What is the key difference between Claude MCP Bridge and Serena?

Claude MCP Bridge belongs to the Coding Agents category with local stdio execution, while Serena belongs to the Coding Agents category with cloud HTTP/SSE execution.

How do I install Claude MCP Bridge or Serena 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 Claude MCP Bridge and Serena free or paid?

Claude MCP Bridge operates under a BYOK (Pay Provider Direct) model (other). Serena operates under a Free / Open Source model (No auth required).

Which MCP server has more tools and community activity?

Claude MCP Bridge lists 5 tools with 4 views and 6 GitHub stars. Serena lists 6 tools with 3 views and 28,904 GitHub stars.

Can I use both Claude MCP Bridge and Serena 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

Claude MCP Bridge vs Serena

In-depth architectural comparison of the Claude MCP Bridge and Serena 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

Claude MCP Bridge

Coding Agents · Local stdio

Quality: 64/100 (Good) | Auth: other

Serena

Coding Agents · Remote HTTP/SSE

Quality: 49/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required

Verdict Summary: Choose Claude MCP Bridge if you need specialized Coding Agents tools running via a local process. Choose Serena if your workspace requires Coding Agents integration with remote web transport. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Claude MCP Bridge when:

You need dedicated capabilities in the Coding Agents domain.
You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: other (BYOK (Pay Provider Direct)).
Primary tools included: query, structured, search.

Explore Claude MCP Bridge Details

Choose Serena when:

You need dedicated capabilities in the Coding Agents domain.
You prefer remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
Primary tools included: Symbol-level code retrieval, Semantic editing and refactoring, Reference, declaration, and implementation lookup.

Explore Serena Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Claude MCP Bridge hampsterx Coding Agents	Serena oraios Coding Agents
Summary	Wraps Claude Code CLI as MCP tools (query, search, structured, sessions) with subscription-first auth, cost metadata, budget caps, and granular tool sandboxing.	A fully-featured coding agent that relies on symbolic code operations by using language servers.
Category & Scope	Coding Agents

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

Claude MCP Bridge Tools (5)

query

Execute a prompt via Claude Code CLI with optional file context and session resume. Claude is an AI coding agent that can generate, analyze, refactor, and explain code. Capabilities: code generation and refactoring, code analysis and explanation, file understanding (text and images), multi-turn conversations via sessionId. Cost: Default model is Sonnet (~$0.01-0.10/call). Use effort="low" for simple tasks, effort="high" + model="opus" for complex analysis. Set maxBudgetUsd to cap per-call cost (recommended for effort="max" or model="opus"). Tips: - Set workingDirectory to the target repo for project-aware responses. - Break complex tasks into focused prompts rather than one large request. - Resume multi-turn conversations with sessionId from a previous response's metadata. - Include relevant files via the files parameter for targeted context (text files inlined in prompt, images trigger allowed-tools mode). - Use noSessionPersistence=true for stateless one-shot calls.

structured

Generate JSON conforming to a provided JSON Schema. Uses Claude CLI's native --json-schema flag for validated output (not client-side validation). Use for: data extraction from text/files, classification, entity parsing, or any task needing machine-parseable output. Cost: Similar to query (~$0.01-0.10/call). Schema complexity doesn't significantly affect cost. Tips: - Pass the JSON Schema as a JSON string in the schema parameter. - Schema max size: 20KB. Keep schemas focused for reliable output. - For extraction tasks, include source text via the files parameter or inline in the prompt.

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).

Claude MCP Bridge Configuration

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hampsterx-claude-mcp-bridge": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "claude-mcp-bridge"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Serena Configuration

mcpServers (Claude Desktop / Cursor)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "oraios-serena": {
      "url": "https://discord.com/invite/cVUNQmnV4r"
    }
  }
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Claude MCP Bridge is categorized under Coding Agents and uses a local stdio subprocess. In contrast, Serena belongs to Coding Agents using remote streaming HTTP/SSE transport. Select Claude MCP Bridge when you need capabilities focused on coding agents and Serena when you require tools for coding agents.

More alternatives to Claude MCP Bridge More alternatives to Serena Coding Agents category hub