JustClaw-It vs Smithery and MCP directories: a server is not a directory
2026-10-27 · JustClaw-It
People sometimes compare JustClaw-It with Smithery, Glama or other MCP directories. They are different kinds of thing. A directory helps you find MCP servers. JustClaw-It is an MCP server: one of the things you would find in a directory, whose job is to find code components for your agent. This post explains the difference, covers what is changing at Smithery on 31 October 2026, and gives a short checklist for picking any MCP server.
Facts were checked on 27 October 2026 on smithery.ai/future, glama.ai and its methodology page, and the official MCP Registry docs.
The short answer
- Looking for which MCP servers exist for Linear, Postgres or a browser? Use a directory: Glama, the official MCP Registry, or Smithery's directory.
- Looking for code your agent can reuse, with its licence? That is a job for a server like JustClaw-It, which you'd install alongside the others you find.
- If you connect to any server through a Smithery URL, move it to the vendor's own URL before 31 October.
What changes at Smithery on 31 October 2026
Smithery has announced that it is shutting down its connection services on 31 October 2026. According to its notice:
- Stopping: server URLs on
run.toolsandserver.smithery.ai, the Smithery API, Connect and Toolbox, Smithery accounts and API keys, and the Smithery CLI and SDKs (marked deprecated). - Staying: smithery.ai as a public, non-proxied directory of MCP servers, now powered by Arcade.dev, with a curated set of verified servers whose pages show the vendor's direct MCP URL.
- Paid plans are refunded for charges since 5 August and cancelled.
So if a config file on your machine points at server.smithery.ai/... or *.run.tools, find the server's official URL (its Smithery page now shows it) and switch before the deadline.
The directories, briefly
| what it is | notable | |
|---|---|---|
| Smithery | Public directory, powered by Arcade.dev from 31 October | Verified servers list their direct URLs; no more proxying |
| Glama | Registry, inspector and gateway | Says it indexes over 111,000 MCP servers, a superset of the official registry; builds and runs each server in a sandbox, then scans and scores it |
| Official MCP Registry | registry.modelcontextprotocol.io, run by the MCP project | In preview; publishers prove a GitHub or domain namespace and own the packages they reference |
Directories answer "which server should I install?". They rank and describe servers: their tools, maintenance, licence and security posture. They don't search the code inside your project or the open-source world for you.
Where JustClaw-It fits
JustClaw-It is a single remote MCP server (https://justclaw.it.com/mcp) with 8 tools. It searches 1,459,645 components mined from open-source repositories and returns whole, graded components with their SPDX licence, copyright holder and an attribution header. Search is free; each pull costs 1 credit.
You connect to it directly with an API key, not through a proxy, so the Smithery change doesn't affect it. The quickstart has the config for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, Codex and OpenClaw.
What directories do better
- Breadth. A directory shows you the whole ecosystem; JustClaw-It is one server with one job.
- Server vetting. Glama, for example, builds servers in isolated microVMs, inspects their tools and scores them over time. That is useful for judging any server, including ours.
- One-click installs in some clients.
What JustClaw-It does that a directory doesn't
- It works inside your agent's task. "Find a permissive-licensed Express rate limiter and add it to this project" is a JustClaw-It call; a directory can only tell you a server exists.
- Licence per component, not per server. Directories may show a server's own licence. JustClaw-It tells you the licence of each piece of code your agent reuses, which is what matters for the code you ship.
A checklist for choosing any MCP server
Whether you find it on Glama, the official registry or Smithery's directory:
- Is it the official endpoint? Prefer the vendor's own URL over a third-party proxy, so a proxy shutting down can't break you and your tokens aren't routed through someone else.
- What does the key or token allow? Use read-only scopes and tokens limited to what the server needs.
- How does it bill? Per call, per seat, metered overage or a hard cap? An agent in a loop can make thousands of calls. (JustClaw-It: search free, hard cap on pulls, no overage.)
- What does it send back into your context? Large responses cost tokens. Prefer servers that return metadata first and full content on request.
- Who maintains it, and how recently? Directory scores and the repository's commit history help.
- For code it returns: what is the licence? If a server hands your agent code, you need to know whether you may ship it.
Bottom line
Smithery, Glama and the official registry are where you discover MCP servers; JustClaw-It is a server you might discover there. Use directories to choose your servers, move any Smithery-proxied connections to direct URLs before 31 October, and add JustClaw-It if your agent reuses code and you care where that code came from.
Get a free JustClaw-It key or read the docs.