# Words in Context (remote · words-in-context.gumballtools.com)

Words-in-context vocabulary practice questions with distractor explanations.

- Trust score: 74/100 (medium)
- Change this week: +3
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-09-25

## Components

- remote · `words-in-context.gumballtools.com`: 74/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-gumballtools-words-in-context/api-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-gumballtools-words-in-context/api-mcp)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `0.1.0`

## 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 2026-09-25.

- **Endpoint Security**: 63/100
  - The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key.
  - 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.
  - HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path.
  - The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present.
  - DNSSEC check failed: this domain isn't protected by DNSSEC.
- **Transport & Reachability**: 100/100
  - Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 66/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - 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.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 67/100
  - Stability observed for 20 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **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 3 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 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.

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http com-gumballtools-words-in-context 'https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp'
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "com-gumballtools-words-in-context": {
      "url": "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "com-gumballtools-words-in-context": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.com-gumballtools-words-in-context]
url = "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$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

```bash
openclaw mcp add com-gumballtools-words-in-context --url 'https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp' --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  com-gumballtools-words-in-context:
    url: "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "com-gumballtools-words-in-context": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add com-gumballtools-words-in-context -t streamable-http -u 'https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp'
```

### Other

```json
{
  "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.

## 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.

### 2026-09-25 (score 74, 0)

- [functional] We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server

### 2026-09-24 (score 74, +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.

### 2026-09-21 (score 73, +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.

### 2026-09-19 (score 72, +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.

### 2026-09-17 (score 71, +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.

### 2026-09-15 (score 70, +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.

### 2026-09-13 (score 69, +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.

### 2026-09-11 (score 68, +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.

## MCP tools (3)

### `draw_items` (~330 tokens)

Draw practice questions

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.

Input parameters:

- `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.

### `check_answer` (~148 tokens)

Check an answer

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.

Input parameters:

- `choice` (integer, required): Zero-based index of the chosen option.
- `id` (string, required): The item id from a draw response.

### `generate_items` (~339 tokens)

Generate practice questions from a passage

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`.

Input parameters:

- `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, required): A passage of at least 200 characters. The learner's own reading.

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-gumballtools-words-in-context/api-mcp#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-09-25: 74
- 2026-09-24: 74
- 2026-09-23: 73
- 2026-09-22: 73
- 2026-09-21: 73
- 2026-09-20: 72
- 2026-09-19: 72
- 2026-09-18: 71
- 2026-09-17: 71
- 2026-09-16: 70
- 2026-09-15: 70
- 2026-09-14: 69
- 2026-09-13: 69
- 2026-09-12: 68
- 2026-09-11: 68
- 2026-09-10: 67
- 2026-09-09: 67
- 2026-09-08: 66
- 2026-09-07: 66
- 2026-09-06: 66
- 2026-09-05: 65

## Common questions

### 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.

## Links

- Remote endpoint: https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/api/mcp
- Repository: https://github.com/bwalvoord/gumball
- Website: https://words-in-context.gumballtools.com/
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-gumballtools-words-in-context/api-mcp.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-gumballtools-words-in-context/api-mcp.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-gumballtools-words-in-context/api-mcp