Comparison

Zen vs meta-harness-ygn

Zen is an MCP server published by BeehiveInnovations. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Docker MCP Catalog). meta-harness-ygn is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by yannabadie. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-community). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-22. 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	Zen	meta-harness-ygn
Docker MCP Catalog	Listed Version: sha256:02cbe1d325db Forks (GitHub): 1 036 Pulls (Docker Hub): 34 970 Stars (Docker Hub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 11 799 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11	Not listed
Claude Code: claude-plugins-community	Not listed	Listed Version: 1.3.0 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 0 Not marked · First seen 2026-10-11

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 meta-harness-ygn
Fact	Zen	meta-harness-ygn
Marketplaces that list it	1	1
Stars (GitHub) (differs)	11 799 (better)	0 (worse)
Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs)	34 970	No figure on Docker Hub
Forks (GitHub) (differs)	1 036 (better)	0 (worse)
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	2, secrets among them: 0
Hooks it runs (differs)	Not published	7
Parts of the bundle (differs)	Not a bundle	17
Licence (differs)	NOASSERTION	MIT
Repository (differs)	github.com/beehiveinnovations/zen-mcp-server	github.com/yannabadie/meta-harness-ygn
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

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.

meta-harness-ygn

In its own words, on Claude Code: claude-plugins-community:

Meta-Harness-YGN is a Claude Code plugin (namespace /mh) that brings scientific rigor to harness engineering: every proposed change produces a falsifiable hypothesis, a reproducible evaluation against a 9-check suite, and a recorded entry on a multi-objective Pareto frontier — so you always know whether your harness actually improved, regressed, or just changed.

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)

meta-harness-ygn As a Claude Code plugin

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install meta-harness-ygn@claude-community

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

Tools each declares

The marketplaces of meta-harness-ygn publish no list of tools, so we do not compare tools.

Settings each asks for

Only Zen asks for

GEMINI_API_KEY (secret)
OPENAI_API_KEY (secret)
OPENROUTER_API_KEY (secret)
XAI_API_KEY (secret)

Only meta-harness-ygn asks for

MH_PLUGIN_DATA
MH_PLUGIN_ROOT

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

What it can do: Zen · What it can do: meta-harness-ygn · 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. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on 2026-10-22. We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.