FEA (finite element a… vs Ara — audits d'access… | AllMCPs
Side-by-Side Model Context Protocol Comparison
FEA (finite element analysis) vs Ara — audits d'accessibilité RGAA
In-depth architectural comparison of the FEA (finite element analysis) and Ara — audits d'accessibilité RGAA 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
FEA (finite element analysis)
Developer Tools · Local stdio
Quality: 44/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required
Ara — audits d'accessibilité RGAA
Developer Tools · Local stdio
Quality: 63/100 (Good) | Auth: API Key required
Verdict Summary: Choose FEA (finite element analysis) if you need specialized Developer Tools tools running via a local process. Choose Ara — audits d'accessibilité RGAA if your workspace requires Developer Tools integration with local subprocess execution. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.
Which MCP Server Should You Choose?
Choose FEA (finite element analysis) 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).
STEP → face table (face_id, type, centroid, normal/axis, area, bbox) + part bbox/volume. Call first: it's how English maps to face ids.
list_materials
Built-in library: Al 6061-T6, Al 7075-T6, Steel 4140, Stainless 304, Ti-6Al-4V, ABS, PLA, Nylon 12, PC (E, ν, yield, density).
submit_fea_study
Linear static: validate → mesh (C3D10, curvature-adaptive, local thin-wall refine) → CalculiX → verdict/stress/FoS + 3 stress PNGs.
submit_modal_study
Natural frequencies + mode shapes (`*FREQUENCY`), first N modes (default 6), one exaggerated-deformation PNG per mode. Requires constraints and density.
get_report
Full payload for a completed task; `include_mesh_data: true` adds the surface-mesh payload the 3D viewer app fetches.
Ara — audits d'accessibilité RGAA Tools (17)
list_rgaa_criteria
List RGAA 4.1 criteria as an index: topic number, topic name, criterion number and wording. Tests are NOT included — call get_rgaa_criterion for those.
Use this to know what an audit actually covers before evaluating anything. Filter to keep the answer small:
- auditType FAST — the 25 criteria of a rapid audit
- auditType COMPLEMENTARY — the 25 complementary criteria (disjoint from the rapid ones)
- auditType FULL, or no filter — all 106
- topic — restrict to one of the 13 topics
Source: the RGAA reference shipped with Ara, published by the DINUM under Licence Ouverte 2.0.
get_audit_method
Return the work plan for an audit type: which criteria can be settled by reading the HTML source, and which ones require the rendered page, keyboard navigation, the accessibility tree, or editorial judgement.
Call this BEFORE starting an audit. It tells you which tools you will actually need — a browser, a keyboard pass, a screen reader — instead of discovering halfway through that half the criteria cannot be answered from markup.
Criteria that need more than the source cannot be marked COMPLIANT or NOT_COMPLIANT by update_audit_results without declaring the matching evidence.
This classification is guidance from this server, not a prescription of the RGAA.
get_rgaa_criterion
Return the wording of a single RGAA 4.1 criterion AND its numbered tests — the checks an auditor actually performs to decide COMPLIANT / NOT_COMPLIANT / NOT_APPLICABLE.
Call this before evaluating a criterion with update_audit_results: it is what turns "topic 6, criterium 1" into something you can actually assess. Also tells whether the criterion belongs to the rapid or complementary audit.
The "verification" block says what is needed BEYOND the HTML source to settle the criterion — keyboard navigation, rendered page, accessibility tree, or editorial judgement — and how to go about it. When "sourceSuffit" is false, reading the markup is not enough: open the page.
Source: the RGAA reference shipped with Ara, published by the DINUM under Licence Ouverte 2.0.
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).
FEA (finite element analysis) is categorized under Developer Tools and uses a local stdio subprocess. In contrast, Ara — audits d'accessibilité RGAA belongs to Developer Tools using local stdio subprocess. Select FEA (finite element analysis) when you need capabilities focused on developer tools and Ara — audits d'accessibilité RGAA when you require tools for developer tools.
Re-authenticate against Ara using the credentials configured in this server's environment, and report the current authentication state.
Takes no arguments on purpose: credentials must never be passed as tool arguments, because tool arguments transit through the model's context and are persisted in conversation transcripts.
Configure them in the `env` block of your MCP client configuration:
- ARA_AUTH_TOKEN — a pre-issued Bearer token (recommended)
- ARA_USERNAME + ARA_PASSWORD — used to sign in automatically at startup
Use this tool only when a call has failed with an expired-token error.
create_audit
Create a new RGAA accessibility audit in Ara. Returns the audit with its editUniqueId (for editing) and consultUniqueId (for viewing the report).
Audit types:
- FULL: all 106 RGAA criteria
- FAST: 25 criteria (audit rapide)
- COMPLEMENTARY: 25 criteria (audit complémentaire) — disjoint from the rapid ones, the two methodologies together covering 50
Call list_rgaa_criteria to see exactly which criteria a type covers.
get_audit
Retrieve a full audit by its editUniqueId. Returns all metadata, pages, environments, and notes.
update_audit
Full update of an audit's metadata (procedure info, auditor info, environments, tools, technologies, notes, etc.). This REPLACES the existing metadata: fetch the audit with get_audit first and resend the fields you want to keep.
patch_audit_notes
Update only the notes field of an audit, without touching other metadata. The new content REPLACES the existing notes.
Unlike criterion comments, this field is passed through as rich text: HTML is interpreted. Write <th> rather than <th> if you need to quote markup literally.
delete_audit
Soft-delete an audit. The audit itself returns HTTP 410 Gone for future requests, and disappears from the account's audit list. This cannot be undone from this server.
IMPORTANT — deleting does NOT unpublish. If the audit was published, its report REMAINS publicly readable at its consultation URL after deletion, and it is then reachable from nowhere in the Ara interface, so it can no longer be edited or withdrawn. Verified against the live API. Do not present deletion to the user as a way to undo a publication.
duplicate_audit
Fully duplicate an existing audit (metadata, pages, RGAA results, example images). Returns a new audit with fresh IDs. The source audit is left untouched.
publish_audit
Mark an audit as published/completed. This makes the audit report and its accessibility statement PUBLICLY available at their consultation URL — confirm with the user before calling it. The audit must be fully filled in (all criteria evaluated) before publishing. Returns HTTP 409 if incomplete.
IMPORTANT — publishing is effectively irreversible from here. There is no unpublish operation, and delete_audit does NOT withdraw a published report: it stays publicly readable while disappearing from the Ara interface. Make sure the user means to publish THIS audit, on THIS site, before calling it — publishing an audit about a third party puts a public accessibility statement about them under the auditor's name.
get_audit_results
Retrieve all criterion results for an audit. Returns an array of results, each with:
- topic (1-13): RGAA topic number
- criterium: criterion number within the topic
- pageId: ID of the audited page
- status: COMPLIANT | NOT_COMPLIANT | NOT_APPLICABLE | NOT_TESTED
- compliantComment / notApplicableComment
- notCompliantItems: the individual issues found, each with title, comment, userImpact (MINOR | MAJOR | BLOCKING) and quickWin
On a FULL audit this returns 106 criteria per page — hundreds of entries. Filter by pageId or status rather than pulling everything, and call get_audit_progress when all you need is what is left to evaluate.