Comparison

Zen vs conductor

conductor is no longer listed on any marketplace we read: these are its last known data, as of 2026‑10‑29.

Zen is an MCP server published by BeehiveInnovations. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). conductor is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by Bryan Lackey. No marketplace we read lists it any more. As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-29. A plugin in this pair is no longer listed on any marketplace we read, so search engines are asked not to index the page.

Where each is published

Where each is published
Marketplace	Zen	conductor
Docker MCP Catalog	Listed Version: sha256:02cbe1d325db Forks (GitHub): 1 038 Pulls (Docker Hub): 35 269 Stars (Docker Hub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 11 809 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11	Not listed
Community marketplace lackeyjb/claude-conductor	Not listed	Removed on 2026-10-29 Version: 1.2.0 Forks (GitHub): 2 Stars (GitHub): 15 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-26

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

Zen vs conductor
Fact	Zen	conductorno longer listed · 2026-10-29
Marketplaces that list it (differs)	1	0
Stars (GitHub) (differs)	11 809	15
Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs)	35 269	No figure on Docker Hub
Forks (GitHub) (differs)	1 038	2
Last release	Not published	Not published
Where it runs (differs)	On your machine (mcp/zen)	Installs as a plugin bundle
Transport (differs)	stdio	Not stated
Tools it declares (differs)	18	Not published
Environment variables it asks for (differs)	4, secrets among them: 4	Not published
Hooks it runs (differs)	Not published	4
Parts of the bundle (differs)	Not a bundle	16
Licence (differs)	NOASSERTION	Apache-2.0
Repository (differs)	github.com/beehiveinnovations/zen-mcp-server	github.com/lackeyjb/claude-conductor
Changes in the last 7 days (differs)	0	4
First seen (differs)	2026-10-11	2026-10-26

Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. No value is marked better or worse: a plugin no marketplace lists any more is shown with its last known data, which we do not rank against current figures.

What to use instead of conductor

Plugins still listed whose own names, descriptions, tools and skills are closest in meaning to it. Comparable, not endorsed.

harness-boot

Multi-agent development harness for Claude Code. Your AI has speed; we give it direction — through living specs and focused specialist agents.

by qwerfunch · Plugin bundle

Listed on: Claude Code: claude-plugins-community · Describes nearly the same job
claude-code-sdlc

Turn Claude Code into an autonomous software development team — 16 specialized agents, documentation-first pipeline, TDD slices in parallel waves, and 9 quality gates.

by Aleksei Korobeinikov · Plugin bundle

Listed on: Community GitHub marketplaces · Describes nearly the same job
sdd

Story Driven Development workflow for Claude Code. Keeps your documentation and code in sync via status tracking and git-diff-based prompts.

by applica-software-guru · Plugin bundle

Listed on: Claude Code: claude-plugins-community · Describes nearly the same job
spec-to-code

Accelerates software delivery by automating SDLC stages inside Claude Code — Claude facilitates writing specs and designing architecture, then autonomously builds implementation…

by vkroz · Plugin bundle

Listed on: Claude Code: claude-plugins-community · Describes nearly the same job
flow

Unified toolkit for Context-Driven Development with spec-first planning, TDD workflow, and OKF knowledge bundles.

by cofin · Plugin bundle

Listed on: Community GitHub marketplaces · Describes nearly the same job
tdg

Test-Driven Generation plugin for Claude Code

by Chanwit Kaewkasi · Plugin bundle

Listed on: Community GitHub marketplaces · Describes nearly the same job

Its card, with similar plugins by marketplace

What each says it does

Zen

In its own words, on Docker MCP Catalog:

Bridges multiple AI models and CLIs, enabling orchestrated workflows across Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, and other AI development tools.

conductor

In its own words, on Community GitHub marketplaces:

Context-Driven Development framework for Claude Code

How to run each

Zen As a local MCP server: Docker image

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env "GEMINI_API_KEY=<YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY>" --env "OPENAI_API_KEY=<YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY>" --env "OPENROUTER_API_KEY=<YOUR_OPENROUTER_API_KEY>" --env "XAI_API_KEY=<YOUR_XAI_API_KEY>" --transport stdio zen -- docker run -i --rm -e GEMINI_API_KEY -e OPENAI_API_KEY -e OPENROUTER_API_KEY -e XAI_API_KEY mcp/zen

Requires: GEMINI_API_KEY (secret), OPENAI_API_KEY (secret), OPENROUTER_API_KEY (secret), XAI_API_KEY (secret)

conductor

No data for an automatic command: what its marketplaces declare does not say unambiguously how to connect it.

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

Tools each declares

The marketplaces of conductor publish no list of tools, so we do not compare tools.

Settings each asks for

The marketplaces of conductor publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.

What it can do: Zen · What it can do: conductor · 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 2026-10-29. We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.