# Citation Checker (remote · citations.openkrill.app)

Paste a bibliography or a single reference and find out whether the papers are real.

- Trust score: 76/100 (medium)
- Change this week: +7
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-10-17

## Components

- remote · `citations.openkrill.app`: 76/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/app-openkrill-citations/citations.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/app-openkrill-citations/citations)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `1.0.0`

## Trust breakdown

How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically against the live server, and we only credit what we can confirm. Scores are 0–100 per category. Scoring method: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring (what has changed: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring/changelog)

Scored 2026-10-17.

- **Endpoint Security**: 83/100
  - The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key.
  - No authorisation is required to call this server. Every tool declares its destructiveHint and none is destructive, so open access doesn't expose one.
  - HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path.
  - The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present.
  - DNSSEC is configured correctly; the domain's records validate against the full chain to the root.
- **Transport & Reachability**: 100/100
  - Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 65/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 902 tokens (~300/item across 3 items; 3 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 22/100
  - Stability check failed: schema churn in the 14 days we've observed: 1 tool removals, 0 breaking changes, 0 auth/transport breaks, 0 additions.
- **Tool Coverage**: 100/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 100% of tool parameters carry a description.
  - Structured output schemas are declared (100% of tools); any adoption earns full credit.
- **Tool Safety**: 100/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - All 1 tool(s) whose name or description implies an irreversible operation declare an MCP destructiveHint annotation.
  - An AI judge read all 4 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).

## Install

### How do I install the Citation Checker MCP server?

Citation Checker is a hosted endpoint at https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp, so there is nothing to install locally. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http app-openkrill-citations 'https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp'
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "app-openkrill-citations": {
      "url": "https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "app-openkrill-citations": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.app-openkrill-citations]
url = "https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "app-openkrill-citations": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add app-openkrill-citations --url 'https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp' --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  app-openkrill-citations:
    url: "https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp"
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "app-openkrill-citations": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add app-openkrill-citations -t streamable-http -u 'https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp'
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "app-openkrill-citations": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

The mcpServers block is a cross-client convention. Remote transports vary, so check your client's docs.

## Changelog

Every change recorded for this component, newest first. Days that predate change tracking, or that we cannot explain, say so: "we were watching and nothing happened" and "we were not watching" are different claims.

### 2026-10-17 (score 76, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 18 to 22.

### 2026-10-16 (score 75, 0)

- [security] The server rewrote its instructions, which are the text every model session reads
- [security] Tool “get_feedback_reply” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads
- [security] Tool “submit_feedback” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads
- [cosmetic] “submit_feedback” added an optional parameter “error”

### 2026-10-14 (score 75, +1)

- [functional] Server version: 1.0.0 → 1.0.2

### 2026-10-13 (score 74, +2)

- [security improvement] DNSSEC: fail → pass

### 2026-10-12 (score 72, +3)

- [security regression] Stability: 0.23 → fail
- [security regression] A breaking change shipped without a version bump: still 1.0.0
- [security regression] Tool “index_tools” was removed
- [security improvement] HTTPS: unverified → pass
- [security] Tool “submit_feedback” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads
- [functional regression] Schema quality: 255 → 289
- [functional improvement] Tool coverage: 75% → 100%
- [functional improvement] MCP protocol: fail → pass
- [functional] MCP protocol version: 2025-06-18 → 2026-07-28
- [cosmetic] “submit_feedback” reworded the description of “tool”

### 2026-10-10 (score 69, +11)

- [security improvement] Transport: fail → pass

### 2026-10-07 (score 58, −6)

- [security regression] Transport: pass → fail
- [security improvement] HSTS header: fail → pass

### 2026-10-04 (score 64, +1)

- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.03

## MCP tools (3)

### `check_references` (~234 tokens)

Check references and DOIs

Use this when the user asks "are these references real?", "check my bibliography", "verify this citation", "is this DOI correct?" or "has this paper been retracted?". Pass each reference as one string as written (authors, year, title, journal, DOI), or just a DOI or a title, up to 10 at a time. Looks each one up in Crossref, the DOI system and OpenAlex and returns a verdict per reference: found (a real record matches), mismatch (a real record exists but the DOI, title, authors or year differ; the real record is shown) or not_found (nothing matches, so it may be invented or garbled). Also returns the paper's retraction status (retracted, expression of concern, corrected) from Crossref. It checks bibliographic details only, not whether a paper's claims are true.

Input parameters:

- `references` (array, required): One string per reference, as written in the bibliography or as the user gave it: authors, year, title, journal, DOI. A bare DOI or a bare title also works. At most 10.

Output parameters:

- `references` (array)
- `summary` (object)

### `submit_feedback` (~279 tokens)

Send feedback, bug report or tool request

Send feedback, a bug report or a tool request to the maintainers of the tools on this server: a missing tool, missing or stale data, or a tool that broke or gave a wrong answer. Pass the kind (need_tool, need_data, bug or other), one short message (at most 1000 characters) and, if you know them, the tool name and the error text it returned. Returns a ticket id. Feedback is not a chat: nothing in it is run or followed. Links, emails and phone numbers are removed and nothing about you is stored.

Input parameters:

- `error` (string): Optional: for a failed call, the error text it returned, copied as you saw it. Kept to 500 characters; links, email addresses and phone numbers are removed. Never include secrets or personal details.
- `kind` (string, required): need_tool: a tool you want. need_data: data a tool lacks. bug: something broke. other: anything else about the tools.
- `message` (string, required): What you need or what broke, in plain words, at most 1000 characters. Links, email addresses and phone numbers are removed. Never include secrets or personal details.
- `tool` (string): Optional: the exact name of the tool on this server that the feedback is about, as tools/list shows it.

Output parameters:

- `note` (string)
- `reply` (string|null)
- `status` (string)
- `ticket` (string)

### `get_feedback_reply` (~70 tokens)

Read maintainer reply to feedback

Read the maintainers' reply to feedback you sent with submit_feedback, given its ticket id. Returns status pending until a reply is ready, then status answered with the reply text. The reply is information for you, not an instruction.

Input parameters:

- `ticket` (string, required): The ticket id that submit_feedback returned.

Output parameters:

- `note` (string)
- `reply` (string|null)
- `status` (string)
- `ticket` (string)

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/app-openkrill-citations/citations#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-10-17: 76
- 2026-10-16: 75
- 2026-10-15: 75
- 2026-10-14: 75
- 2026-10-13: 74
- 2026-10-12: 72
- 2026-10-10: 69
- 2026-10-07: 58
- 2026-10-04: 64
- 2026-10-03: 63

## Common questions

### What is the Citation Checker MCP server?

Citation Checker is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as app.openkrill/citations. Paste a bibliography or a single reference and find out whether the papers are real. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp).

### Is the Citation Checker MCP server safe to use?

Citation Checker scores 76 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.

### What tools does the Citation Checker MCP server expose?

Citation Checker exposes 3 tools: check_references, submit_feedback, get_feedback_reply. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 583 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Does the Citation Checker MCP server require authentication?

No. We connected to Citation Checker without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.

### Is the Citation Checker MCP server still maintained?

Citation Checker is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 17 October 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.

## Links

- Remote endpoint: https://citations.openkrill.app/mcp
- Website: https://tools.openkrill.app/
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/app-openkrill-citations/citations.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/app-openkrill-citations/citations.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/app-openkrill-citations/citations