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MCP servers

The best MCP servers for coding

MCP servers let your coding agent reach past its training data - into your files, your tools, your errors, and current documentation. Here are twenty worth knowing, what each does, who maintains it, whether it runs locally or remotely, and ready-to-use configuration JSON for Cursor and Claude Code.

Last reviewed: July 2026

Model Context Protocol (MCP) Architecture

JSON-RPC 2.0Open Standard
1. Coding Clients
Claude Code
~/.claude.json
Cursor
.cursor/mcp.json
Windsurf
mcp_config.json
2. Transport & Scopes
Local Transport (stdio)
Starts local binary per host (Filesystem, Git, Playwright)
Remote Transport (HTTP/SSE)
Secure API OAuth & Token auth (GitHub, Supabase, Moxie)
3. Live Context Injection
Moxie Docs MCP
Living Docs
GitHub & Git
PRs & Issues
Supabase / Postgres
DB Schemas
Zero prompt drift: Agents execute with real-time codebase conventions instead of guessing.

How to read this list

The Model Context Protocol has a reference set of servers maintained by its steering group, but those are demonstrations, not production tools. Through 2025, the steering group archived thirteen of the original reference servers - including GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Google Drive, Sentry, Brave Search, and Puppeteer - and pointed users to vendor or community replacements. PostgreSQL's reference server was archived after a SQL-injection flaw was disclosed in its read-only mode, with no patch issued. So when we say “official” below, we mean maintained by the vendor whose system it connects to, not simply listed in a reference repo - and where a reference server was retired without a vendor picking it up, we point to the actively maintained community project instead.

One caution worth repeating: connecting more than a handful of servers floods your agent with tools and tends to hurt its performance. Start with two or three that fit your workflow, and add more only when you feel the gap.

Remote vs. local, and read-only vs. read-write

Two practical distinctions matter more than the maker label. The first is transport: local servers run as a command your client starts and manages over stdio (Filesystem, Git, Context7), while remote servers are hosted endpoints you connect to over HTTP, usually behind OAuth (GitHub, Supabase, Sentry, Linear, Notion, Stripe, Vercel, Cloudflare). Remote servers need no local install and update themselves; local servers work offline and keep credentials on your machine instead of a vendor's.

The second is write access. Some servers are read-only by design or by configuration - the Filesystem server can be scoped to a directory, Postgres MCP Pro has an explicit restricted mode that blocks writes - while others can open pull requests, run SQL, issue refunds, or delete records if you let them. Before connecting a server that touches production data or money, check whether it has a read-only or scoped mode and use it unless you specifically need write access.

Configuring MCP in Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf

Connecting MCP servers to your coding tools is straightforward, but each client handles configuration differently.

For Claude Code, servers are configured in global settings (~/.claude.json) or project-level config in a .mcp.json file under mcpServers. For Cursor, manage configurations under Settings > Features > MCP or edit .cursor/mcp.json directly. For Windsurf, edit mcp_config.json from the Cascade panel's MCP settings (~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json on macOS/Linux); the JSON shape is the same across all three clients. Below are ready-to-copy configuration blocks for popular categories:

  • Filesystem & Repository (local)

    JSON
    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/path/to/repo"]
    }
  }
}

  • Database & Backend - Supabase (remote, OAuth)

    JSON
    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "supabase": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.supabase.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

  • Private Codebase Context - Moxie Docs (remote, token)

    JSON
    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "moxie-docs": {
      "url": "https://moxiedocs.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <TOKEN>" }
    }
  }
}

The list

Twenty MCP servers worth knowing

  1. 1. GitHub MCP Server

    Remote (HTTP)Read-WriteOfficial · GitHub

    Search code, read and manage issues and pull requests, and automate repo workflows. The hosted remote server (OAuth) is the recommended path and adds tools the local version lacks. It's distinct from the original, now-archived reference GitHub server.

    View Repository

  2. 2. Filesystem

    Local (stdio)Read-WriteReference · MCP steering group

    Secure, access-controlled local file operations. One of the most widely installed servers because it ships in most starter kits.

    View Repository

  3. 3. Git

    Local (stdio)Read-WriteReference · MCP steering group

    Read and manipulate a local Git repository - distinct from the GitHub API server above.

    View Repository

  4. 4. Sequential Thinking

    Local (stdio)Read-OnlyReference · MCP steering group

    Structured, multi-step reasoning that lets an agent work a hard problem through an explicit chain of thoughts.

    View Repository

  5. 5. Fetch

    Local (stdio)Read-OnlyReference · MCP steering group

    Fetches a URL and converts the page to clean Markdown the model can actually read.

    View Repository

  6. 6. Context7

    Remote (HTTP)Read-OnlyVendor · Upstash (MIT)

    Injects up-to-date, version-specific docs and code examples for public libraries into your prompt, so the agent writes against the current API instead of stale training data.

    View Repository

  7. 7. Playwright MCP

    Local (stdio)Read-WriteOfficial · Microsoft

    Browser automation driven by the page's accessibility tree rather than screenshots - for agents that need to click through and test a real web app.

    View Repository

  8. 8. Sentry MCP

    Remote (HTTP)Read-OnlyOfficial · Sentry

    Pulls production errors, issues, and events into the agent for debugging, with an optional AI root-cause step. Available as a hosted remote server.

    View Repository

  9. 9. Supabase MCP

    Remote (HTTP)Read-WriteOfficial · Supabase

    Manage Supabase projects, run SQL, and work with auth, storage, and edge functions from the agent. OAuth by default.

    View Repository

  10. 10. Chrome DevTools MCP

    Local (stdio)Read-WriteOfficial · Google

    Control and inspect a live Chrome instance - performance, DOM, and network - a Google-maintained option for front-end debugging.

    View Repository

  11. 11. Moxie Docs MCPRecommended

    Remote (HTTP)Read-OnlyVendor · Moxie Docs

    Serves living documentation for your own codebase: conventions, doc gaps, references, and verified commands, scoped per repository and read-only. Where Context7 brings in public library docs, Moxie brings in accurate context about your private code - and keeps it current as the code changes.

    View Moxie Docs MCP

  12. 12. Brave Search

    Remote (HTTP)Read-OnlyOfficial · Brave

    Exposes internet search capabilities to your agent - web, local, image, and news search - so it can pull in real-time information. This is Brave's own package, published to replace the archived reference implementation of the same name.

    View Repository

  13. 13. Postgres MCP Pro

    Local & RemoteRead-OnlyCommunity · Crystal DBA (MIT)

    The de facto successor to the archived reference Postgres server: connects to your database with a configurable restricted (read-only, SQL-parsed) mode for shared or prod-adjacent use, plus query-plan and index-health analysis beyond what the original offered.

    View Repository

  14. 14. Memory

    Local (stdio)Read-WriteReference · MCP steering group

    A graph-based semantic memory server that lets the coding agent store, retrieve, and associate facts across different sessions.

    View Repository

  15. 15. Figma MCP

    Remote (HTTP)Read-OnlyOfficial · Figma

    Figma's Dev Mode MCP server (beta) feeds selected frames, components, variables, and Code Connect mappings into your agent so generated UI code matches the real design system instead of guessing from a screenshot. Requires a Dev or Full seat on a paid Figma plan.

    View Repository

  16. 16. Linear MCP

    Remote (HTTP)Read-WriteOfficial · Linear

    Linear's own hosted remote server (built with Cloudflare and Anthropic) lets the agent find, create, and update issues, projects, and comments directly in your tracker - useful for turning a bug report or ticket straight into a fix.

    View Repository

  17. 17. Notion MCP

    Remote (HTTP)Read-WriteOfficial · Notion

    Notion's hosted remote server lets the agent search, read, and manage pages and databases in your workspace - handy for pulling specs or writing up what it just built. Notion is prioritizing this remote server over its older local package.

    View Repository

  18. 18. Stripe MCP

    Remote (HTTP)Read-WriteOfficial · Stripe

    Stripe's hosted remote server for customers, invoices, payment links, refunds, subscriptions, and disputes, plus a tool to search Stripe's own docs. Authorize with OAuth or a restricted API key so the agent only gets the scopes you allow.

    View Repository

  19. 19. Vercel MCP

    Remote (HTTP)Read-WriteOfficial · Vercel

    Vercel's hosted remote server for managing projects and deployments and querying Web Analytics and documentation from the agent, with an OAuth connection restricted to clients Vercel has reviewed.

    View Repository

  20. 20. Cloudflare MCP

    Remote (HTTP)Read-WriteOfficial · Cloudflare

    A suite of hosted remote servers covering Workers, R2, KV, D1, DNS, and Workers AI, so an agent can inspect and change Cloudflare infrastructure directly instead of you switching to the dashboard or wrangler CLI.

    View Repository

“Official” means maintained by the vendor whose system the server connects to. “Reference” servers are demonstrations from the MCP steering group. “Vendor” marks a company's own product (including ours). “Community” marks an independently maintained project that isn't run by the underlying vendor - often the de facto successor to a server the steering group archived. Several original reference servers (GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Google Drive, Brave Search, Sentry, PostgreSQL, Puppeteer, and others) were archived in 2025; most have a vendor or community replacement linked above. Details reflect each project's public documentation at the time of writing.

Start small

Pick the two or three servers that match how you actually work - a file or Git server, something for current docs, and one for whatever system you debug most. Add Moxie Docs when you want your agent to follow your codebase's own conventions instead of rediscovering them every prompt.

See the Moxie Docs MCP serverCompare plans

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