In-depth architectural comparison of the Data Bloomington and Data Norfolk 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.
At a Glance & Executive Verdict
Data Bloomington
Developer Tools · Remote HTTP/SSE
Quality: 49/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required
Data Norfolk
Developer Tools · Remote HTTP/SSE
Quality: 49/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required
Verdict Summary: Choose Data Bloomington if you need specialized Developer Tools tools running via a hosted cloud SSE transport. Choose Data Norfolk if your workspace requires Developer Tools integration with remote web transport. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.
Which MCP Server Should You Choose?
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Choose Data Bloomington when:
You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
Search the Bloomington Open Data catalog of open datasets by keyword. Returns each dataset's resource_id, name, description, category and update date — pass the resource_id to query/metadata.
query
Run a Socrata SoQL query against a Bloomington Open Data dataset by resource_id (e.g. "yv82-z42g"). Filter with where/select/group/order (SoQL clauses, without the leading $) plus limit/offset. Returns matching rows as JSON.
metadata
Get a Bloomington Open Data dataset's schema + metadata (columns, types, row count, category, last-updated) by resource_id, e.g. "yv82-z42g".
Data Norfolk Tools (3)
datasets
Search the Norfolk Open Data catalog of open datasets by keyword. Returns each dataset's resource_id, name, description, category and update date — pass the resource_id to query/metadata.
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).
Data Bloomington is categorized under Developer Tools and uses a remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport. In contrast, Data Norfolk belongs to Developer Tools using remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport. Select Data Bloomington when you need capabilities focused on developer tools and Data Norfolk when you require tools for developer tools.
Run a Socrata SoQL query against a Norfolk Open Data dataset by resource_id (e.g. "cab7-wvn5"). Filter with where/select/group/order (SoQL clauses, without the leading $) plus limit/offset. Returns matching rows as JSON.
metadata
Get a Norfolk Open Data dataset's schema + metadata (columns, types, row count, category, last-updated) by resource_id, e.g. "cab7-wvn5".