Best MCP servers
An MCP server gives an AI assistant a new ability: reading a GitHub repo, driving a browser, querying a database, searching current documentation. The official MCP Registry already lists tens of thousands of them, and most are small experiments. This page ranks the MCP servers in SkillScout's catalogue by GitHub stars, which is a fair first filter for which ones people rely on.
How to read this list
Where the official MCP Registry has an install line from the same publisher as the repo, the entry shows it as a claude mcp add command. Otherwise it shows where to get the code, and the README has the setup steps.
SkillScout's copy of the registry held 50,787 servers on 27 October 2026. Stars only exist for the ones on GitHub, so this ranking leaves out hosted servers that publish no code.
Which MCP servers to install first
Start from the job, not the list. If your assistant writes code against libraries, a documentation server helps most. If it works on websites, a browser server. If your work lives in GitHub, Notion or a database, the official server for that service.
Fewer is better. Each server adds its tool descriptions to every request, and an assistant with thirty idle tools chooses worse than one with five it needs. Remove servers you have not used in a month.
Treat a server like any program you run with your credentials. Prefer official or well-maintained servers, read what each tool can do, and give tokens the narrowest scope.
The list
From SkillScout's catalogue, counted on 27 October 2026: 832 entries matched this topic, and these are the 15 with the most GitHub stars, one per project, after a review for false matches. Descriptions are each project's own. Stars show popularity, not fit.
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headroom
Compress tool outputs, logs, files, and RAG chunks before they reach the LLM. 60-95% fewer tokens, same answers. Library, proxy, MCP server.
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/headroomlabs-ai/headroom -
chrome-devtools-mcp
Chrome DevTools for coding agents
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp -
playwright-mcp
Playwright MCP server
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp -
github-mcp-server
GitHub's official MCP Server
Add it to Claude Code (from the official MCP Registry):
claude mcp add github-mcp-server -- docker run -i --rm ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:2.0.3 -
blender-mcp
Community plugin to control Blender 3D with any LLM of your choice
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp -
serena
A powerful MCP toolkit for coding, providing semantic retrieval and editing capabilities - the IDE for your agent
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/oraios/serena -
n8n-mcp
A MCP for Claude Desktop / Claude Code / Windsurf / Cursor to build n8n workflows for you
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/czlonkowski/n8n-mcp -
mcp-toolbox
MCP Toolbox for Databases is an open source MCP server for databases.
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/googleapis/mcp-toolbox -
claude-context
Code search MCP for Claude Code. Make entire codebase the context for any coding agent.
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/zilliztech/claude-context -
kubeshark
eBPF-powered network observability for Kubernetes. Indexes L4/L7 traffic with full K8s context, decrypts TLS without keys. Queryable by AI agents via MCP and humans via...
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/kubeshark/kubeshark -
unity-mcp
Unity MCP acts as a bridge between AI assistants and your Unity Editor. Give your LLM tools to manage assets, control scenes, edit scripts, and automate tasks within...
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/CoplayDev/unity-mcp -
DesktopCommanderMCP
This is MCP server for Claude that gives it terminal control, file system search and diff file editing capabilities
Add it to Claude Code (from the official MCP Registry):
claude mcp add desktop-commander -- npx -y @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander -
mcp
Open source MCP Servers for AWS
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/awslabs/mcp -
ida-pro-mcp
AI-powered reverse engineering assistant that bridges IDA Pro with language models through MCP.
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcp -
git-mcp
Put an end to code hallucinations! GitMCP is a free, open-source, remote MCP server for any GitHub project
Get the code, then follow its README:
git clone https://github.com/idosal/git-mcp
Questions
What is the most popular MCP server?
By GitHub stars, the entries at the top of this list. Popularity differs by job, so the MCP pages for design, browsers and databases rank servers for each.
How do I install an MCP server in Claude Code?
Run claude mcp add with a name and the server's command or URL, as shown on each entry that has one. In Claude Desktop, add the server in the app's settings or its config file.
Are MCP servers safe?
They are programs that act with the access you give them. Use servers from publishers you trust, read what tools they expose, and give them scoped, revocable tokens.
Related
- Best AI tools, sorted by role and task
- What is an MCP server?What MCP is, what a server does and how to add one to Claude.
- Best MCP servers for designersFigma, Blender, Excalidraw and other design apps, opened to Claude.
- MCP servers for browser automation and web scrapingPlaywright, Chrome DevTools, scraping and web search servers.
Your own list
This page ranks by popularity. SkillScout's scan ranks by fit: the AI you already use writes a short profile of how you work, and SkillScout scores about 22,000 AI tools against your gaps and hands back a short list with install steps. It is free, and the server never saves your profile.