A side-by-side look at the Metmuseum MCP and PoetryDB MCP Server MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Metmuseum MCP for art & culture work as a local process; choose PoetryDB MCP Server for art & culture as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
list-departments, search-museum-objects, get-museum-object.POETRYDB_BASE_URL, POETRYDB_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS, POETRYDB_REQUEST_RETRIES.catalog_overview, catalog_category, search_by_author.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Art & Culture | Art & Culture |
| Quality signal | 64/100 · Good | 55/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | No auth required | Not declared |
| Pricing | Free | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | POETRYDB_BASE_URLPOETRYDB_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MSPOETRYDB_REQUEST_RETRIES |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 35 | 2 |
| Directory activity | 7 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 4 | 12 |
| Full listing | View Metmuseum MCP | View PoetryDB MCP Server |
list-departmentsList all departments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met Museum)search-museum-objectsSearch for objects in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met Museum). Will return Total objects found, followed by a paginated list of Object Ids. If the Met Explorer app (open-met-explorer) is open and the user is referring to its existing results, prefer using those results from context instead of calling this tool. The parameter title should be set to true if you want to search for objects by title. The parameter hasImages is false by default, but can be set to true to return only objects with images. Additional optional filters are available for highlights, tags, on-view status, artist/culture match, medium, geographic location, and date range. Use page and pageSize to paginate results.get-museum-objectGet a museum object by its ID, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection. Use this when the user asks for deeper details on a specific object ID.open-met-explorerOpen the interactive Met Explorer app for browsing and filtering objects. For exploration intents, pass q so the app can run a live search on open. After opening, keep your chat handoff short and UI-focused. For deeper details on a specific object ID, prefer get-museum-object.catalog_overviewOverview of all PoetryDB MCP tools. Start here to discover categories.catalog_categoryShow the tools and description for a specific category.search_by_authorFind poems by author name. Supports exact or partial author matches.search_by_titleFind a poem by title. Supports exact or partial title matches.search_by_linesSearch for poems containing specific text in their lines.search_by_linecountFind poems with a specific number of lines.search_combinedRun a combined PoetryDB search across multiple fields.list_authorsList all available authors in PoetryDB.random_poemGet one or more random poems.get_sonnetsFind 14-line sonnets, optionally filtered by author.get_haikusFind 3-line poems, optionally filtered by author.list_titlesList all poem titles in PoetryDB.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": {
"mikechao-metmuseum-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"metmuseum-mcp"
]
}
}
}
{
"mcpServers": {
"poetrydb-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-poetry"
],
"env": {
"POETRYDB_BASE_URL": "YOUR_POETRYDB_BASE_URL_HERE",
"POETRYDB_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS": "YOUR_POETRYDB_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS_HERE",
"POETRYDB_REQUEST_RETRIES": "YOUR_POETRYDB_REQUEST_RETRIES_HERE"
}
}
}
}