Comparison

Size & Speed

FROM scratch — no shell, no package manager. Rust-level cold start.

Docker Image Size (compressed)

Assay 9 MB

alpine/python 17 MB

kubectl 35 MB

python slim 43 MB

alpine/node 57 MB

alpine/k8s 60 MB

Deno 75 MB

node slim 105 MB

Bun 115 MB

newman 128 MB

Cold Start Time

Assay 5 ms

Bun ~30 ms

Deno ~50 ms

kubectl ~200 ms

alpine/k8s ~200 ms

alpine/python ~300 ms

python slim ~300 ms

alpine/node ~500 ms

node slim ~500 ms

newman ~800 ms

Docker compressed pull size. Cold start = time to first instruction.

Domains Covered

26 domains with full coverage, 3 partial. Each would otherwise need a separate MCP server (npm process).

How to Use

Assay is a Lua scripting runtime, not an MCP server. Your AI agent writes scripts using Assay's stdlib modules. Use assay context "<query>" for LLM-ready docs.

Full Coverage (26 domains)

MCP Server it replaces	Assay Module
modelcontextprotocol/servers (fetch)	`http.*` builtins
modelcontextprotocol/servers (filesystem)	`fs.*` builtins
@anthropic/mcp-server-fetch	`http.*` builtins
@anthropic/mcp-server-filesystem	`fs.*` builtins
mcp-server-github	`assay.github`
@grafana/mcp-grafana	`assay.grafana` + `assay.prometheus` + `assay.loki` + `assay.alertmanager`
@singlestore/postgres-mcp	`assay.postgres` + `db.*`
mcp-server-kubernetes	`assay.k8s`
mcp-server-sqlite	`db.*` builtins
mcp-server-mysql	`db.*` builtins
prometheus-mcp-server	`assay.prometheus`
argocd-mcp	`assay.argocd`
mcp-server-s3	`assay.s3`
mcp-server-jwt	`crypto.jwt_sign`
vault-mcp-server	`assay.vault` + `assay.openbao`
traefik-mcp	`assay.traefik`
mcp-server-temporal	`assay.temporal`
harbor-mcp	`assay.harbor`
mcp-certmanager	`assay.certmanager`
flux-mcp	`assay.flux`
crossplane-mcp	`assay.crossplane`
unleash-mcp	`assay.unleash`
velero-mcp	`assay.velero`
kargo-mcp	`assay.kargo`
zitadel-mcp	`assay.zitadel`
eso-mcp	`assay.eso`
dex-mcp	`assay.dex`
mcp-server-websocket	`ws.*` builtins
mcp-server-crypto	`crypto.*` builtins

Partial Coverage (3 domains)

MCP Server	Assay Module	Note
aws/mcp (S3, Lambda, EC2)	`assay.s3`	S3 only, no Lambda/EC2
mcp-server-git	`shell.exec("git ...")`	Via shell, not native module
mcp-server-docker / terraform-mcp	`assay.harbor` / `assay.crossplane`	Registry and infra-as-code, not Docker engine