Open Notebook vs Skill Shelf (Rust singleton daemon)

In-depth architectural comparison of the Open Notebook and Skill Shelf (Rust singleton daemon) 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 Open Notebook 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).
• Primary tools included: search_capabilities.

Explore Open Notebook Details

Choose Skill Shelf (Rust singleton daemon) 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 Skill Shelf (Rust singleton daemon) Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Open Notebook Developer Tools	Skill Shelf (Rust singleton daemon) Developer Tools
Summary	MCP server that wraps the Open Notebook API	Progressive group routing for 393 professional skills via Rust daemon stdio shim.
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": {
    "open-notebook": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/inspector"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skill-shelf-rust-singleton-daemon": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "skill-shelf-rust-singleton-daemon"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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