What is the key difference between Glim.sh and Trieve?

Glim.sh belongs to the Search & Data Extraction category with local stdio execution, while Trieve belongs to the Search & Data Extraction category with local stdio execution.

How do I install Glim.sh or Trieve in Claude Desktop or Cursor?

Copy the mcpServers JSON configuration snippet provided on this page into your claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json file and restart your AI client.

Are Glim.sh and Trieve free or paid?

Glim.sh operates under a Free / Open Source model (No auth required). Trieve operates under a Freemium model (API Key required).

Which MCP server has more tools and community activity?

Glim.sh lists 14 tools with 0 views and 4 GitHub stars. Trieve lists 6 tools with 2 views and 2,717 GitHub stars.

Can I use both Glim.sh and Trieve together in the same MCP host?

Yes! MCP hosts like Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and VS Code support configuring multiple servers under the mcpServers object simultaneously.

Side-by-Side Model Context Protocol Comparison

Glim.sh vs Trieve

In-depth architectural comparison of the Glim.sh and Trieve 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

Glim.sh

Search & Data Extraction · Local stdio

Quality: 53/100 (Good) | Auth: No auth required

Trieve

Search & Data Extraction · Local stdio

Quality: 49/100 (Fair) | Auth: API Key required

Verdict Summary: Choose Glim.sh if you need specialized Search & Data Extraction tools running via a local process. Choose Trieve if your workspace requires Search & Data Extraction integration with local subprocess execution. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Glim.sh when:

You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
Primary tools included: glim_twitter_search, glim_twitter_get, glim_reddit_search.

Explore Glim.sh Details

Choose Trieve when:

You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: API Key required (Freemium).
You have access to required keys: TRIEVE_API_KEY, TRIEVE_OPENAI_API_KEY, TRIEVE_QDRANT_URL, TRIEVE_QDRANT_API_KEY, TRIEVE_OPENROUTER_API_KEY.
Primary tools included: Self-hosting support for AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, Docker Compose, Semantic dense vector search with OpenAI/Jina embeddings and Qdrant, Typo tolerant neural sparse-vector search using SPLADE model.

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	G Glim.sh Search & Data Extraction	Trieve devflowinc Search & Data Extraction
Summary	Give your agent live data from Twitter, Reddit, the web and GitHub. No API keys, no scraping stack.	Crawl, embed, chunk, search, and retrieve information from datasets through Trieve
Category & Scope	Search & Data Extraction	Search & Data Extraction

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Glim.sh Tools (14)

glim_twitter_search

Search tweets with advanced operators

glim_twitter_get

Tweet with thread context, or user profile, by URL/id/handle

glim_reddit_search

Search Reddit posts

glim_reddit_get

Post + comments, subreddit feed, or user activity

glim_web_search

Semantic web search

glim_web_fetch

Clean page extraction (SSR, SPA shells, PDFs)

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).

Glim.sh Configuration

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "glim-sh": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "skills"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Trieve Configuration

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "devflowinc-trieve": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@smithery/cli"
      ],
      "env": {
        "TRIEVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_TRIEVE_API_KEY_HERE",
        "TRIEVE_OPENAI_API_KEY": "YOUR_TRIEVE_OPENAI_API_KEY_HERE",
        "TRIEVE_QDRANT_URL": "YOUR_TRIEVE_QDRANT_URL_HERE",
        "TRIEVE_QDRANT_API_KEY": "YOUR_TRIEVE_QDRANT_API_KEY_HERE",
        "TRIEVE_OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "YOUR_TRIEVE_OPENROUTER_API_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Glim.sh is categorized under Search & Data Extraction and uses a local stdio subprocess. In contrast, Trieve belongs to Search & Data Extraction using local stdio subprocess. Select Glim.sh when you need capabilities focused on search & data extraction and Trieve when you require tools for search & data extraction.

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