Chisel vs SilverBullet

A side-by-side look at the Chisel and SilverBullet MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.

ChiselFile Systems · Remote HTTP/SSEReduce context usage on file use. Send only unified diffs instead of full files (up to 20-100× fewer tokens), and read large files with targeted grep/sed instead of full reads (up to 500×). Kernel-enforced path confinement hard-locks the agent to a configured root: no accidental reads or writes outside scope. Standalone for your file access or embed in any MCP server (Rust, Node.js, Python via WASM).57GoodAuth: api key required

SilverBulletFile Systems · Local subprocess (stdio)List, read, write, append, delete and search markdown pages in a SilverBullet space.53GoodAuth: api key required

Verdict: choose Chisel for file systems work over a hosted endpoint; choose SilverBullet for file systems as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.

Which MCP server should you choose?

Choose Chisel when

You need dedicated capabilities in the File Systems domain.
You prefer a remote HTTP/SSE transport.
Its auth model fits you: API key required.
You want tools like patch_apply, append, write_file.

Explore Chisel

S
Choose SilverBullet when

You need dedicated capabilities in the File Systems domain.
You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
Its auth model fits you: API key required.
You have the keys it needs: MCP_TOKEN, SB_URL, SB_AUTH_TOKEN, SB_USER_AGENT, MCP_HOST, MCP_PORT, MCP_STDIO.
You want tools like list_pages, read_note, write_note.

Explore SilverBullet

Feature & specification comparison

Rows where the two servers differ are marked.

Spec	Chisel	S SilverBullet
Category	File Systems	File Systems
Quality signal	57/100 · Good	53/100 · Good
Install command	Confirmed	Confirmed
Transport	Remote HTTP/SSE	Local subprocess (stdio)
Auth	API key required	API key required
Pricing	Free	Free
Required env vars	None listed	`MCP_TOKENSB_URLSB_AUTH_TOKENSB_USER_AGENTMCP_HOSTMCP_PORTMCP_STDIO`
Verified owner	Community listing	Community listing
GitHub stars	24	0
Directory activity	3 views 0 installs 0 upvotes	0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes
Tools	6	6
Full listing	View Chisel	View SilverBullet

Tools & capabilities

Chisel tools 6

patch_applyApply a unified diff atomically; accepts raw or ````diff` fenced patches — **primary edit tool; sends only changed lines, not the full file
appendAppend content to an existing file
write_fileWrite (create or overwrite) a file; creates parent dirs automatically
create_directoryCreate a directory tree (`mkdir -p` semantics)
move_fileMove or rename a file within root
shell_execRun a whitelisted command — `grep sed awk find cat head tail wc sort uniq cut tr diff file stat ls du rg

SilverBullet tools 6

list_pageslist every markdown page
read_noteread a page
write_notecreate or overwrite a page
append_noteappend, creating the page if absent
delete_notedelete a page
search_notescase-insensitive substring search, returns `path:line: text

Ready-to-paste client configs

Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.

Chisel

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ckanthony-chisel": {
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8080/mcp"
    }
  }
}

SilverBullet

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "silverbullet": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "silverbullet-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TOKEN": "YOUR_MCP_TOKEN_HERE",
        "SB_URL": "YOUR_SB_URL_HERE",
        "SB_AUTH_TOKEN": "YOUR_SB_AUTH_TOKEN_HERE",
        "SB_USER_AGENT": "YOUR_SB_USER_AGENT_HERE",
        "MCP_HOST": "YOUR_MCP_HOST_HERE",
        "MCP_PORT": "YOUR_MCP_PORT_HERE",
        "MCP_STDIO": "YOUR_MCP_STDIO_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Frequently asked questions

Chisel is categorized under File Systems and uses a remote HTTP/SSE transport. SilverBullet belongs to File Systems and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Chisel for file systems work and SilverBullet for file systems.

Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.

Chisel is listed as free. Auth: api key required. SilverBullet is listed as free. Auth: api key required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.

Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add ckanthony-chisel and silverbullet as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.

On AllMCPs, Chisel has a quality signal of 57/100 (Good) with 3 views, 0 installs and 24 GitHub stars. SilverBullet has 53/100 (Good) with 0 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars.