JetBrains MCP Proxy vs Serena

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

	JetBrains MCP Proxy Connect MCP clients to a running JetBrains IDE (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, Android Studio). Verified stdio (local) No auth TypeScript	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	TypeScript	Python
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	None
GitHub stars	5.0k	12k
Last commit	4 months ago	13 days ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`npx -y @jetbrains/mcp-proxy`	`uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick JetBrains MCP Proxy if you want the official, vendor-maintained server.

Pick Serena if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

Add JetBrains MCP Proxy

Install / run

npx -y @jetbrains/mcp-proxy

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jetbrains-mcp-proxy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@jetbrains/mcp-proxy"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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

JetBrains MCP Proxy or Serena — which is better?

Pick JetBrains MCP Proxy if you want the official, vendor-maintained server. Pick Serena if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

Can I use both JetBrains MCP Proxy 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 JetBrains MCP Proxy and Serena work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

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

View JetBrains MCP Proxy →View Serena →More comparisons →