# Citepath (npm · citepath)

Self-hosted search over your documentation, with citations, for AI assistants and apps

- Trust score: 86/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +3
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-05

## Components

- npm · `citepath`: 86/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/arif-js-citepath/citepath.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/arif-js-citepath/citepath)

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `citepath`
- Version: `0.1.4`
- Transport: `stdio`

## Trust breakdown

How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically from public evidence about the published package, including repeated runs of it in an isolated sandbox, 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 2026-11-05.

- **Supply Chain Security**: 98/100
  - No malware found by supply-chain analysis.
  - No known CVEs affecting this package version or its production dependencies.
  - No install/post-install scripts declared.
  - 34 of 123 dependencies flagged as unhealthy (1 deprecated).
- **Provenance & Transparency**: 100/100
  - Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL.
  - Cryptographically verified build provenance (signed, bound to arif-js/citepath).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).
  - Actively maintained (last published 15 days ago).
  - Publishes a security disclosure policy (SECURITY.md).
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 74/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 510 tokens (~170/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**: 37/100
  - Stability check failed: the tool surface changed between 0.1.3 and 0.1.4: 1 tool removals, 0 breaking changes, 1 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.
- **Tool Safety**: 100/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - We read all 3 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - 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 supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.

## Install

### How do I install the Citepath MCP server?

Citepath runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y citepath. 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 arif-js-citepath -- npx -y citepath
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arif-js-citepath": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "citepath"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "arif-js-citepath": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "citepath"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```bash
codex mcp add arif-js-citepath -- npx -y citepath
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "arif-js-citepath": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": [
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "citepath"
      ],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add arif-js-citepath --command npx --arg -y --arg citepath
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  arif-js-citepath:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "citepath"]
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "arif-js-citepath": {
      "Transport": "stdio",
      "Command": "npx",
      "Arguments": [
        "-y",
        "citepath"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add arif-js-citepath -t stdio -c npx -a -y citepath
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arif-js-citepath": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "citepath"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

## 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.

### 2026-11-05 (score 86, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 33 to 37.

### 2026-11-02 (score 85, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 23 to 27.

### 2026-10-31 (score 84, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 17 to 20.

### 2026-10-29 (score 83, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 10 to 13.

### 2026-10-27 (score 82, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 3 to 7.

### 2026-10-21 (score 81, +26)

- [security improvement] Malware scan: unverified → pass
- [security improvement] Known CVEs: unverified → pass
- [functional improvement] Dependency health: unverified → 0.87

### 2026-10-20 (score 55, −26)

- [security regression] Stability: unverified → fail
- [security regression] Malware scan: pass → unverified
- [security regression] Known CVEs: pass → unverified
- [functional regression] Dependency health: 0.87 → unverified
- [functional] Package version: 0.1.3 → 0.1.4

### 2026-10-16 (score 81, +26)

- [security improvement] Malware scan: unverified → pass
- [security improvement] Known CVEs: unverified → pass
- [functional improvement] Dependency health: unverified → 0.87

## MCP tools (3)

### `search_passages` (~230 tokens)

Search passages

Start here: full-text search over the documentation indexed on this machine. Returns ranked passages, each with an id, title, heading path, citation_url, and text (long passages are shortened; read them in full with get_passage). Works with natural-language questions and code identifiers (getUserName, --dry-run, a.b.c). Results come from the current docs version; other_versions lists older versions that also matched, each with a path_prefix to pass back as path_prefix to search that version. Use list_sources to see which sources exist. Read-only.

Input parameters:

- `limit` (integer): Number of passages (default 5, max 25).
- `path_prefix` (string): Only passages whose URL (web sources) or root-relative path (local sources) starts with this prefix, for example a docs section or an other_versions path_prefix from a previous search.
- `query` (string, required): What to look for: a question, keywords, or identifiers.
- `source_ids` (array): Only search these source IDs, as returned by list_sources. Omit to search all sources.

### `get_passage` (~161 tokens)

Read a passage

Reads one passage in full by its ID, after search_passages has found it. Use it when a search result was shortened, or when you need the text around a passage: neighbors adds up to 3 passages before and after it from the same page, in document order. Returns { passage, before, after }, each passage with its citation_url. To find passages, use search_passages instead. Read-only; fails if the ID is unknown or its source was removed.

Input parameters:

- `id` (string, required): The id field of a passage from a search result. IDs stay stable across syncs.
- `neighbors` (integer): How many passages from the same page to include before and after it, in document order (0-3, default 0).

### `list_sources` (~62 tokens)

List sources

Lists the configured documentation sources: id, name, type, document and passage counts, and the last sync status. Use the ids to narrow search_passages with source_ids. Sources are added and synced only from the citepath CLI, not through MCP. Read-only.

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: Provenance, Dependencies. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/arif-js-citepath/citepath#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-11-05: 86
- 2026-11-04: 85
- 2026-11-03: 85
- 2026-11-02: 85
- 2026-11-01: 84
- 2026-10-31: 84
- 2026-10-30: 83
- 2026-10-29: 83
- 2026-10-28: 82
- 2026-10-27: 82
- 2026-10-26: 81
- 2026-10-25: 81
- 2026-10-24: 81
- 2026-10-23: 81
- 2026-10-22: 81
- 2026-10-21: 81
- 2026-10-20: 55
- 2026-10-19: 81
- 2026-10-18: 81
- 2026-10-17: 81
- 2026-10-16: 81
- 2026-10-15: 55

## Common questions

### What is the Citepath MCP server?

Citepath is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.arif-js/citepath. Self-hosted search over your documentation, with citations, for AI assistants and apps. This page covers its npm package (citepath).

### Is the Citepath MCP server safe to use?

Citepath scores 86 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. We found no known CVEs affecting it as of 5 November 2026. It declares no install or post-install scripts. Its build provenance is signed and verified. 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 Citepath MCP server expose?

Citepath exposes 3 tools: search_passages, get_passage, list_sources. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 453 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Citepath MCP server still maintained?

Citepath is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 5 November 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.

### What licence is the Citepath MCP server under?

Citepath declares the MIT licence, which is OSI-approved. That covers the source only, and says nothing about the cost of any service it calls.

## Links

- npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/citepath
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/citepath
- Repository: https://github.com/arif-js/citepath
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/arif-js-citepath/citepath.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/arif-js-citepath/citepath.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/arif-js-citepath/citepath