Needle Remote vs cite2fn
Needle Remote is an MCP server published by docker. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). cite2fn is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by anitasrinivasan. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-community, Community GitHub marketplaces). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-14. 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 |  cite2fn | |
|---|---|---|
| Docker MCP Catalog | Listed Version: not stated No figure published Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-community | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.1.0 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 | Needle Remote | cite2fn |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 1 (worse) | 2 (better) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | No figure on GitHub | 0 |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | No figure on GitHub | 0 |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Remote server (mcp.needle.app/mcp) | Installs as a plugin bundle |
| Transport (differs) | Streamable HTTP | Not stated |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 1 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | Not a bundle | 1 |
| Licence (differs) | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | Not stated | github.com/anitasrinivasan/cite2fn |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 2 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | not checked yet | no remote endpoint we check |
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 Remote
Production-ready RAG service to search and retrieve data from your documents.
cite2fn
A Claude Code plugin that converts hyperlinked citations, parenthetical references, and inline author-date mentions in Word documents into properly formatted Bluebook footnotes or endnotes. Key features - Detects 5 citation patterns: external hyperlinks, internal anchor links, parentheticals, inline author-date, and existing footnotes - Handles split hyperlinks from Google Docs exports (where a single citation spans multiple XML elements) - Fetches bibliographic metadata from academic sources (arXiv, SSRN, DOI, ACM DL, and more) - Supports both footnotes and endnotes with arabic numeral numbering - Preserves author names that are grammatically part of a sentence - Tracks repeated sources for Id. and supra short forms - Adds Word comments to flag anything that needs manual attention - Removes the References section after its content has been moved to footnotes Interactive review — Claude shows you every citation before modifying the document
How to run each
Needle Remote As a remote MCP server
claude mcp add --transport http needle https://mcp.needle.app/mcpRequires: NEEDLE_API_KEY (secret)
cite2fn As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install cite2fn@claude-communityCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
The marketplaces of cite2fn publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.
What it can do: Needle Remote · What it can do: cite2fn · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. 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.