Nist Beacon vs OpenHeritage Public Search

In-depth architectural comparison of the Nist Beacon and OpenHeritage Public Search 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.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Nist Beacon 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).

Explore Nist Beacon Details

Choose OpenHeritage Public Search 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).

Explore OpenHeritage Public Search Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Nist Beacon Developer Tools	OpenHeritage Public Search Developer Tools
Summary	NIST Randomness Beacon v2 — signed public random pulses every 60s.	Public search of genealogy, archives, photos, memorials, cemeteries, research, and repositories.
Category & Scope	Developer Tools	Developer Tools

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

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).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nist-beacon": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "nist-beacon"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openheritage-public-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "skills"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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