# Cited Brief (remote · cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev)

Paid web research tools: cited briefs, quote checks, page text. Pay per call in USDC via x402.

- Trust score: 69/100 (medium)
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-10-18

## Components

- remote · `cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev`: 69/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief/cited-brief.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief/cited-brief)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `1.1.0`

## 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 2026-10-18.

- **Endpoint Security**: 63/100
  - The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key.
  - No authorisation is required to call this server. Every tool declares its destructiveHint and none is destructive, so open access doesn't expose one.
  - HTTPS enforcement could not be verified: the plaintext port answered with HTTP 406, which proves neither a plaintext path nor enforcement.
  - HSTS check failed: the Strict-Transport-Security header is absent.
  - 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**: 72/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (good).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 889 tokens (~127/item across 7 items; 7 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 20/100
  - Stability observed for 6 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 7 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 8 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 Cited Brief MCP server?

Cited Brief is a hosted endpoint at https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/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 dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief 'https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp'
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief": {
      "url": "https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief]
url = "https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief --url 'https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp' --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief:
    url: "https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp"
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief -t streamable-http -u 'https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp'
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/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.

### 2026-10-17 (score 69, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 13 to 17. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 4 days of observed history at the previous scan, 5 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-10-15 (score 68, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 7 to 10. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 2 days of observed history at the previous scan, 3 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-10-14 (score 67, +1)

- [functional regression] Schema quality: pass → fail
- [functional] Server version: 1.1.0 → 1.2.0
- [functional] New tool “check_doi”
- [functional] New tool “check_links”
- [functional] New tool “domain_check”
- [functional] New tool “robots_check”

### 2026-10-13 (score 66, 0)

- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.03

### 2026-10-12 (score 66)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (7)

### `cited_brief` (~95 tokens)

Cited brief

Answers a question from 1-5 web pages you name. Every claim comes with a verbatim quote that is re-checked on the live page; claims that fail are dropped, and if none pass you are not charged. Price: $0.10 USDC per call (x402).

Input parameters:

- `question` (string, required): The question to answer
- `urls` (array, required): Public http(s) pages to answer from

### `check_quote` (~105 tokens)

Check quotes against a page

Checks whether 1-10 quotes really appear on a web page (ignoring case, spacing, and quote or dash styles) and returns the surrounding text. Use it to catch made-up citations. No AI involved; if the page can't be read you are not charged. Price: $0.01 USDC per call (x402).

Input parameters:

- `quotes` (array, required): Exact sentences you expect on the page
- `url` (string, required): Public http(s) page to check

### `page_text` (~95 tokens)

Read a page as clean text

Fetches a public web page and returns its title and readable text, without scripts, styles or markup (up to 100,000 characters). If the page can't be read you are not charged. Price: $0.01 USDC per call (x402).

Input parameters:

- `max_chars` (integer): Maximum characters of text to return (default 20000)
- `url` (string, required): Public http(s) page to read

### `check_links` (~103 tokens)

Check that cited links work

Checks 1-10 URLs: HTTP status, where redirects end, the page title, and a warning when a "200" page is really a not-found page. Use it to catch dead or made-up citations. No AI involved; a dead link is a valid answer, but a request with no usable URL is not charged. Price: $0.01 USDC per call (x402).

Input parameters:

- `urls` (array, required): Public http(s) URLs to check

### `check_doi` (~147 tokens)

Check papers by DOI or arXiv id

Looks up 1-10 DOIs or arXiv ids: does the paper exist, its title, authors, year and venue, how often it is cited, and whether it has been retracted. Pass the titles you cited to see if they match the real ones. Catches made-up references. No AI involved; if the lookup services are down you are not charged. Price: $0.01 USDC per call (x402).

Input parameters:

- `ids` (array, required): DOIs (10.xxxx/...), doi.org links or arXiv ids
- `titles` (array): Titles you cited, in the same order as ids, to compare with the real ones

### `domain_check` (~174 tokens)

Check a domain's age and DNS

Domain age and registration facts (created, expires, registrar, status, nameservers) from the registry's RDAP or WHOIS service, plus live DNS (address records, mail servers, SPF, DMARC) and plain flags such as "registered only 9 days ago". Use it to judge how trustworthy a site is. No AI involved. Works for most TLDs (.com, .org, .io, .ai, .dev, .co.uk and over a thousand more); if the registry has no public lookup (for example .de, .jp, .co, .ru, .ac.uk) or does not answer, you are not charged. Price: $0.02 USDC per call (x402).

Input parameters:

- `domain` (string, required): Domain name or URL, for example example.com

### `robots_check` (~118 tokens)

May a crawler fetch this URL?

Reads the site's robots.txt and says whether a crawler may fetch a URL (RFC 9309: the longest matching rule wins, Allow wins a tie), with the matching rule, crawl-delay and sitemaps. No AI involved; if robots.txt cannot be read you are not charged. Price: $0.01 USDC per call (x402).

Input parameters:

- `url` (string, required): Public http(s) URL you want to fetch
- `user_agent` (string): Your crawler's name, for example MyBot (default: any crawler)

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief/cited-brief#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-10-18: 69
- 2026-10-17: 69
- 2026-10-16: 68
- 2026-10-15: 68
- 2026-10-14: 67
- 2026-10-13: 66
- 2026-10-12: 66

## Common questions

### What is the Cited Brief MCP server?

Cited Brief is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as dev.workers.cited-brief.cited-brief/cited-brief. Paid web research tools: cited briefs, quote checks, page text. Pay per call in USDC via x402. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp).

### Is the Cited Brief MCP server safe to use?

Cited Brief scores 69 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 Cited Brief MCP server expose?

Cited Brief exposes 7 tools: cited_brief, check_quote, page_text, check_links, check_doi, and 2 more. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 837 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Does the Cited Brief MCP server require authentication?

No. We connected to Cited Brief without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.

### Is the Cited Brief MCP server still maintained?

Cited Brief is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 18 October 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://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/mcp
- Website: https://cited-brief.cited-brief.workers.dev/
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief/cited-brief.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief/cited-brief.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/dev-workers-cited-brief-cited-brief-cited-brief/cited-brief