Klavis AI vs Smithery (2026)

Hosted MCP servers from Klavis cover more than a hundred applications, from Affinity and Airtable to Zendesk and Zoho Mail. Each one connects per end user through OAuth 2.0 or an API key, so an agent reads and writes in that user's own accounts. Tools are reached through each server's MCP URL, through Strata or through the Call Tool API for plain function calling. Strata is one MCP server that lets the agent discover categories and actions across every connected server before executing one.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/mcp-server/overviewread 2026-09-22

Through the Smithery Connect REST API, an agent gets authenticated access to MCP servers. Smithery maintains OAuth apps for popular integrations, refreshes tokens automatically and stores credentials encrypted and write only. The agent lists and calls tools on each connection, whether the server comes from the registry of thousands of published servers or from any custom MCP URL. Most listed servers are published by third parties, while the connection, auth and credential layer is Smithery's own.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/use/connectread 2026-09-22

The product executes the tool calls an agent makes and returns the results. Sequencing, branching and handoff live in the customer's own framework, and Klavis publishes guides for LangChain and LangGraph, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, Agno, Mastra, Google ADK and the major model APIs. Strata's discover, browse and execute tools help the agent pick an action. Klavis has no workflow runtime of its own to sequence, branch, retry or route work, or to combine deterministic workflow nodes with autonomous agent steps.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/ai-platform-integration/overviewread 2026-09-22

Sequencing, branching and retries live in the customer's own client or framework, such as the Vercel AI SDK that Smithery's guide uses. Smithery connects an agent to MCP servers and relays the tool calls it makes. It does not run the agent and names no workflow runtime of its own.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/use/connectread 2026-09-22

Slack and Discord clients come alongside the hosted servers, so a person can put MCP tools to work from those chat channels. Klavis gives no setup guide for either client. It names no schedule, webhook, event subscription or inbound queue that starts work without a person asking.

Sourceklavis.ai/faqread 2026-09-22

Triggers, in preview, let an MCP server surface events from its upstream service. The customer lists a connection's trigger types and subscribes through the Connect API with its own webhook URL and signing secret. When the upstream event fires, the server posts it straight to the customer's endpoint, so work starts without a person asking. Smithery warns that breaking changes are possible while triggers are in preview, and a trigger exists only where the server's publisher implements it.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/build/triggersread 2026-09-22

MCP servers for Notion, Google Drive, Confluence and similar tools let an agent query those systems live, but Klavis builds no retrieval layer over the customer's own content. Strata finds tools, not documents, by browsing categories and actions instead of semantic search. Klavis names no ingestion, indexing, retrieval or RAG layer of its own, so there are no retrieved passages or sources to show.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/concepts/strataread 2026-09-22

Semantic search runs over the public registry of servers and skills, not over the customer's own content. Servers that reach a customer's documents connect the agent to those systems, with no index of Smithery's own. Smithery names no ingestion, indexing, retrieval or RAG layer.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/indexread 2026-09-22

Each end user's credentials and integration status are stored so tools act without asking for consent again. A sandbox holds application state for one training or evaluation run. Klavis names no memory layer that keeps an agent's context across runs. Its Mem0 server connects an agent to another vendor's memory product.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/api-reference/user/get-user-integrationsread 2026-09-22

Connections, their credentials and their MCP sessions stay alive for the customer, and Smithery says it is stateless for the customer's application. Smithery names no memory layer that keeps an agent's context across runs. Memory servers in the registry are other publishers' products.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/use/connectread 2026-09-22

Each end user authorizes an integration through OAuth consent before its tools act, and a server connection can be set read only through the API. Klavis Guardrails sits as a proxy between MCP clients and servers. It detects tool poisoning and prompt injection, enforces least privilege access and checks tool invocations against allowlists. Klavis names no approval step a person acts on before an action commits, whether at a node, workflow or policy layer.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/enterprise-security/klavis-securityread 2026-09-22

A connection stays in an auth_required or input_required state, and its tools are not called, until the user completes OAuth or supplies the missing configuration. Service tokens, from the Token Scoping feature in preview, limit an agent to named namespaces, resources and operations, such as read without execute. They are matched to a user's metadata and expire on a TTL. Smithery names no step where a person approves a specific agent action before it commits.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/use/token-scopingread 2026-09-22

The API enforces HTTPS with API key authentication. Each end user's credentials are scoped per integration and returned only to the key owner that controls the instance, and customers can run OAuth through their own white label OAuth apps. Connections can be set read only, and Klavis Guardrails enforces least privilege tool access. No attestation or certification is published. On security, Klavis points only to its built in OAuth, and it publishes terms, privacy and cookie policies but no trust center. Klavis names no SSO, roles or audit trail.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/api-reference/overviewread 2026-09-22

Credentials are stored encrypted and write only, so they can be used but never read back. Organizations issue team API keys that only an admin role can create, list or revoke, and namespace ownership gates writes to servers and connections. Browser or mobile clients get short lived service tokens instead of the API key. No attestation or certification is published. Smithery offers documentation, a privacy policy and a status page, but no trust center, and it names no SSO or audit trail.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/use/connectread 2026-09-22

The API returns server instances, tools, users and authentication status, and users check authentication in the dashboard. Klavis names no log, trace, execution history or audit event of the tool calls an agent makes through it, and no export to a SIEM. Guardrails' real time threat detection acts on calls as they happen, and Klavis does not say whether it keeps a record the customer can inspect.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/api-reference/overviewread 2026-09-22

Activity is recorded on the server side. A publisher gets analytics on the tool calls made to its server, runtime logs grouped by invocation and release pipeline logs through the API. For a customer connecting an agent through Connect, Smithery names no step by step record of that agent's session, and no audit log, export or retention by plan.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/api-reference/servers/list-runtime-logsread 2026-09-22

Hosted servers run on Klavis's infrastructure with a stated 99.9% uptime SLA. There are two production servers, api.klavis.ai for the US and api.eu.klavis.ai for the EU. For on premises or custom deployments, every MCP server ships as a Docker image to run in the customer's own infrastructure, and Strata is open source. Customers can pick the US or EU region, or run the servers in their own environment.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/concepts/mcpread 2026-09-22

Tools can run where the customer chooses. Smithery hosts uploaded servers and proxies servers the customer hosts elsewhere by URL. The CLI or an MCPB bundle adds servers straight into a local client such as Claude Desktop or Cursor, so they run on the user's machine. Uplink exposes a server running locally as a Smithery connection without deploying it. No region selection is published for Smithery's own connection and credential service.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/use/uplinkread 2026-09-22

The catalog holds MCP servers and tools. They give an agent actions to take and do no work on their own when selected. The framework guides build example agents as tutorial code. Klavis names no ready made workflow, template or role specific agent of its own for a customer to adopt.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/mcp-server/overviewread 2026-09-22

The Skills Registry, which Smithery runs, holds reusable prompt based skills that can be searched by text and semantic query and browsed as a catalog. One CLI command, smithery skill add, adds a skill to an agent such as Claude Code, so a customer adopts a ready made workflow instead of writing it.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/concepts/cliread 2026-09-22

Tools are served to whatever model the customer runs. The List Tools API returns a server's tools in several model formats, and integration guides cover OpenAI, Anthropic's Claude, Gemini, Mistral, Cohere, Together AI and Fireworks AI, each using the customer's own provider key. Klavis names no model of its own, so the model, the provider and the key are the customer's throughout.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/ai-platform-integration/overviewread 2026-09-22

Whatever model and client the customer runs can use the tools. Smithery connections plug into any MCP client, the Vercel AI SDK and the MCP TypeScript SDK. The customer chooses the model and supplies its key, and Smithery names no model of its own.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/integrations/vercel_ai_sdkread 2026-09-22

Outside callers reach Klavis through a REST API at api.klavis.ai with a published OpenAPI specification. Python and TypeScript SDKs cover servers, Strata, users, OAuth, white labeling and sandboxes. Klavis serves MCP as an addressed service, with each hosted server and each Strata instance at its own URL. The servers and Strata are open source for self hosting.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/installationread 2026-09-22

A REST API at api.smithery.ai, with a published OpenAPI specification, covers servers, releases, connections, tools, triggers, skills, namespaces and tokens. A TypeScript SDK and a CLI sit alongside it. Smithery serves MCP as addressed endpoints for every connection, and publishers ship their own servers by URL, uploaded module or MCPB bundle.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/use/connectread 2026-09-22

Isolated sandboxes of real applications let the customer test and train its agent. A Klavis Sandbox is loaded with a deterministic world state, and the agent works against it through MCP. The full state can be exported to compare against ground truth, and the sandbox resets for the next run. The Universe API acquires benchmark task environments, and its verify endpoint runs the task's check and returns whether the task passed, with the failure reason. Sandboxes can also be configured for the MCP-Atlas, Toolathlon and MCP-Mark benchmarks.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/api-reference/universe/verify-taskread 2026-09-22

When a server is published, Smithery scans it to extract its tools and metadata, shows a security status and runs a release pipeline with logs. These checks cover the server, not the customer's agent. Smithery names no way to test an agent against fixtures or datasets, score its output or gate a release on quality.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/build/publishread 2026-09-22

The Local Sandbox API starts a virtual machine hosting interconnected MCP servers, among them Playwright for a browser plus a terminal and Desktop Commander for the machine. It serves filesystem, terminal, browser and document workflows during agent training and evaluation. Klavis restricts it to use outside production and says nothing more about driving a browser through the hosted Playwright server. The hosted MCP servers and Strata work through application APIs, not interfaces.

Sourceklavis.ai/docs/api-reference/local-sandbox/acquireread 2026-09-22

Agents can control browsers through Smithery by using the Browserbase server, which another company publishes in the registry. The capability and its documentation belong to that publisher. Smithery names no browser, desktop or computer control of its own.

Sourcesmithery.ai/docs/indexread 2026-09-22