Ref Tools MCP Server

by ref-tools Your server? Claim it

local only

Ref Tools MCP runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 799 installs a week from npm. Last commit 6 May 2026.

Token efficient search for coding agents over public and private documentation.

Installs per day peak 188 · avg 80 · +11% w/w

a month agotoday

799

Installs / week

npm · ref-tools-mcp

1176

Stars

4 open issues

6 May 2026

Last commit

0 releases in 90 days

MIT

License

TypeScript

Nothing serious here today

Today is the operative word: we check Ref Tools MCP 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

This server runs on your own machine — install it with the package manager and the client starts it for you. Package name taken from the official registry entry.

Claude Code Claude Desktop Codex Cursor VS Code

run in your terminal

claude mcp add ref-tools-mcp -- npx -y ref-tools-mcp

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ref-tools-mcp": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "ref-tools-mcp"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}

~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.ref-tools-mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "ref-tools-mcp"]

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ref-tools-mcp": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "ref-tools-mcp"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ref-tools-mcp": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "ref-tools-mcp"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}

This one needs environment variables set before it will start: REF_API_KEY (Your API key for Ref). The author declared them in the registry entry; get the values from the project itself.

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Ref Tools MCP — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

Why is there no uptime for Ref Tools MCP?

Ref Tools MCP runs on your own machine over stdio — there is no network address to reach, so uptime cannot be measured for it by anyone. What can be measured is adoption: the npm package ref-tools-mcp was installed 799 times last week.

How do I connect Ref Tools MCP?

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 runs locally, so the command pulls ref-tools-mcp straight from npm; nothing to host, nothing to sign up for.

How many people use Ref Tools MCP?

The npm package ref-tools-mcp was installed 799 times in the last week. Week over week that is +11%. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.

Is Ref Tools MCP open source?

Yes — it is published under the MIT licence, written in TypeScript, 1 176 stars on GitHub and 4 open issues. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.