Assay vs MCP Servers

One 9 MB binary replaces dozens of MCP server processes. 25 domains fully covered, 15+ coming soon.

Size comparison: 10 MCP servers ≈ 500 MB npm deps + 10 processes. Assay = 9 MB + 1 process.

Before & After

Today, wiring MCP servers into your .mcp.json means one npx process per domain:

Before: 10 MCP servers in .mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "mcp-server-kubernetes"] },
    "grafana": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@grafana/mcp-grafana"] },
    "postgres": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@singlestore/postgres-mcp"] },
    "vault": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "vault-mcp-server"] },
    "s3": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@aws/mcp", "s3"] },
    "prometheus": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "prometheus-mcp-server"] },
    "filesystem": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem"] },
    "argocd": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "argocd-mcp"] },
    "harbor": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "harbor-mcp"] },
    "certmanager": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "certmanager-mcp"] }
  }
}

After: 1 Assay entry (Coming Soon in v0.6.0)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "assay": {
      "command": "assay",
      "args": ["mcp-serve"],
      "note": "Coming Soon in v0.6.0 — replaces all 10 servers above"
    }
  }
}

Today: Use assay context <query> to get module docs for your LLM agent. See Agent Guides.

Coverage Key

✅ Full — Feature parity or better via Assay builtins/stdlib
🟡 Partial — Some capabilities covered, others missing
🟠 Coming Soon — Planned for a future Assay release
❌ Out of Scope — Not an Assay goal (browser automation, web search, IDE tooling)

Comparison Table

MCP Server	Stars	Assay Equivalent	Coverage
Tier 1: 10K+ Stars
modelcontextprotocol/servers (fetch, filesystem)	79K	`http.` builtins + `fs.` builtins	✅ Full
browser-use	35K	—	❌ Out of Scope (browser automation)
cline/mcp-server	40K	—	❌ Out of Scope (IDE tool)
aws/mcp (S3, Lambda, EC2)	8.2K	`assay.s3` (S3 only)	🟡 Partial
Tier 2: 2K–10K Stars
@grafana/mcp-grafana	2.4K	`assay.grafana` + `assay.prometheus` + `assay.loki` + `assay.alertmanager`	✅ Full
mcp-server-github	~5K	—	🟠 Coming Soon
mcp-server-git	~5K	—	🟠 Coming Soon
mcp-server-slack	~3K	—	🟠 Coming Soon
@singlestore/postgres-mcp	2.1K	`assay.postgres` + `db.*` builtins	✅ Full
mcp-server-docker	~2K	`assay.harbor` (registry)	🟡 Partial
mcp-server-redis	~2K	—	🟠 Coming Soon
mcp-server-kubernetes	1.3K	`assay.k8s`	✅ Full
Tier 3: 500–2K Stars
mcp-server-mongodb	~800	—	🟠 Coming Soon
mcp-server-sqlite	~600	`db.*` builtins	✅ Full
mcp-server-elasticsearch	~500	—	🟠 Coming Soon
mcp-server-mysql	~400	`db.*` builtins	✅ Full
mcp-server-jira	~400	—	🟠 Coming Soon
prometheus-mcp-server	372	`assay.prometheus`	✅ Full
terraform-mcp-server	~300	`assay.crossplane` (infra-as-code)	🟡 Partial
mcp-server-sentry	~300	—	🟠 Coming Soon
argocd-mcp	~200	`assay.argocd`	✅ Full
mcp-server-s3	~200	`assay.s3`	✅ Full
mcp-server-jwt	~100	`crypto.jwt_sign` builtin	✅ Full
traefik-mcp	~100	`assay.traefik`	✅ Full
mcp-server-temporal	~100	`assay.temporal`	✅ Full
harbor-mcp	~50	`assay.harbor`	✅ Full
mcp-certmanager	~50	`assay.certmanager`	✅ Full
flux-mcp	~50	`assay.flux`	✅ Full
vault-mcp-server	31	`assay.vault` + `assay.openbao`	✅ Full
crossplane-mcp	~30	`assay.crossplane`	✅ Full
unleash-mcp	~30	`assay.unleash`	✅ Full
velero-mcp	~30	`assay.velero`	✅ Full
kargo-mcp	~20	`assay.kargo`	✅ Full
zitadel-mcp	~20	`assay.zitadel`	✅ Full
eso-mcp	~20	`assay.eso`	✅ Full
dex-mcp	~10	`assay.dex`	✅ Full
Tier 4: Anthropic/Model Reference
playwright-mcp	~5K	—	❌ Out of Scope (browser)
exa-mcp-server	~1K	—	❌ Out of Scope (web search)
@anthropic/mcp-server-filesystem	ref	`fs.*` builtins	✅ Full
@anthropic/mcp-server-fetch	ref	`http.*` builtins	✅ Full
mcp-server-websocket	~100	`ws.*` builtins	✅ Full
mcp-server-crypto	~50	`crypto.*` builtins	✅ Full

✅ 25+ domains fully covered · 🟠 10+ Coming Soon · ❌ 4 out of scope (browser, web search, IDE)