21st.dev Magic MCP vs Adaptive Cards MCP

A side-by-side comparison of two Design & Media servers — tools, transport, auth, maintenance, and copy-paste config for each.

	21st.dev Magic MCP Generate beautiful, modern UI components from natural-language descriptions inside your IDE. Unverified stdio (local) API key TypeScript	Adaptive Cards MCP Generate, validate, and optimize accessible Adaptive Cards for Teams, Outlook, Copilot, and other Microsoft surfaces. Unverified stdio (local) No auth TypeScript
Category	Design & Media	Design & Media
Language	TypeScript	TypeScript
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	API key	None
GitHub stars	5.2k	27
Last commit	5 months ago	1 month ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`npx @21st-dev/cli@latest install <client> --api-key <key>`	`claude mcp add adaptive-cards-mcp -- npx adaptive-cards-mcp`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick 21st.dev Magic MCP if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

Pick Adaptive Cards MCP if you want zero-setup with no API key, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Add 21st.dev Magic MCP

Install / run

npx @21st-dev/cli@latest install <client> --api-key <key>

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "21st-dev-magic-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@21st-dev/magic@latest",
        "API_KEY=\"your-api-key\""
      ]
    }
  }
}

Add Adaptive Cards MCP

Install / run

claude mcp add adaptive-cards-mcp -- npx adaptive-cards-mcp

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adaptive-cards-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "adaptive-cards-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

FAQ

21st.dev Magic MCP or Adaptive Cards MCP — which is better?

Pick 21st.dev Magic MCP if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option. Pick Adaptive Cards MCP if you want zero-setup with no API key, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Can I use both 21st.dev Magic MCP and Adaptive Cards MCP?

Yes — MCP clients let you enable multiple servers at once. Add both configs to your client's mcpServers and use whichever tool fits the task.

Do 21st.dev Magic MCP and Adaptive Cards MCP work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

Both do. Copy the per-client config below into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

View 21st.dev Magic MCP →View Adaptive Cards MCP →More comparisons →