Automation Weekly #1: MCP Apps, Agentic Workflows, and Local Voice Assistants
Welcome to the first issue of Automation Weekly! Each week, we curate the best tools, news, tutorials, and open source projects at the intersection of AI, workflow automation, and smart home technology—for both professionals and enthusiasts.
Week of January 25 - February 1, 2026
🛠️ Tools & Products
New tools and products to supercharge your automation workflows.
Superpowers Framework
A comprehensive agentic skills framework for Claude Code and other AI coding assistants. With 36K+ stars this week, it provides structured workflows for software development including brainstorming, debugging, and code review. Perfect for both professional developers and home automation enthusiasts who want to supercharge their AI assistant capabilities.
Inkeep Agents
Build AI agents with a no-code visual builder OR TypeScript SDK—with full two-way sync between them. This approach lets technical and non-technical team members collaborate on agent development. Great for teams wanting to automate customer support or internal workflows without deep coding expertise.
GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw)
Write agentic workflows in plain English markdown and run them as GitHub Actions. This tool transforms natural language descriptions into automated workflows that can analyze issues, generate reports, and manage repositories. Security-first design with containerized execution environments.
📰 News & Announcements
What’s happening in the world of automation and AI.
Anthropic Embeds Slack, Figma, and Asana Inside Claude
Anthropic announced users can now open and interact with popular business apps directly inside Claude via “MCP Apps.” Rather than switching browser tabs, employees can build project timelines, draft Slack messages, and create presentations all within the AI assistant—positioning Claude as a workflow orchestration layer.
Navigating the Next Phase of GenAI: Predictions for 2026
As generative AI matures, agentic AI is set to dominate the industry with enterprises focusing on orchestrating agents. The article explores challenges around costs and risks, noting that AI adoption could slow if the “cost per use” doesn’t come down significantly.
AI and Automation Trends 2026: From Efficiency to Execution
As agentic systems move beyond chat and analysis into actual execution, ERPs remain at the center of business operations. This deep dive explores how AI automation is evolving from efficiency tools to autonomous execution engines in enterprise environments.
Belkin’s Wemo Smart Devices Going Offline This Week
As of January 31st, nearly all Belkin Wemo smart home devices will lose cloud services, including remote access and integrations with Google Home and Alexa. Only Thread-based devices and those configured in Apple HomeKit will remain functional. A cautionary tale about cloud dependency in smart home setups.
📖 Articles & Guides
Learn something new this week.
MCP + n8n: Build Extendible AI Automation Systems
The n8n community is buzzing with MCP integration tutorials. Learn how to connect your n8n workflows to AI agents, build systems with memory, and create reusable automation components. Multiple video tutorials available for different skill levels.
Home Assistant App Update Brings Improved Voice Controls
Home Assistant released version 2026.1.6 of its Android companion app with notable improvements for Assist voice controls and a new entity picker. The update makes voice interactions smoother and device selection more intuitive for both beginners and power users.
Automation Tools Guide 2026: Types, Use Cases & How to Choose
Comprehensive overview of the automation landscape in 2026, covering different tool categories, real-world use cases, and decision frameworks for choosing the right platform for your needs. Great for both professionals evaluating enterprise tools and hobbyists exploring options.
Enterprise Agentic Transformation: Why Governance Is the Bottleneck
Deloitte’s 2026 State of AI report shows agentic AI usage jumping from 23% to 74% within two years. But the real challenge isn’t technology—it’s governance. This article explores why enterprises need to address oversight and control before scaling agentic systems.
🐙 Trending on GitHub
Open source projects gaining momentum this week.
| Repository | Stars | Description |
|---|---|---|
| obra/superpowers | ⭐ 36,308 (+7,700) | Agentic skills framework for AI coding assistants |
| VectifyAI/PageIndex | ⭐ 9,306 (+3,300) | Vectorless, reasoning-based RAG for documents |
| remotion-dev/remotion | ⭐ 31,086 (+4,800) | Create videos programmatically with React |
💬 From the Editor
This week’s standout: Anthropic’s MCP Apps announcement is huge—turning Claude into a workspace where you can actually use Slack, Figma, and Asana without leaving the chat. This “AI as workflow orchestration layer” approach could reshape how we think about productivity tools.
Meanwhile, the open source community continues to deliver. The Superpowers framework exploding to 36K stars shows there’s massive demand for structured ways to work with AI coding assistants. And for the home automation crowd, the new Home Assistant Voice device finally delivers on the promise of truly local voice control.
Got a tool or project you’d like us to feature? Drop us a line—we read every suggestion.