# Stepgate (npm · stepgate)

Agents can't skip steps: runs gated stepfiles on the client's own model.

- Trust score: 81/100 (high trust)
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-10-02

## Components

- npm · `stepgate`: 81/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/chaarangan-stepgate/stepgate.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/chaarangan-stepgate/stepgate)

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `stepgate`
- 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 2026-10-02.

- **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.
  - 32 of 96 dependencies flagged as unhealthy.
- **Provenance & Transparency**: 100/100
  - Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL.
  - Cryptographically verified build provenance (signed, bound to Chaarangan/stepgate).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (Apache-2.0).
  - Actively maintained (last published 3 days ago).
  - Publishes a security disclosure policy (SECURITY.md).
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 79/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Tool/resource definitions use about 730 tokens (~91/item across 8 items; 8 tools + 0 resources), lean.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 0/100
  - Stability not yet verified: not enough scan history yet (needs a 30-day window).
- **Tool Coverage**: 98/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 93% 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 8 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 9 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.

**Unverified: 1 category.** A category scored 0 because we could not verify it: a data source with nothing on this package, evidence we could not reach, or a check we could not run. We only credit what we can confirm.

## Install

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

Stepgate runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y stepgate. 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 chaarangan-stepgate -- npx -y stepgate
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chaarangan-stepgate": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "stepgate"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "chaarangan-stepgate": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "stepgate"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```bash
codex mcp add chaarangan-stepgate -- npx -y stepgate
```

### opencode

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

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add chaarangan-stepgate --command npx --arg -y --arg stepgate
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  chaarangan-stepgate:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "stepgate"]
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "chaarangan-stepgate": {
      "Transport": "stdio",
      "Command": "npx",
      "Arguments": [
        "-y",
        "stepgate"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add chaarangan-stepgate -t stdio -c npx -a -y stepgate
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chaarangan-stepgate": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "stepgate"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

## 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.

### 2026-09-29 (score 81, +10)

- [security improvement] Known CVEs: unverified → pass
- [functional improvement] Dependency health: unverified → 0.84

### 2026-09-28 (score 71)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (8)

### `stepgate_call` (~80 tokens)

Call a step operation

Calls one of the current step's operations for a Stepgate run and returns its result. Stepgate makes the request and adds any credentials.

Input parameters:

- `arguments` (object): Arguments matching the operation's schema.
- `operation` (string, required): An operation the current step lists.
- `run` (string, required): The run id a stepfile tool returned.

### `stepgate_submit` (~74 tokens)

Submit a step's output

Submits the current step's output for a Stepgate run. Returns the next step, the gate failures to fix, or the finished run's outputs.

Input parameters:

- `output` (object, required): The step's output, matching the schema the step gave.
- `run` (string, required): The run id a stepfile tool returned.

### `stepgate_guide` (~42 tokens)

How to write a stepfile

Returns how to write a stepfile: the authoring workflow, the full format reference and the JSON Schema. Call it before writing or editing a stepfile.

### `stepgate_examples` (~55 tokens)

Catalog stepfiles to learn from

Lists the catalog's stepfiles, or with a name returns that stepfile's YAML and README, to copy a working pattern from.

Input parameters:

- `name` (string): A catalog stepfile's id; omit it for the list.

### `stepgate_validate` (~62 tokens)

Validate a draft stepfile

Checks a draft stepfile against the schema and every load-time rule. Returns each issue with its path, or the stepfile's identity and whether stepgate_try accepts it.

Input parameters:

- `stepfile` (string, required): The whole stepfile, as YAML or JSON text.

### `stepgate_inspect_api` (~123 tokens)

Inspect an API for a stepfile

Fetches a public OpenAPI document or MCP server without credentials and reports what a stepfile needs: the document's sha256, servers, security schemes and operationIds, or an MCP server's tools and their schema_sha256.

Input parameters:

- `kind` (string, required)
- `operations` (array): Return the full argument schema of these operationIds or tool names.
- `search` (string): Only list operations or tools whose name, path or description contains this.
- `url` (string, required): The OpenAPI document's URL, or the MCP server's endpoint.

### `stepgate_outline` (~83 tokens)

Outline a stepfile from a procedure

Turns a SKILL.md or markdown SOP into a skeleton stepfile: one step per numbered item or second-level heading, each rule it states marked as a gate to write, and TODO markers where only an author can decide. stepgate_validate lists the markers left.

Input parameters:

- `procedure` (string, required): The SKILL.md or SOP text, markdown with optional YAML frontmatter.

### `stepgate_try` (~93 tokens)

Try a draft stepfile

Starts a run of a draft stepfile from its text, without adding it to the server. Drive it with stepgate_call and stepgate_submit. Drafts may call only public https URLs, and use only the credentials and settings the operator granted to drafts.

Input parameters:

- `inputs` (object, required): Inputs matching the draft's inputs schema.
- `stepfile` (string, required): The whole stepfile, as YAML or JSON text.

## Diagnostics

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

## Score history

- 2026-10-02: 81
- 2026-10-01: 81
- 2026-09-30: 81
- 2026-09-29: 81
- 2026-09-28: 71

## Common questions

### What is the Stepgate MCP server?

Stepgate is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.Chaarangan/stepgate. Agents can't skip steps: runs gated stepfiles on the client's own model. This page covers its npm package (stepgate).

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

Stepgate scores 81 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. We found no known CVEs affecting it as of 2 October 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 Stepgate MCP server expose?

Stepgate exposes 8 tools: stepgate_call, stepgate_submit, stepgate_guide, stepgate_examples, stepgate_validate, and 3 more. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 612 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Stepgate MCP server still maintained?

Stepgate is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 2 October 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 Stepgate MCP server under?

Stepgate declares the Apache-2.0 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/stepgate
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/stepgate
- Repository: https://github.com/Chaarangan/stepgate
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/chaarangan-stepgate/stepgate.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/chaarangan-stepgate/stepgate.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/chaarangan-stepgate/stepgate