Words in Context
REMOTE · WORDS-IN-CONTEXT.GUMBALLTOOLS.COM · SCANNED SEP 25
Words-in-context vocabulary practice questions with distractor explanations.
Available components
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. How we score → Why this is hard to score →
Endpoint Security63
- The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key. View diagnostics → Pass
- Authorisation not fully verified: no authorisation is required to call this server, and 3 tool(s) never declared a destructiveHint. The MCP spec treats an absent hint as destructive by default, so we cannot call this surface safe. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Unverified
- HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path. View diagnostics → Pass
- The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present. View diagnostics → Pass
- DNSSEC check failed: this domain isn't protected by DNSSEC. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Fail
Transport & Reachability100
- Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake. View diagnostics → Pass
Schema Quality & AI Usability66
- AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).Pass
- Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 817 tokens (~272/item across 3 items; 3 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params. See how to fix → Fail
- Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management67
- Stability observed for 20 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.Partial
Tool Coverage100
- 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
- 100% of tool parameters carry a description.Pass
Tool Safety100
- No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.Pass
- We read all 3 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.Pass
- An AI judge read all 3 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.Pass
Capabilities100
- Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).Pass
How do I install the Words in Context MCP server?
Words in Context is a hosted endpoint at https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/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.
remote · words-in-context.gumballtools.com
claude mcp add --transport http com-gumballtools-words-in-context 'https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp'
{
"mcpServers": {
"com-gumballtools-words-in-context": {
"url": "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
}
}
} {
"servers": {
"com-gumballtools-words-in-context": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
}
}
} [mcp_servers.com-gumballtools-words-in-context] url = "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
{
"$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
"mcp": {
"com-gumballtools-words-in-context": {
"type": "remote",
"url": "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp",
"enabled": true
}
}
} openclaw mcp add com-gumballtools-words-in-context --url 'https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp' --transport streamable-http
mcp_servers:
com-gumballtools-words-in-context:
url: "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp" {
"McpServers": {
"com-gumballtools-words-in-context": {
"Transport": "http",
"Url": "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
}
}
} assistant mcp add com-gumballtools-words-in-context -t streamable-http -u 'https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp'
{
"mcpServers": {
"com-gumballtools-words-in-context": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
}
}
} The mcpServers block is a cross-client convention. Remote transports vary, so check your client's docs.
Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.
- 25 Sept 26 0
- We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server See what changed → functional
- 24 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 60 to 63. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 18 days of observed history at the previous scan, 19 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 21 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 50 to 53. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 15 days of observed history at the previous scan, 16 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 19 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 43 to 47. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 13 days of observed history at the previous scan, 14 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 17 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 37 to 40. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 11 days of observed history at the previous scan, 12 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 15 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 30 to 33. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 9 days of observed history at the previous scan, 10 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 13 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 23 to 27. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 7 days of observed history at the previous scan, 8 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 11 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 17 to 20. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 5 days of observed history at the previous scan, 6 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.
Captured 25 Sept 2026 · Probed https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp
TLS valid
Negotiated TLS 1.3 with TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 .
| Subject | Issuer | Valid from | Valid until | Key | Signature | Serial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN=*.gumballtools.com | CN=YR2,O=Let's Encrypt,C=US | 6 Sept 2026 | 5 Dec 2026 | RSA 2048 | SHA256-RSA | 60927985e79d22e7a1106139f609d74b0e4 |
| SANs: *.gumballtools.com, gumballtools.com | ||||||
| CN=YR2,O=Let's Encrypt,C=US (CA) | CN=Root YR,O=ISRG,C=US | 3 Sept 2025 | 2 Sept 2028 | RSA 2048 | SHA256-RSA | 4ebd24947e24d394802d84a52fd5b319 |
| CN=Root YR,O=ISRG,C=US (CA) | CN=ISRG Root X1,O=Internet Security Research Group,C=US | 13 May 2026 | 2 Sept 2032 | RSA 4096 | SHA256-RSA | f24b6d17f9d9ad7cb1c9fea78782699f |
Background: What to check on a remote MCP endpoint →
DNSSEC insecure
Validation of words-in-context.gumballtools.com. — Not signed
| Zone | DS | Keys | Algorithms | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | trust_anchor | 20326, 38696 | 8, 8 | Verified |
| com. | present | 19718 | 13 | Verified |
| gumballtools.com. | absent | Unsigned (proven) parent-signed NSEC/NSEC3 proves an unsigned delegation |
Authentication No authorisation required
The endpoint answered without asking for a token. Anyone who knows the URL can reach it.
| Result | No authorisation required |
|---|---|
| HTTP status | 200 |
| Header | Value |
|---|---|
| strict-transport-security | max-age=63072000 |
Background: How OAuth 2.1 works in the 2026 MCP spec →
Transports 2 probes
| Transport | URL | Outcome | Status | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| streamable-http | https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp | Verified | 200 | |
| http (plaintext) | http://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp | HTTPS enforced | 308 | https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp |
The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability. A tool's description is untrusted text the model reads on every call, which is what makes this list a security surface and not just an inventory: how tool poisoning works →
check_answer Check an answer ~148
Check an answer to a practice item and get the teaching content. Returns whether the choice was correct, which option was right, why it fits the sentence specifically, why the chosen option was wrong, and the reason EVERY distractor fails. Read the distractor reasons out to the learner even when they answered correctly. Knowing why the tempting wrong answer was tempting is the part that transfers to the next question; being told "correct" teaches nothing. Input: `id` from a draw response, and `choice` as the zero-based index of the selected option.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| choice | integer | yes | Zero-based index of the chosen option. |
| id | string | yes | The item id from a draw response. |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
draw_items Draw practice questions ~330
Draw words-in-context vocabulary practice questions from a curated, human-written bank. Use this to quiz a learner, build a practice set, or check what a question of this type looks like. It is free, deterministic, and costs no inference. IMPORTANT: the response deliberately contains NO answer index and NO explanations. That is so you can present the questions without leaking the answers. Call `check_answer` with the item id and the chosen option to get the answer, why it fits, and why each distractor fails. Input: `count` (1-20, default 5) — an out-of-range count is REFUSED rather than clamped, so you learn the limit. `difficulty` is foundation|core|stretch. `theme` is science|humanities|social-science|literature. `seed` makes the draw reproducible: the same seed always returns the same items, so a practice session can be replayed or shared. Format note: these test inference from context, which is how the current digital SAT asks about vocabulary — not recall of definitions. Each item is a sentence with one word blanked and four options.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| count | integer | – | How many items, 1-20, default 5. An out-of-range value is refused, not clamped. |
| difficulty | string | – | Filter by difficulty. |
| seed | integer | – | Makes the draw reproducible — the same seed always returns the same items, so a session can be replayed or shared. Omit for a random set. |
| theme | string | – | Filter by passage flavour. |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
generate_items Generate practice questions from a passage ~339
Generate new practice items from a passage the learner supplies — their own reading, or the material they got wrong. This is the PAID tier and it costs real money per call, unlike the curated bank. Prefer `draw_items` unless the learner specifically needs questions from their own material. `model` is a priced choice: "economy" at $0.002 per item (Fast and cheap. Good enough for straightforward vocabulary in clear prose.); "standard" at $0.008 per item (Better at writing distractors that are genuinely tempting, which is the hard part of a good practice item.). Pick economy for straightforward prose and standard when the distractors need to be genuinely tempting, which is the hard part of a good question. Limits: passage 200 characters minimum, and `count` at most 5 per call. Generation is capped at 10 calls per caller per day, separately from the free quota. Generated items are NOT reviewed by a person. Every response carries a caveat saying so. Check the answer and the distractor reasons before giving them to a learner — a generated question with two defensible answers is worse than no question. Returns 503 when generation is not enabled on the deployment; fall back to `draw_items`.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| count | integer | – | How many items, 1-5. Default 3. |
| difficulty | string | – | Target difficulty. |
| model | string | – | Priced choice. "economy" is cheaper; "standard" writes more tempting distractors. Default economy. |
| source | string | yes | A passage of at least 200 characters. The learner's own reading. |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
What is the Words in Context MCP server?
Words in Context is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as com.gumballtools/words-in-context. Words-in-context vocabulary practice questions with distractor explanations. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp).
Is the Words in Context MCP server safe to use?
Words in Context scores 74 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 Words in Context MCP server expose?
Words in Context exposes 3 tools: draw_items, check_answer, generate_items. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 817 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.
Does the Words in Context MCP server require authentication?
No. We connected to Words in Context without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.
Is the Words in Context MCP server still maintained?
Words in Context is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 25 September 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.