The Essential MCP Servers — When to Use Each
A decision guide for the most impactful MCP servers: GitHub vs gh CLI, PostgreSQL, Filesystem, Slack, Linear, Notion, Playwright, and Figma. Plus the April 2026 push notification capability that makes Claude Code event-driven.
Quick Reference
- →GitHub MCP: context cost overhead — prefer gh CLI for most operations
- →PostgreSQL MCP: always add deny rules for DROP and DELETE before first use
- →Playwright MCP: Claude validates its own changes in a real browser — the self-verification unlock
- →Figma MCP: extract design tokens and layouts for accurate implementation
- →MCP push notifications (v2.1.110): MCP servers can push events into running sessions
- →Slack/Linear/Notion: use Connectors in Desktop app or configure manually in .mcp.json
- →Disable servers not needed for the current task — each active server adds context cost
GitHub MCP vs gh CLI — The Right Choice
The GitHub MCP server and the gh CLI both let Claude interact with GitHub. The difference matters for cost and complexity.
| Approach | Context cost | When to choose |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub MCP | All tool definitions injected upfront | Operations gh CLI cannot handle |
| gh CLI (built-in Bash) | Zero — Claude already knows gh commands | Almost everything else |
Claude Code ships with knowledge of the gh CLI. For listing issues, creating PRs, checking CI status, and merging — gh CLI works with zero extra context cost. Only reach for the GitHub MCP server when you need operations that gh does not expose, such as fine-grained repository settings or specific GraphQL queries.
The GitHub MCP server does have one genuine advantage: structured tool results that Claude can reason over more reliably than parsing CLI text output. For complex issue triage or PR analysis workflows, the MCP server is worth the overhead.