Side-by-Side Model Context Protocol Comparison
Desktop Touch MCP vs Swift MCP Gui
In-depth architectural comparison of the Desktop Touch MCP and Swift MCP Gui 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
Desktop Touch MCP
OS Automation · Local stdio
Quality: 60/100 (Good) | Auth: No auth required
Swift MCP Gui
OS Automation · Local stdio
Quality: 49/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required
Verdict Summary: Choose Desktop Touch MCP if you need specialized OS Automation tools running via a local process. Choose Swift MCP Gui if your workspace requires OS Automation integration with local subprocess execution. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's
mcpServers manifest.Which MCP Server Should You Choose?
Choose Desktop Touch MCP when:
- You need dedicated capabilities in the OS Automation domain.
- You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
- Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
- Primary tools included: desktop_discover, desktop_act, desktop_state.
Choose Swift MCP Gui when:
- You need dedicated capabilities in the OS Automation domain.
- You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
- Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
- Primary tools included: x, y, button.
Feature & Specification Comparison
Tools & Capabilities Breakdown
Desktop Touch MCP Tools (23)
desktop_discover
Observe the desktop. Returns interactive entities with leases (UIA, CDP, Terminal, Visual SoM).
desktop_act
Perform actions (click, type, drag, select) on entities via lease validation. Returns semantic diffs — plus an optional `roiCapture` (changed-region PNG + next-target preview) on visual-only targets.
desktop_state
Lightweight check of focus, active window, cursor, and Auto-Perception attention signal.
screenshot
Multi-mode capture: `detail='text'` (UIA/OCR), `diffMode` (P-frame), `dotByDot` (1:1), and `background`. Returns a cheap `screenshot://by-ref/{id}` link to the saved image instead of inlining pixels every time.
screenshot_query
Inspect and prune the on-disk screenshot cache behind the by-ref links: `screenshot_query` lists saved captures without re-reading pixels; `screenshot_gc` reclaims space by retention policy (dry-run by default).
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).
Desktop Touch MCP Configuration
Swift MCP Gui Configuration