Selvage vs Serena

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

	Selvage AI-powered code review automation: analyzes Git diffs to find bugs, security issues, and quality improvements. Unverified stdio (local) API key Python	Serena LSP-powered coding agent toolkit: semantic symbol search, references and structural edits. Verified stdio (local) No auth Python
Category	Developer Tools	Developer Tools
Language	Python	Python
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	API key	None
GitHub stars	34	12k
Last commit	1 day ago	23 days ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`uv tool install selvage`	`uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Selvage if you prefer its approach (ai-powered code review automation: analyzes git diffs to find bugs, security issues, and quality improvements).

Pick Serena if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want zero-setup with no API key.

Add Selvage

Install / run

uv tool install selvage

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "selvage": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "selvage",
        "mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "your_openrouter_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Requires `uv` (the Python package runner). Install it from https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ if `uvx` is not found.

Add Serena

Install / run

uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serena": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "git+https://github.com/oraios/serena",
        "serena",
        "start-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Requires `uv` (the Python package runner). Install it from https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ if `uvx` is not found.

FAQ

Selvage or Serena — which is better?

Pick Selvage if you prefer its approach (ai-powered code review automation: analyzes git diffs to find bugs, security issues, and quality improvements). Pick Serena if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you want zero-setup with no API key.

Can I use both Selvage and Serena?

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 Selvage and Serena work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View Selvage →View Serena →More comparisons →