Build vs Xcode MCP Server

In-depth architectural comparison of the Build and Xcode MCP Server MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Build when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• Primary tools included: Schema-validated structured JSON output, Human-readable MCP content output, TypeScript compiler support.

Explore Build Details

Choose Xcode MCP Server when:

• You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
• You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
• Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
• You have access to required keys: PROJECTS_BASE_DIR, DEBUG.
• Primary tools included: Create and modify Xcode projects and schemes, Read/write files with encoding and binary support, Build, test, analyze, clean, and archive Xcode projects.

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Build Developer Tools	Xcode MCP Server r-huijts Developer Tools
Summary	Structured build tool output (tsc, generic commands) as typed JSON diagnostics.	Xcode integration for project management, file operations, and build automation
Category & Scope	Developer Tools	Developer Tools

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations

Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "build": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@paretools/init"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "r-huijts-xcode-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "r-huijts-xcode-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PROJECTS_BASE_DIR": "YOUR_PROJECTS_BASE_DIR_HERE",
        "DEBUG": "YOUR_DEBUG_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

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