researcher-plugin vs io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server
researcher-plugin is no longer listed on any marketplace we read: these are its last known data, as of 2026‑10‑18.
researcher-plugin is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by AlexeyTripleA. No marketplace we read lists it any more. io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server is an MCP server published by brave. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, Docker MCP Catalog). 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
| Marketplace |  io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server | |
|---|---|---|
| Community marketplace alexeytriplea/claude-code-plugins | Removed on 2026-10-18 Version: 1.0.0 Forks (GitHub): 1 Stars (GitHub): 3 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 2.1.3 Downloads/month (npm): 86 533 Downloads/week (npm): 12 353 Forks (GitHub): 220 Stars (GitHub): 1 538 Not marked · First seen |
| Docker MCP Catalog | Not listed | Listed Version: sha256:f58a5c22c119 Forks (GitHub): 220 Pulls (Docker Hub): 291 522 Stars (Docker Hub): 26 Stars (GitHub): 1 538 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 | researcher-pluginno longer listed · | io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 0 | 2 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 3 | 1 538 |
| Pulls (Docker Hub) (differs) | No figure on Docker Hub | 291 522 |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 1 | 220 |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Installs as a plugin bundle | Remote server or your machine |
| Transport (differs) | Not stated | stdio, Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares (differs) | Not published | 8 |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 4, secrets among them: 3 | 2, secrets among them: 1 |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 7 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | Not stated | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/alexeytriplea/claude-code-plugins | github.com/brave/brave-search-mcp-server |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen (differs) | 2026-10-15 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | no remote endpoint we check | Responded 3 days ago, requires a key |
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 researcher-plugin
Plugins still listed whose own names, descriptions, tools and skills are closest in meaning to it. Comparable, not endorsed.
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Exa AI web search, deep research, and content extraction. Provides MCP tools and research skills for comprehensive web search, people discovery, company research, academic papers…
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Web search and content fetching with privacy-aware tool selection. Turns vague questions into optimized multi-engine queries, evaluates result quality, and re-searches when…
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google-researcher io.github.zoharbabin/google-researcher
MCP server providing Google Search, web scraping, and multi-source research tools for AI assistants
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Enhanced web search and real-time content retrieval via Grok API
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Search1API brings multi-engine search to AI agents, with Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and specialized sources including GitHub, Reddit, X, arXiv, Wikipedia, YouTube, WeChat…
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You.com Web Search & Research
Live web search, full-page content extraction, and cited research for Claude. Look up current docs, API references, changelogs, error fixes, and web data while you code, plus…
What each says it does
researcher-plugin
AI-powered research agent that finds current information online using multiple sources: Brave Search, Tavily, Bright Data, and Reddit
io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server
Brave Search MCP Server: web results, images, videos, rich results, AI summaries, and more.
How to run each
researcher-plugin
No data for an automatic command: what its marketplaces declare does not say unambiguously how to connect it.
io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server As a local MCP server: npm package
claude mcp add --env "BRAVE_API_KEY=<YOUR_BRAVE_API_KEY>" --transport stdio brave-search-mcp-server -- npx -y @brave/brave-search-mcp-serverRequires: BRAVE_API_KEY (secret)
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Only io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints
Tools each declares
The marketplaces of researcher-plugin publish no list of tools, so we do not compare tools.
Settings each asks for
Only researcher-plugin asks for
API_TOKEN (secret)PRO_MODETAVILY_API_KEY (secret)
Only io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server asks for
BRAVE_MCP_TRANSPORT
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: researcher-plugin · What it can do: io.github.brave/brave-search-mcp-server · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from public marketplace files in GitHub repositories of their authors. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Data comes from the Docker MCP Catalog (desktop.docker.com/mcp/catalog) and Docker Hub. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.