Needle vs deep-zotero
Needle is an MCP server published by needle-ai. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). deep-zotero is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by Chris Cameron. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Community GitHub marketplaces). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-21. 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 |  Needle | |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: sha256:d3fd314f40c3 Forks (GitHub): 24 Pulls (Docker Hub): 11 683 Stars (Docker Hub): 1 Stars (GitHub): 104 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Community marketplace ccam80/deep-zotero | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.2.2 Forks (GitHub): 4 Stars (GitHub): 9 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 | Needle | deep-zotero |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 104 (better) | 9 (worse) |
| Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs) | 11 683 | No figure on Docker Hub |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 24 (better) | 4 (worse) |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (mcp/needle-mcp) | On your machine (deep-zotero) |
| Transport (differs) | stdio | Not stated |
| Tools it declares (differs) | 7 | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 1 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | Not a bundle | 2 |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/needle-ai/needle-mcp | github.com/ccam80/deep-zotero |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 2 |
| First seen (differs) | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-15 |
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
Needle
Production-ready RAG service to search and retrieve data from your documents.
deep-zotero
Semantic and exact-word search over an indexed Zotero PDF library. Retrieves passages, tables and figures with citation keys, and traces citation graphs via OpenAlex.
How to run each
Needle As a local MCP server: Docker image
claude mcp add --env "NEEDLE_API_KEY=<YOUR_NEEDLE_API_KEY>" --transport stdio needle-mcp -- docker run -i --rm -e NEEDLE_API_KEY mcp/needle-mcpRequires: NEEDLE_API_KEY (secret)
deep-zotero As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add ccam80/deep-zotero
/plugin install deep-zotero@deep-zoteroCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
The marketplaces of deep-zotero publish no list of tools, so we do not compare tools.
Settings each asks for
The marketplaces of deep-zotero publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.
What it can do: Needle · What it can do: deep-zotero · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Data comes from public marketplace files in GitHub repositories of their authors. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.