Postgres Skills vs DB Explorer
Postgres Skills is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by Microsoft. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Community GitHub marketplaces). DB Explorer is an MCP server published by AYUSH-148. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-11-08. 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 |  DB Explorer | |
|---|---|---|
| Community marketplace microsoft/postgres-skills | Listed Version: 0.2.0 Forks (GitHub): 10 Stars (GitHub): 47 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.1.0 Downloads/month (PyPI): 0 Downloads/week (PyPI): 36 Forks (GitHub): 3 Stars (GitHub): 8 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 | Postgres Skills | DB Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 47 (better) | 8 (worse) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 10 (better) | 3 (worse) |
| Last release (differs) | 2026-11-04 | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (@microsoft/postgres-mcp) | On your machine (db-explorer-mcp-server) |
| Transport (differs) | Not stated | stdio |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 0 | 1, secrets among them: 1 |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 3 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/microsoft/postgres-skills | github.com/ayush-148/db-explorer-mcp |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 1 | 0 |
| First seen (differs) | 2026-10-28 | 2026-10-20 |
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
Postgres Skills
Single plugin with intelligent routing — generic PG always available, Azure skills gated by connection detection
DB Explorer
Read-only SQL for PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQLite: schema, safe SELECTs, EXPLAIN, index advice
How to run each
Postgres Skills As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add microsoft/postgres-skills
/plugin install postgres-skills@postgres-skillsDB Explorer As a local MCP server: PyPI package
claude mcp add --env "DATABASE_URL=<YOUR_DATABASE_URL>" --transport stdio db-explorer-mcp-server -- uvx db-explorer-mcp-serverRequires: DATABASE_URL (secret)
Commands 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
Only Postgres Skills asks for
POSTGRES_MCP_QUERY_TIMEOUT_MS
Only DB Explorer asks for
DATABASE_URL (secret)
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: Postgres Skills · What it can do: DB Explorer · 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. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.