A side-by-side look at the Ensembl and Myvariant MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Ensembl for biology & bioinformatics work as a local process; choose Myvariant for biology & bioinformatics as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
query, variant, metadata.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Biology & Bioinformatics | Biology & Bioinformatics |
| Quality signal | 41/100 · Fair | 51/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 0 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | Not listed | 3 |
| Full listing | View Ensembl | View Myvariant |
No tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
querySearch aggregated human genetic-variant annotations on MyVariant.info. Accepts an rsID ("rs58991260") or a fielded query ("dbnsfp.genename:CDK2", "clinvar.rcv.clinical_significance:pathogenic"). A bare HGVS id does NOT match here — look one up with the variant tool instead. Each hit merges dbSNP, ClinVar clinical significance, CADD/dbNSFP deleteriousness scores, and gnomAD population allele frequencies. Returns { total, hits, assembly }; hit._id is the HGVS id you can pass to the variant tool, and its coordinates are in the assembly you asked for — hg19 unless you say otherwise.variantGet the full merged annotation for a single human genetic variant by its HGVS id (e.g. "chr7:g.140453136A>T"). COORDINATES ARE hg19/GRCh37 BY DEFAULT — pass assembly "hg38" for GRCh38 positions, which is what gnomAD and Ensembl hand you. Returns annotations aggregated from dbSNP, ClinVar (pathogenicity / clinical significance), CADD and dbNSFP (deleteriousness/conservation scores), and gnomAD (population allele frequencies). Use to look up a known variant and read its pathogenicity and population frequency.metadataReturns MyVariant.info build metadata: total indexed variant count, available annotation sources (dbSNP, ClinVar, CADD, dbNSFP, gnomAD), and their current release/build versions.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.
{
"mcpServers": {
"ensembl": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-ensembl"
]
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"myvariant": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-myvariant"
]
}
}
}