# Penthera (npm · penthera)

Offline, rule-based security checks for your repo, dependencies, AI agent config and local app.

- Trust score: 86/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +2
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-05

## Components

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

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `penthera`
- Version: `2.2.0`
- 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**: 100/100
  - No malware found by supply-chain analysis.
  - No known CVEs affecting this package version or its production dependencies.
  - No install/post-install scripts declared.
  - 0 of 1 dependencies flagged as unhealthy.
- **Provenance & Transparency**: 100/100
  - Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL.
  - Cryptographically verified build provenance (signed, bound to danoszz/penthera).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).
  - Actively maintained (last published 3 days ago).
  - Publishes a security disclosure policy (SECURITY.md).
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 69/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (good).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 946 tokens (~157/item across 6 items; 6 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 43/100
  - Stability observed for 13 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 6 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 7 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 Penthera MCP server?

Penthera runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y penthera. 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 danoszz-penthera -- npx -y penthera
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "danoszz-penthera": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "penthera"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "danoszz-penthera": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "penthera"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```bash
codex mcp add danoszz-penthera -- npx -y penthera
```

### opencode

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

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add danoszz-penthera --command npx --arg -y --arg penthera
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  danoszz-penthera:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "penthera"]
```

### Netclaw

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

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add danoszz-penthera -t stdio -c npx -a -y penthera
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "danoszz-penthera": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "penthera"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

## 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.

### 2026-11-03 (score 86, +16)

- [security improvement] Malware scan: unverified → pass

### 2026-11-02 (score 70, −15)

- [security regression] Malware scan: pass → unverified
- [functional regression] Schema quality: 140 → 157
- [functional] Package version: 2.0.0 → 2.2.0

### 2026-10-31 (score 85, +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.

### 2026-10-29 (score 84, +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.

### 2026-10-27 (score 83, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 10 to 13. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 3 days of observed history at the previous scan, 4 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-10-26 (score 82, +11)

- [security improvement] Known CVEs: unverified → pass
- [functional improvement] Dependency health: unverified → 1.00

### 2026-10-25 (score 71, −10)

- [security regression] Known CVEs: pass → unverified
- [security regression] Tool safety: pass → unverified
- [security] Stability: Stability not yet verified: we do not have a sandbox capture of the MCP schema this version of the package serves yet.
- [functional regression] Capabilities: pass → unverified
- [functional regression] Dependency health: 1.00 → unverified
- [functional regression] Tool coverage: 100 → unverified
- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.07
- [functional] First check of Schema quality: unverified
- [functional] Package version: 1.9.0 → 2.0.0

### 2026-10-24 (score 81, +15)

- [security improvement] Malware scan: unverified → pass

## MCP tools (6)

### `scan_repo` (~105 tokens)

Scan a repository

White-box scan of a local project folder: hardcoded secrets, code-execution sinks, API routes and trust boundaries, runtime versions with known advisories. Offline and read-only. Returns findings with evidence at file:line and confidence labels.

Input parameters:

- `max_findings` (integer): How many findings to return, most severe first (default 50).
- `path` (string): Project folder to scan, relative to the workspace root or absolute inside it. Default: the workspace root.

### `scan_url` (~170 tokens)

Scan a running app (passive)

Passive black-box scan of a running web app the user is authorized to test: TLS, security headers, cookies, CORS, exposed files and docs, OpenAPI and auth checks. Sends no attack payloads: profile quick sends no login request, standard sends one POST /api/login with invalid credentials. Only loopback targets, or hosts the user listed with --allow-host when configuring this server, can be scanned, and a redirect off them is refused.

Input parameters:

- `max_findings` (integer): How many findings to return, most severe first (default 50).
- `profile` (string): quick skips Retire.js and parameter discovery; standard is the full passive scan (default).
- `url` (string, required): http(s) URL of the app, e.g. http://localhost:3000

### `check_dependencies` (~113 tokens)

Check dependencies

What each npm or Python dependency can do (install scripts, shell, network, eval, credential access), known-malicious packages and typosquats, read offline from the lockfile and installed tree. Read-only.

Input parameters:

- `max_findings` (integer): How many findings to return, most severe first (default 50).
- `path` (string): Project folder to scan, relative to the workspace root or absolute inside it. Default: the workspace root.
- `prod` (boolean): Skip dev dependencies (npm).

### `audit_ai_tooling` (~124 tokens)

Audit AI agent config

Audit the project's AI agent setup: skills, MCP servers, hooks, permissions, plugins and rule files, for hidden instructions, curl-pipe-shell, unpinned MCP packages, inline secrets and wildcard permissions. Grades A to F, or gives no grade when it finds no agent config. Offline, deterministic, read-only.

Input parameters:

- `max_findings` (integer): How many findings to return, most severe first (default 50).
- `path` (string): Project folder to scan, relative to the workspace root or absolute inside it. Default: the workspace root.

### `explain_finding` (~105 tokens)

Explain a finding

Explain a finding's rule: what it checks, why it matters, how to fix it, effort, whether it is an owner action (rotate a key, change DNS), research references and OWASP MCP/Agentic ids. Pass the `rule` field of a finding as `id` (e.g. agents/mcp-unpinned, secrets, headers).

Input parameters:

- `id` (string, required): The finding's `rule`, e.g. agents/mcp-unpinned.

### `runtime_advisories` (~162 tokens)

Runtime advisories

Is the PHP, nginx, Apache, Node.js, Python or OpenSSL an app runs affected by a published advisory, or past end of life? Give a project path (reads Dockerfiles, compose files and version pins) or the response headers you already have (Server, X-Powered-By). Offline.

Input parameters:

- `headers` (object): Response headers, e.g. {"server": "nginx/1.24.0", "x-powered-by": "PHP/8.1.2"}.
- `max_findings` (integer): How many findings to return, most severe first (default 50).
- `path` (string): Project folder to scan, relative to the workspace root or absolute inside it. Default: the workspace root.

## Diagnostics

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

## Score history

- 2026-11-05: 86
- 2026-11-04: 86
- 2026-11-03: 86
- 2026-11-02: 70
- 2026-11-01: 85
- 2026-10-31: 85
- 2026-10-30: 84
- 2026-10-29: 84
- 2026-10-28: 83
- 2026-10-27: 83
- 2026-10-26: 82
- 2026-10-25: 71
- 2026-10-24: 81
- 2026-10-23: 66

## Common questions

### What is the Penthera MCP server?

Penthera is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.danoszz/penthera. Offline, rule-based security checks for your repo, dependencies, AI agent config and local app. This page covers its npm package (penthera).

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

Penthera 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 Penthera MCP server expose?

Penthera exposes 6 tools: scan_repo, scan_url, check_dependencies, audit_ai_tooling, explain_finding, runtime_advisories. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 779 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Penthera MCP server still maintained?

Penthera 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 Penthera MCP server under?

Penthera 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/penthera
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/penthera
- Repository: https://github.com/danoszz/penthera
- Website: https://penthera.org/
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/danoszz-penthera/penthera.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/danoszz-penthera/penthera.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/danoszz-penthera/penthera