ModelShortlist MCP server

ModelShortlist

Stop guessing which AI model to use.

ModelShortlist is a local, bring-your-own-key MCP server that gives your AI assistant model-selection evidence from the full OpenRouter model catalog plus Artificial Analysis benchmarks. It refreshes upstream evidence on demand/cache expiry and explicitly reports when any source is stale or unavailable. Zero Data Retention (ZDR) is an optional hard constraint only when you explicitly require it.

No hosted ModelShortlist backend. No account. No telemetry in the MCP. Your API keys stay with the local MCP process and are used to call the upstream services directly.

• Website: modelshortlist.com
• Fast install configurator: modelshortlist.com/install
• Model-selection guides: modelshortlist.com/guides
• npm: @agentic.artists/modelshortlist
• Official MCP Registry: io.github.AgenticArtists/modelshortlist
• License: MIT

Why ModelShortlist

Model choice is no longer just "which model has the highest benchmark score?" The right answer depends on the workload, capabilities, cost, context, availability, and privacy requirements you actually have.

ModelShortlist helps your chat agent reason over:

• the OpenRouter model catalog
• tool/function-calling support
• context and completion limits
• OpenRouter input/output pricing, including tiered pricing when OpenRouter publishes it
• ZDR endpoint availability when privacy requires it
• ZDR endpoint latency, throughput, uptime, and provider options when applicable
• Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
• Artificial Analysis Coding Index
• Artificial Analysis Agentic Index
• Artificial Analysis pricing and median performance
• explicit source freshness and degraded-state warnings

By default, ZDR is not an eligibility requirement. ModelShortlist considers the full OpenRouter catalog. If you explicitly require ZDR, it switches to OpenRouter ZDR endpoint evidence and requires hard constraints to be satisfied by the same real endpoint.

The host AI makes the final recommendation based on your use case. ModelShortlist deliberately does not impose one universal ranking formula.

Fastest install

Use the browser-only configurator:

Install ModelShortlist →

It generates client-specific config or commands for:

• Claude Desktop
• Hermes Desktop
• Cursor
• Claude Code
• VS Code / Copilot

You paste your own Artificial Analysis and OpenRouter keys into the configurator. They are used in your browser to generate configuration text and are not sent to ModelShortlist or a ModelShortlist backend.

Requirements:

• Node.js 20+
• an Artificial Analysis API key
• an OpenRouter API key
• an MCP-capable client

Generic npm config

Most local stdio MCP clients, including Claude Desktop, Hermes Desktop, and Cursor, can launch ModelShortlist directly with npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "modelshortlist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@agentic.artists/modelshortlist"],
      "env": {
        "ARTIFICIAL_ANALYSIS_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY",
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

On Windows GUI clients where npx is not available on the app's PATH, use npx.cmd or use the guided clone setup below.

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.