Alternatives¶
Trilium ships its own MCP server, but it only answers on localhost, so the client has to run on the same machine as Trilium. Other open-source Trilium/TriliumNext MCP servers exist too. Most are stdio subprocesses that connect a single local client to one Trilium using a token baked into the environment or a config file.
trilium-mcp is instead HTTP-native and forwards each client's token per request, so a single sidecar can serve many clients, each presenting its own token, while storing no secret of its own. Like the others, one sidecar fronts one Trilium, set via TRILIUM_SERVER_URL; run one per instance. Its tools are also generated from the ETAPI OpenAPI spec (full endpoint coverage) rather than hand-written.
| Project | Language | Transport | Token handling | Tools | Docker image | Latest activity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trilium-mcp (this) | Python | Streamable HTTP | Per-request Authorization pass-through, or OAuth 2.1 login (many clients) |
~40, generated from OpenAPI | Yes (sidecar, GHCR) | active |
| tan-yong-sheng/triliumnext-mcp | TypeScript | stdio | Env var, baked in | 11, hand-written | Yes (GHCR) | Mar 2026 |
| paerrin/trilium-mcp-server | Node.js/TS | stdio | Config file, multi-instance | 24, hand-written | No | Jan 2026 |
| radonx/mcp-trilium | JavaScript | stdio | Env var, baked in | 4, hand-written | No | Aug 2025 |
Maintenance¶
As of July 2026:
- tan-yong-sheng/triliumnext-mcp is the most active and popular (about 63 stars, last commit March 2026), though it labels itself a prototype.
- paerrin/trilium-mcp-server saw a short burst of releases (Dec 2025 to v0.1.7 in Jan 2026) and has been quiet since.
- radonx/mcp-trilium has had no commits since August 2025 (about 3 commits total, 1 star) and appears abandoned.