CLI — an AI agent that runs in your terminal and can read files, run commands, and connect to external services.

This is the brain of your workspace. Everything you type goes through here.

  • Install Node.js
  • Install Claude Code via npm
  • Set your Anthropic API key
  • Run your first command
# Install Node.js
$ curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo -E bash -
$ sudo apt install -y nodejs

# Install Claude Code
$ npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Set your API key
$ export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-...

# Launch
$ claude
Claude Code ready.
Step 03

Your email

Self-hosted, agent-accessible inbox

Step 03 — Email & Calendar

We use Mailcow — a self-hosted email and calendar stack that runs via Docker.

Why self-host?

  • Claude Code has direct local access
  • No OAuth, no consent flows, no friction
  • Your data stays on your server
  • Includes CalDAV — calendar + contacts

The agent reads your inbox, writes emails, creates events — all without you touching an app.

# Install Docker
$ curl -sSL https://get.docker.com | sh

# Clone and configure Mailcow
$ git clone https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized
$ cd mailcow-dockerized
$ ./generate_config.sh

# Start everything
$ docker compose up -d
Mail server running.
Step 04

The intelligence layer

Connecting to MCP

Step 04 — MCP Server

MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets Claude Code connect to external servers that provide custom tools and workflows.

The Mosaic MCP server holds:

  • Proprietary workflow instructions
  • Brand voice and editorial standards
  • Email and calendar management logic
  • Content and brief processing templates

You get a personal auth token. Your Claude Code queries the server at runtime. You never see the raw workflows.

# Add MCP server to Claude Code
$ claude mcp add mosaic \
   --url https://mcp.mosaic.ai \
   --token YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

✓ Connected to Mosaic MCP
✓ Workflows loaded
✓ Email tools available
✓ Calendar tools available

$ claude
Ready. What do you need?

Your first command

Everything is set up. Let's use it.

"Draft a reply to the last email from Rajesh. Keep it under 3 lines. Confirm the meeting."
→ Agent reads inbox → finds thread → drafts reply → waits for your approval before sending.
"Block 2 hours tomorrow morning for deep work. Don't let anything else in."
→ Agent checks calendar → creates a focus block → marks as busy.
"I have a brief from a client. Process it and tell me what they actually want."
→ Agent applies brief-processing workflow → extracts objectives, tone, constraints, open questions.

What this looks like every day

Morning

  • Inbox summary
  • Calendar brief
  • Priority flags
  • Anything urgent actioned

During the day

  • Drafts written on demand
  • Meetings scheduled
  • Briefs processed
  • Research pulled and summarised

End of day

  • Sent items reviewed
  • Tomorrow prepared
  • Notes and journal logged
  • No app opened all day

The goal is not automation. The goal is presence — doing the thinking, not the switching.

What the MCP layer unlocks

Generic Claude is powerful. Claude with proprietary workflows is a different thing entirely.

Without MCP

  • General-purpose AI responses
  • No memory of your style
  • No access to your tools
  • Starts from scratch every time

With Mosaic MCP

  • Knows your brand voice and standards
  • Reads and sends your actual email
  • Uses structured brief-processing logic
  • Applies editorial quality filters
  • Gets smarter as workflows are refined

Where you go from here

// After the workshop

  • Your setup is yours — fully owned, fully controlled
  • Keep the MCP subscription to access evolving workflows
  • New workflow packages added over time
  • Industry-specific bundles: finance, legal, editorial

// The subscription

MCP access keeps your agent connected to refined, maintained, and improving workflow intelligence. If you cancel, your Claude Code still works — just without the proprietary layer.

// end of workshop

You're headless now.

No apps. No switching. Just work.

mosaic workshop headless