MsgLens vs Apple Mail
MsgLens is an MCP server published by AndyLiu0427. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). Apple Mail is an MCP server published by mgcrea. Marketplaces we read that list it: 2 (Official MCP Registry, npm registry (MCP servers)). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-11-11. 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 |   MsgLens |  Apple Mail |
|---|---|---|
| Official MCP Registry | Listed Version: 0.2.1 Downloads/month (npm): 218 Downloads/week (npm): 74 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 0 Not marked · First seen |
Listed Version: 1.38.0 Downloads/month (npm): 3 168 Downloads/week (npm): 779 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 5 Not marked · First seen |
| npm registry (MCP servers) | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.38.0 Downloads/month (npm): 3 168 Downloads/week (npm): 779 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 5 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 | MsgLens | Apple Mail |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it (differs) | 1 (worse) | 2 (better) |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 0 (worse) | 5 (better) |
| Forks (GitHub) | 0 | 0 |
| Last release (differs) | Not published | 2026-11-11 |
| Where it runs (differs) | On your machine (msglens-cli) | On your machine (@mgcrea/mcp-apple-mail) |
| Transport | stdio | stdio |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | Not published | 3, secrets among them: 0 |
| Licence (differs) | Not stated | MIT |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/andyliu0427/msglens | github.com/mgcrea/cupertino |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 0 | 4 |
| 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
MsgLens
Read Outlook .msg, .eml and winmail.dat files locally: headers, body and attachments.
Apple Mail
Search, read and act on Apple Mail — threads, attachments, body search, writes off by default
How to run each
MsgLens As a local MCP server: npm package
claude mcp add --transport stdio msglens -- npx -y msglens-cli mcpApple Mail As a local MCP server: npm package
claude mcp add --transport stdio mcp-apple-mail -- npx -y @mgcrea/mcp-apple-mailCommands 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 MsgLens publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.
What it can do: MsgLens · What it can do: Apple Mail · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Package data comes from the public npm registry (registry.npmjs.org). Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.