Cua Driver vs MarkView

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

	Cua Driver Background computer-use MCP server that drives native macOS, Windows, and Linux desktop apps without stealing focus. Unverified stdio (local) No auth Rust	MarkView Native macOS markdown preview MCP server — Claude writes markdown, MarkView renders it live in a real native window. Unverified stdio (local) No auth Swift
Category	Productivity	Productivity
Language	Rust	Swift
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	None
GitHub stars	19k	34
Last commit	1 month ago	2 months ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trycua/cua/main/libs/cua-driver/scripts/install.sh)"`	`claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user markview -- npx mcp-server-markview`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Cua Driver if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Pick MarkView if you prefer its approach (native macos markdown preview mcp server — claude writes markdown, markview renders it live in a real native window).

Add Cua Driver

Install / run

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trycua/cua/main/libs/cua-driver/scripts/install.sh)"

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cua-driver": {
      "command": "cua-driver",
      "args": [
        "mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Add MarkView

Install / run

claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user markview -- npx mcp-server-markview

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markview": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-server-markview"
      ]
    }
  }
}

FAQ

Cua Driver or MarkView — which is better?

Pick Cua Driver if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you need the broadest set of tools. Pick MarkView if you prefer its approach (native macos markdown preview mcp server — claude writes markdown, markview renders it live in a real native window).

Can I use both Cua Driver and MarkView?

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 Cua Driver and MarkView work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View Cua Driver →View MarkView →More comparisons →