Paper Lantern vs Formio MCP

In-depth architectural comparison of the Paper Lantern and Formio MCP 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 Paper Lantern 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: explore_approaches, deep_dive, compare_approaches.

Explore Paper Lantern Details

Choose Formio MCP 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 Formio MCP Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Paper Lantern Developer Tools	Formio MCP Developer Tools
Summary	Research intelligence for AI coding agents. 2M+ CS papers with evidence and tradeoffs.	Create and manage Form.io forms, resources, actions, roles, and projects from your AI agent.
Category & Scope	Developer Tools	Developer Tools
Quality signal

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": {
    "paper-lantern": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "paperlantern@latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "formio-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@formio/mcp@0.13.0"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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