referencesource.org MCP Server

by joelp22-maker Your server? Claim it

answering

referencesource.org is answering right now. Last checked 11 min ago. It exposes 4 tools.

Verified reference data; each record carries its source URL and quote. verify_quote checks claims.

Uptime history 39 days of history · worst day 88%

39 days agonow

100.0%

Uptime 24h

92 of 92 checks

Tools

read from the server

262 ms

Response time

average over 24h

open, no key

Access

streamable-http

What changed 7

Every tool that appeared, vanished or quietly changed what it asks for. Recorded since 13 August 2026. No other catalogue keeps this.

2 Sep a tool description was rewritten list_datasets

2 Sep a tool changed the parameters it asks for list_datasets

15 Aug 4 tool descriptions were rewritten get_record, list_datasets, search_records and 1 more

13 Aug a tool description was rewritten search_records

Nothing serious here today

Today is the operative word: we check referencesource.org every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.

Connect this server

Endpoint below is the one we actually reach during checks — not the one copied from a README. Last verified 11 min ago.

Claude Code Claude Desktop Codex Cursor VS Code

run in your terminal

claude mcp add referencesource --transport http https://referencesource.org/mcp

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "referencesource": {
      "url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.referencesource]
url = "https://referencesource.org/mcp"

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "referencesource": {
      "url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "referencesource": {
      "url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available tools 4

Read directly from the server with tools/list, grouped by what they act on. If a tool disappears, we record the date.

datasets

list_datasets

What reference datasets are available? Lists every published dataset with its title, record count, last-verified date and a one-sentence summary. Covers regulatory thresholds, version compatibility, certification registers, licensing rules and more. Pass `query` to list only the datasets matching a topic — that is much cheaper than reading the whole list. Use the returned slug with search_records or get_record.

record

get_record

Fetch one record by id — for example, look up a FIPS 140 certificate's status, a state's boiler inspection rules, or a county's loan limit. Returns the full record with its source URL and verbatim source quote. Record ids appear in search_records results and in each record's url.

records

search_records

Look up a specific record — search by state name, chemical, certificate number, product name or any keyword. Searches one dataset's records (case-insensitive substring match across all fields). Returns up to 20 matching records, each with its url, source and verbatim source_quote so the answer can be checked.

verify

verify_quote

Is this value actually right? Check a claimed fact against a published record instead of trusting it. Reports whether the claim matches the record's stored value (exact, case-insensitive or normalised — the match type is named), whether it appears in the record's verbatim source quote, and returns the source URL and quote so the claim can be traced upstream. Use this whenever you want to confirm a number, date, threshold or status before stating it. Verdicts: matches_record, matches_quote, differs or not_found.

Endpoints

URL	Transport	State	Latency	Checked
https://referencesource.org/mcp	streamable-http	answering	410 ms	11 min ago

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referencesource.org — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

What can referencesource.org do?

It exposes 4 tools, read directly from the server on our last check. Among them: get_record, list_datasets, search_records, verify_quote. The full list with descriptions is on this page — we take it from the server itself via tools/list, not from a README. How MCP servers expose tools in the first place →

Is referencesource.org working right now?

We send a real MCP handshake every 15 minutes. Over the last 24 hours 92 of 92 checks got a reply (100.0%), average response time 262 ms. The bar chart above shows every period we have measured.

How do I connect referencesource.org?

Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It is a remote server, so there is nothing to install — the client connects to the address.

Does referencesource.org need an API key?

No. referencesource.org completed a full MCP handshake with us as an anonymous client and listed its tools without asking for anything. All 4 of them are readable on this page. This is what we observed, not what the docs claim.

How fast is referencesource.org?

It answers our handshake in 262 ms on average, which is faster than 56% of all working MCP servers we measure. The comparison comes from our own checks across the whole registry, every 15 minutes.