21st.dev Magic MCP vs MCP Dashboards

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	MCP Dashboards Render interactive charts, dashboards and KPI widgets directly inside your AI conversation. 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	33
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 dashboard -- npx -y mcp-dashboards --stdio`
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 MCP Dashboards 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 MCP Dashboards

Install / run

claude mcp add dashboard -- npx -y mcp-dashboards --stdio

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-dashboards": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-dashboards",
        "--stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

FAQ

21st.dev Magic MCP or MCP Dashboards — 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 MCP Dashboards 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 MCP Dashboards?

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 MCP Dashboards 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 MCP Dashboards →More comparisons →