Chroma vs Archery MCP
Chroma is an MCP server published by chroma-core. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). Archery MCP is an MCP server published by itzhouq. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, PyPI (MCP servers)). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-24. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  Chroma |  Archery MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: sha256:c050ca8e1d4e Forks (GitHub): 119 Pulls (Docker Hub): 61 300 Stars (Docker Hub): 5 Stars (GitHub): 600 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.1.1 Downloads/month (PyPI): 0 Downloads/week (PyPI): 729 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 0 Not marked · First seen |
| PyPI (MCP servers) | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.1.1 Downloads/month (PyPI): 0 Downloads/week (PyPI): 729 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 0 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | Chroma | Archery MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 1 (worse) | 2 (better) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 600 (better) | 0 (worse) |
| Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs) | 61 300 | No figure on Docker Hub |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 119 (better) | 0 (worse) |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (mcp/chroma) | On your machine (archery-mcp) |
| Transport | stdio | stdio |
| Tools it declares (differs) | 13 | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 1 | 8, secrets among them: 2 |
| Licence (differs) | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/chroma-core/chroma-mcp | github.com/itzhouq/archery-mcp |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
Chroma
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation that provides database capabilities for Chroma.
Archery MCP
Read-only MCP server for the Archery SQL audit platform: production schema and release SQL checks
How to run each
Chroma As a local MCP server: Docker image
claude mcp add --env "CHROMA_API_KEY=<YOUR_CHROMA_API_KEY>" --transport stdio chroma -- docker run -i --rm -e CHROMA_API_KEY mcp/chromaRequires: CHROMA_API_KEY (secret)
Archery MCP As a local MCP server: PyPI package
claude mcp add --env "ARCHERY_BASE_URL=<YOUR_ARCHERY_BASE_URL>" --env "ARCHERY_DB_NAME=<YOUR_ARCHERY_DB_NAME>" --env "ARCHERY_INSTANCE_NAME=<YOUR_ARCHERY_INSTANCE_NAME>" --env "ARCHERY_PASSWORD=<YOUR_ARCHERY_PASSWORD>" --env "ARCHERY_TOTP_SECRET=<YOUR_ARCHERY_TOTP_SECRET>" --env "ARCHERY_USERNAME=<YOUR_ARCHERY_USERNAME>" --transport stdio archery-mcp -- uvx archery-mcpRequires: ARCHERY_BASE_URL, ARCHERY_DB_NAME, ARCHERY_INSTANCE_NAME, ARCHERY_PASSWORD (secret), ARCHERY_TOTP_SECRET (secret), ARCHERY_USERNAME
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
The marketplaces of Archery MCP publish no list of tools, so we do not compare tools.
Settings each asks for
Only Chroma asks for
CHROMA_API_KEY (secret)
Only Archery MCP asks for
ARCHERY_BASE_URLARCHERY_DB_NAMEARCHERY_INSTANCE_NAMEARCHERY_PASSWORD (secret)ARCHERY_QUERY_LIMITARCHERY_SCHEMA_NAMEARCHERY_TOTP_SECRET (secret)ARCHERY_USERNAME
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: Chroma · What it can do: Archery MCP · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Package data comes from the Python Package Index (pypi.org). Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.