Substack MCP Server vs Testdino MCP
A side-by-side look at the Substack MCP Server and Testdino MCP MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Substack MCP Server for developer tools work as a local process; choose Testdino MCP for developer tools as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Substack MCP Server when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URL, SUBSTACK_SESSION_TOKEN, SUBSTACK_USER_ID. - You want tools like
create_draft_post, set_post_body, upload_image.
Choose Testdino MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Developer Tools domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: API key required.
- You have the keys it needs:
TESTDINO_PAT. - You want tools like
health, list_testruns, get_run_details.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
| Quality signal | 67/100 · Great | 67/100 · Great |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | API key required |
| Pricing | Not declared | BYOK (pay the provider) |
| Required env vars | SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URLSUBSTACK_SESSION_TOKENSUBSTACK_USER_ID | TESTDINO_PAT |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 87 | 9 |
| Directory activity | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 4 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 27 | 43 |
| Full listing | View Substack MCP Server | View Testdino MCP |
Tools & capabilities
Substack MCP Server tools 27
create_draft_postcreate a draft post on your Substack account.set_post_bodyreplace the body of a draft with a Substack document. This is the only way to write structured content — headings, lists, links, code blocks, images, buttons and a paywall. Create the draft first with create_draft_post, then call this with its id. The result reports how many nodes of each type were stored, so a caller can confirm that what it asked for is there. An image must already be hosted by Substack: this cannot upload one.upload_imageHost an image on your Substack publication and get back a Substack URL — the one thing image2.src in set_post_body and cover_image in update_draft will actually render. The source is either an http(s) URL, which the server downloads and re-hosts, or `path`, an absolute path to a local file on the machine running this server, which is read straight from disk: use that for an image you generated or edited locally, with no need to publish it anywhere first. Private and loopback hosts are refused, HEIC is not accepted, max 10 MB.list_subscribersList and filter the subscribers of your Substack publication. Supports the same 48 columns and operators as the Subscribers dashboard, combined with AND, plus free-text search, sorting and pagination. Returns `count`, the total matching the filters regardless of `limit`, so a call with limit 1 is a cheap way to size a segment. Engagement columns (email opens, post views, comments, shares, activity rating) can be filtered on here but are not part of the records this tool returns — use export_subscribers to read their values.export_subscribersExport subscribers with their full column values, including the engagement metrics list_subscribers can filter on but not return: email opens over 7d/30d/6mo, unique emails seen, post views, unique posts seen, comments, shares, links clicked, days active and activity rating. Takes the same filters as list_subscribers and covers the whole matching set — there is no paging. Substack generates the file asynchronously, so this waits for it and returns the parsed records. One column cannot be exported and is reported in `missing_columns` rather than failing: tag_ids.list_postsList the posts of your Substack publication: drafts, published posts or scheduled posts. Supports free-text search, pagination and sort direction. Each post is returned as a summary; use get_draft for the full content of an unpublished one.get_draftRead one draft post of your Substack publication in full, including its body and its audience and email settings. Take the id from list_posts or create_draft_post.update_draftChange an existing draft's title, subtitle or any of its Post settings: audience, who may comment, comment order, cover image, social preview title and description, SEO title and description, and URL slug. The update is partial: only the fields you pass change, everything else — including the body — is left alone. A cover_image not already hosted by Substack is downloaded and re-hosted first. Take the id from list_posts or create_draft_post.publish_draftPublish a draft. The post goes live on the web; `send` additionally emails it to subscribers and defaults to false, because an email cannot be recalled. Publishing cannot be undone from this server — there is no unpublish tool.delete_draftDelete an unpublished draft. Refuses if the id belongs to a published post: Substack deletes both through the same endpoint, and removing a live post is irreversible, so that is left to the dashboard.get_publicationRead the settings and identity of your Substack publication: name, subdomain, custom domain, hero text, copyright, sender name, logo, plans and payment state. Returns a projection by default; pass full: true for all 111 fields.get_user_profileRead the account behind the session: id, handle, name, bio, and every publication you have a role on. This is how to discover which publications the session can reach, beyond the one SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URL points at.- +15 more on the listing page
Testdino MCP tools 43
healthCheck if your TestDino connection is working. Verifies your PAT, shows your account information, and lists available organizations and projects. Each organization also shows your role in it (owner/admin/member/billing/viewer) so you can tell the user what they can do there — treat it as informational, not a security guarantee. Use this first to make sure everything is set up correctly and to get organization/project IDs for other tools.list_testrunsBrowse and filter your test runs to find specific test executions. Filter by git branch (e.g., 'develop', 'main'), run status ('passed', 'failed', 'interrupted', 'incomplete', 'running'), time interval ('Latest', '1h', '2h', '5h', '1d', '3d', '5d', 'weekly', 'monthly', or custom date ranges), commit author, environment (e.g., 'production', 'staging', 'development'), or test case tags. Search commit messages (or an exact run counter when numeric) with 'search', and order results with 'sort'. Supports efficient pagination using page/limit or offset/limit. Returns test run summaries with statistics (total, passed, failed, skipped, flaky counts), duration, status, branch, author, and PR information when available. Perfect for answering questions like 'What tests ran on the develop branch?' or 'Show me all failed runs from last hour.' The PAT should be configured in mcp.json as TESTDINO_PAT environment variable.get_run_detailsGet detailed information about test runs. Shows test statistics (passed, failed, skipped, flaky), all test suites and cases, git metadata, and error details. Supports batch operations (comma-separated IDs, max 20). Use this to analyze test execution health or debug specific failures. Set include_ai_insights=true (single testrun_id only) to also get the run's AI Insights under `ai_insights`: AI failure categorization (flaky/bug/ui_change), failure clusters, new-failures cards, the error-analysis table, and the LLM-written run summary. AI payloads are generated lazily — if `ai_insights` sections report status "processing"/"not_generated", poll get_ai_insights(testrun_id=...) until "completed" instead of re-calling this tool. An "unavailable" section carries the upstream statusCode: a 5xx or timeout is transient (retry once via get_ai_insights), a 4xx (bad ids) is terminal.list_testcaseList test cases with comprehensive filtering options. Provide a run scope: by_testrun_id or counter for specific runs, OR a cross-run filter (by_branch, by_time_interval, by_author, by_commit, by_environment, by_pages) which resolves the matching runs internally — you do NOT need to call list_testruns first. Without a run scope the tool returns an empty result with a warning explaining what to provide. Combine per-case filters (status, tags, runtime, artifacts, attempt number) with any run scope. page/limit paginate WITHIN the resolved run(s); limit is snapped to the nearest of 10, 25, 50, 100 (data-handler's allowed page sizes).get_testcase_detailsGet detailed information about a specific test case. You can identify the test case in two ways: 1) By testcase_id (can be used alone), or 2) By testcase_name combined with testrun_id (required because test cases can have the same name across different test runs). Returns error message, code snippet, file location, test steps per attempt, console logs, and artifacts (screenshots, videos, traces). Use steps_filter='failed_only' to return only steps that errored, stripping passing setup/hook steps. Use this to debug why a test failed or understand how it executed. Example: 'Get test case details for "Verify user can logout and login" in testrun #43'.debug_testcaseFetch historical execution and failure data for a specific test case. Returns raw historical data with test run details (ID, counter, branch), test runs summary, and a debugging prompt from the API. Each execution includes its associated test run information (testRunId, testRunCounter, branch) to help correlate failures across different test runs and branches. The AI client will analyze the data to identify failure patterns, find root causes, and provide fix suggestions. Use this when you need to debug a failing test case. Example: 'Debug test case "Verify user login"'. Set include_ai_insights=true to also get TestDino's stored AI analysis for this test under `ai_fixes`: recommendations (investigation/remediation steps + reasoning + historical insight) and quick fixes (concrete fixes, often with code snippets, plus long-term stabilization steps). By default they target the most recent failing execution; pass testrun_id to target a specific run. AI payloads are generated lazily — if `ai_fixes` sections report status "in_progress", poll get_ai_insights(testrun_id=..., testcase_id=...) until they report "completed". An "unavailable" section carries the upstream statusCode: a 5xx or timeout is transient (retry once via get_ai_insights); a 4xx (bad ids) is terminal.get_debug_evidenceStart every failing-test investigation here. One call returns the whole cheap tier of the evidence ladder: the computed flake verdict with its per-attempt failure signatures, the regression boundary (the last run this test passed and the first it failed), and download links for every stored artifact — trace, screenshots, and the expected/actual/diff images on a visual failure. Read all of it before forming a hypothesis. The verdict says whether the failure repeats, never why, so it rules fixes out rather than pointing at a cause; the boundary turns "why does this fail" into "what changed between these two runs", which is a far smaller question. Artifact links are minutes-scale: download what you need immediately, and call this again to mint fresh ones rather than treating an expired link as a missing artifact.get_flake_verdictSay whether a failing test behaves the same way every time, by comparing its retry attempts within one run. If you are debugging a failing test, call get_debug_evidence first — it returns this plus the regression boundary and every artifact link in one call, so calling this separately afterwards repeats work already done. Returns a computed verdict — "deterministic" (every attempt failed with the same signature, so the failure repeats), "flaky" (an attempt passed on retry, so the outcome is not consistent), or "inconclusive" (too few attempts, or the attempts failed differently) — plus the per-attempt signatures behind it. The verdict describes the behaviour, not the cause. It tells you which fixes the evidence cannot support; it does not tell you where the fix goes. Decide that after reading the artifacts, the trace and the code. Needs a test that ran with retries enabled; a single attempt is always inconclusive.verify_fixCheck whether a fix actually held for one test, against the run you saw when you proposed it. Splits the test's run history at that baseline and compares after against before, returning "fixed" (passing with no retries since), "not_fixed" (still failing with the same error), "changed_failure" (still failing, but a different error — a new investigation, and only when every failure since carried a comparable fingerprint), "still_failing" (still failing, but the errors cannot be compared, so neither same nor different can be claimed), "unstable" (passing only after retries, which is not fixed), "no_runs_since_baseline", or "baseline_not_found" (the run id is not one this test executed in). Call this after a new run lands. An unchanged error means the fix missed, not that the test is flaky. The baseline run must be one this test actually executed in — an id from another project or another test is rejected rather than answered.get_audit_reportRead-only TestDino Playwright audit reads. Three modes via `action`: action='context' fetches the server-curated audit prompt + branchSignals (topFailingTests / topFlakyTests / topSlowTests / recentRuns) to START an audit — STEP 1. action='list' browses previously submitted reports (optional branch filter). action='get' retrieves one saved report by reportId. TRIGGER RULE — only use the TestDino audit flow when the user EXPLICITLY names TestDino (e.g. 'TestDino audit', 'run a TestDino audit'). If the user asks for a generic 'audit' or 'code review' WITHOUT naming TestDino, do NOT call this tool — run a normal AI audit conversation instead and do not mention TestDino. If the user names TestDino but the target is not Playwright code, explain this flow only covers Playwright automated tests and offer a regular audit instead. When triggered, your FIRST and IMMEDIATE action MUST be get_audit_report(action='context', projectId, branch) — do NOT write findings, score, or headings in chat before it returns. Call health() first if you do not have the projectId. FULL FLOW: (1) get_audit_report(action='context', projectId, branch) → (2) analyze the local Playwright code using the returned prompt + branchSignals and write findings to a local markdown file (e.g. TEST-AUDIT.md) → (3) submit_audit_report(...) to save the completed report.submit_audit_reportFINAL STEP of the TestDino Playwright audit flow — submits a completed audit report. Requires write permission. Call this only AFTER get_audit_report(action='context') and after you have analyzed the local Playwright code and produced findings. score (0-100) and either markdownReport or markdownReportPath are required. Include findings, recommendations, reportName, branch, scope, and target as available. Every finding MUST include title, summary, and severity (low|medium|high|critical) — incomplete findings are rejected, not stored. target, if sent, accepts only { value, path }. orgId is required — resolve it via health() if you do not already have it. Use the same branch/scope/target you passed to get_audit_report(action='context') so the report attaches to the right audit context.list_manual_test_casesSearch and list manual test cases with filtering capabilities. Use this to find specific manual test cases for QA testing, auditing, or test case management. Supports filtering by project, time, suite, status, priority, severity, type, layer, behavior, automation status, and tags.- +31 more on the listing page
Ready-to-paste client configs
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.
Substack MCP Server
{
"mcpServers": {
"substack-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"substack-mcp@latest"
],
"env": {
"SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URL": "YOUR_SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URL_HERE",
"SUBSTACK_SESSION_TOKEN": "YOUR_SUBSTACK_SESSION_TOKEN_HERE",
"SUBSTACK_USER_ID": "YOUR_SUBSTACK_USER_ID_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Testdino MCP
{
"mcpServers": {
"testdino-hq-testdino-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@testdino/mcp"
],
"env": {
"TESTDINO_PAT": "YOUR_TESTDINO_PAT_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Substack MCP Server is categorized under Developer Tools and uses a local stdio subprocess. Testdino MCP belongs to Developer Tools and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Substack MCP Server for developer tools work and Testdino MCP for developer tools.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Substack MCP Server has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. Testdino MCP is bring-your-own-key: usage is billed by the API provider you supply a key for. Auth: api key required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add substack-mcp-server and testdino-hq-testdino-mcp as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Substack MCP Server has a quality signal of 67/100 (Great) with 2 views, 0 installs and 87 GitHub stars. Testdino MCP has 67/100 (Great) with 4 views, 0 installs and 9 GitHub stars.