Substack MCP vs Social Signal
A side-by-side look at the Substack MCP and Social Signal MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Substack MCP for social media work as a local process; choose Social Signal for social media as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Substack MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Social Media domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: other.
- You have the keys it needs:
SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URL, SUBSTACK_SESSION_TOKEN, SUBSTACK_USER_ID, SUBSTACK_MCP_HOME. - You want tools like
get_subscriber_count, list_published_posts, list_drafts.
Choose Social Signal when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Social Media domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You want tools like
social_topic_volume, social_account_activity.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Social Media | Social Media |
| Quality signal | 68/100 · Great | 59/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | other | Not declared |
| Pricing | Free | Not declared |
| Required env vars | SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URLSUBSTACK_SESSION_TOKENSUBSTACK_USER_IDSUBSTACK_MCP_HOME | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 44 | 1 |
| Directory activity | 6 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 14 | 2 |
| Full listing | View Substack MCP | View Social Signal |
Tools & capabilities
Substack MCP tools 14
get_subscriber_countGet the current subscriber count for your Substack publication. Returns `precision`: 'exact' when the API reports a true count, 'approximate' when only Substack's rounded value is available (the real number is that or higher — render it hedged, e.g. '1,000+'), or 'unavailable' with count -1. Never treat an approximate value as exact.list_published_postsList published posts with pagination. Returns title, date, slug, and URL for each post.list_draftsList draft posts. Returns title, creation date, and audience for each draft.get_postGet the full content of a published post by ID. Returns title, body HTML, metadata.get_draftGet the full content of a draft post by ID. Returns title, body, metadata.get_post_commentsGet comments on a published post. Returns commenter name, comment body, date, and reaction counts.get_sectionsList your publication's sections (categories). Returns each section's id and name. Use a section id as `section_id` when creating or updating a draft to file it under that section.get_post_analyticsGet performance stats (views, emails sent/delivered/opened, signups, subscribes, estimated value, comments, reactions) for a published post by ID. Substack has no per-post stats endpoint, so this searches your 500 most recent published posts for the ID; returns a not-found note if it isn't among them.list_scheduled_postsList posts scheduled for future publication, soonest first. Read-only visibility into what's queued — scheduling itself is done in Substack's editor (this server does not schedule, publish, or delete long-form posts). Returns id, title, audience, and scheduled time (`trigger_at`).create_draftCreate a new draft post. Accepts markdown body which is converted to Substack's format. Does NOT publish — creates a draft only.update_draftUpdate an existing draft post. Only works on unpublished drafts. Accepts markdown body.upload_imageUpload an image to Substack's CDN. Provide exactly one of `image_base64` (a base64 data URI) or `image_path` (a local file path). Returns a hosted image URL that is publicly fetchable by anyone with the link (an unlisted asset — not attributed to you or added to your feed).- +2 more on the listing page
Social Signal tools 2
social_topic_volumeSOCIAL MEDIA VOLUME as a TIME SERIES: how many posts mention a topic, bucketed by day or hour, so you can see the POST VOLUME TREND and whether SOCIAL CHATTER ABOUT A TOPIC is rising or fading. Answers "how much is X being discussed", "BUZZ OVER TIME for X", "is attention on X growing this week". Returns a per-bucket count broken out by network, running totals, engagement sums where the source exposes them, and an explicit window_actually_covered block. A bucket is a number only where that network was truly measured; where reach ran out it is null, so a measured zero is always distinguishable from an unobserved gap. Coverage is Bluesky, Mastodon, Reddit and Hacker News; X/Twitter is excluded (paid API), so results are a directional proxy over a partial slice of social media rather than total social volume. Examples: topic "bitcoin", days 7, bucket "day" for a week-long attention curve; topic "openai", days 2, bucket "hour", networks ["bluesky","hackernews"] for an intraday spike check.social_account_activityPOSTING CADENCE for one social media account as a TIME SERIES: posts per day over a window, plus average engagement per post and the timestamp of the most recent post. Answers "how often does this account post", "has this account gone quiet", "what is their POST VOLUME TREND", "how active is @someone on social media". The network is inferred from the handle shape (a dotted handle is Bluesky, "@user@instance.tld" is Mastodon, "u/name" is Reddit); when the shape is ambiguous the response lists every network tried in networks_tried. Days with a null count were outside the reach of the feed and stay distinguishable from days with a measured zero. Coverage is Bluesky, Mastodon, Reddit and Hacker News; X/Twitter is excluded (paid API), so results are a directional proxy over a partial slice of social media rather than total social volume. Examples: handle "bsky.app", days 30 for a month of posting cadence; handle "@Mastodon@mastodon.social", days 90 for a long-run activity check.
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.
Substack MCP
{
"mcpServers": {
"conorbronsdon-substack-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@conorbronsdon/substack-mcp"
],
"env": {
"SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URL": "YOUR_SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URL_HERE",
"SUBSTACK_SESSION_TOKEN": "YOUR_SUBSTACK_SESSION_TOKEN_HERE",
"SUBSTACK_USER_ID": "YOUR_SUBSTACK_USER_ID_HERE",
"SUBSTACK_MCP_HOME": "YOUR_SUBSTACK_MCP_HOME_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Social Signal
{
"mcpServers": {
"social-signal": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-social-signal"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Substack MCP is categorized under Social Media and uses a local stdio subprocess. Social Signal belongs to Social Media and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Substack MCP for social media work and Social Signal for social media.
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.
Substack MCP is listed as free. Auth: other. Social Signal has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. 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 conorbronsdon-substack-mcp and social-signal as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Substack MCP has a quality signal of 68/100 (Great) with 6 views, 0 installs and 44 GitHub stars. Social Signal has 59/100 (Good) with 2 views, 0 installs and 1 GitHub stars.