Comparison

Needle vs io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server

Needle is an MCP server published by needle-ai. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server is an MCP server published by cyanheads. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, npm registry (MCP servers)). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-11-05. 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

Where each is published
Marketplace	Needle	io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server
Docker MCP Catalog	Listed Version: sha256:d3fd314f40c3 Forks (GitHub): 24 Pulls (Docker Hub): 12 130 Stars (Docker Hub): 1 Stars (GitHub): 104 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11	Not listed
Official MCP Registry	Not listed	Listed Version: 0.10.0 Downloads/month (npm): 1 045 Downloads/week (npm): 138 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 4 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11
npm registry (MCP servers)	Not listed	Listed Version: 0.10.0 Downloads/month (npm): 1 045 Downloads/week (npm): 138 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 4 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-12

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

Needle vs io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server
Fact	Needle	io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server
Marketplaces that list it (differs)	1 (worse)	2 (better)
Stars (GitHub) (differs)	104 (better)	4 (worse)
Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs)	12 130	No figure on Docker Hub
Forks (GitHub) (differs)	24 (better)	0 (worse)
Last release (differs)	Not published	2026-11-04
Where it runs (differs)	On your machine (mcp/needle-mcp)	Remote server or your machine
Transport (differs)	stdio	Streamable HTTP
Tools it declares (differs)	7	Not published
Environment variables it asks for (differs)	1, secrets among them: 1	7, secrets among them: 0
Licence (differs)	Not stated	Apache-2.0
Repository (differs)	github.com/needle-ai/needle-mcp	github.com/cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server
Changes in the last 7 days (differs)	1	2
First seen	2026-10-11	2026-10-11
Endpoint at the last check (differs)	no remote endpoint we check	Status out of date: last check 5 days ago returned HTTP 200

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

In its own words, on Docker MCP Catalog:

Production-ready RAG service to search and retrieve data from your documents.

io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server

In its own words, on Official MCP Registry:

Search the Met collection, browse by department or update date, fetch full records and CC0 images.

How to run each

Needle As a local MCP server: Docker image

Claude Code

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-mcp

Requires: NEEDLE_API_KEY (secret)

io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server As a remote MCP server

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http met-museum-mcp-server https://met-museum.caseyjhand.com/mcp

Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.

Only io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints

Tools each declares

Only Needle has

needle_add_file
needle_create_collection
needle_get_collection_details
needle_get_collection_stats
needle_list_collections
needle_list_files
needle_search

Only io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server has

met_get_object
met_list_departments
met_list_objects
met_search_collections

Both have

None

Tool names as the marketplaces declare them and as Ext Ops observed them on the endpoints (io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server as of 2026-10-17). More tools is not better in itself: compare what each needs for the job.

Settings each asks for

Only Needle asks for

NEEDLE_API_KEY (secret)

Only io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server asks for

MCP_AUTH_MODE
MCP_HTTP_ENDPOINT_PATH
MCP_HTTP_HOST
MCP_HTTP_PORT
MCP_LOG_LEVEL
MCP_SESSION_MODE
MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE

Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.

What it can do: Needle · What it can do: io.github.cyanheads/met-museum-mcp-server · 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 public npm registry (registry.npmjs.org). Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on 2026-11-05. We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.