# Loupe: free citation lookup (remote · loupe.legal)

Check if a US legal citation exists, names its case and has a valid pin cite; or find a case. Free.

- Trust score: 67/100 (medium)
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-09-28

## Components

- remote · `loupe.legal`: 67/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/legal-loupe-citation-lookup/mcp-public.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/legal-loupe-citation-lookup/mcp-public)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://loupe.legal/mcp-public`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `1.0.0`

## 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 2026-09-28.

- **Endpoint Security**: 69/100
  - 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.
  - 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**: 72/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (good).
  - Tool/resource definitions use about 275 tokens (~137/item across 2 items; 2 tools + 0 resources), lean.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 3/100
  - Stability observed for 1 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 71/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 0% of tool parameters carry a description.
  - Structured output schemas are declared (100% of tools); any adoption earns full credit.
- **Tool Safety**: 100/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - We read all 2 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 supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.

## Install

### How do I install the Loupe: free citation lookup MCP server?

Loupe: free citation lookup is a hosted endpoint at https://loupe.legal/mcp-public, 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 legal-loupe-citation-lookup 'https://loupe.legal/mcp-public'
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-loupe-citation-lookup": {
      "url": "https://loupe.legal/mcp-public"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "legal-loupe-citation-lookup": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://loupe.legal/mcp-public"
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.legal-loupe-citation-lookup]
url = "https://loupe.legal/mcp-public"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "legal-loupe-citation-lookup": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://loupe.legal/mcp-public",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add legal-loupe-citation-lookup --url 'https://loupe.legal/mcp-public' --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  legal-loupe-citation-lookup:
    url: "https://loupe.legal/mcp-public"
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "legal-loupe-citation-lookup": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://loupe.legal/mcp-public"
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add legal-loupe-citation-lookup -t streamable-http -u 'https://loupe.legal/mcp-public'
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-loupe-citation-lookup": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://loupe.legal/mcp-public"
    }
  }
}
```

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.

### 2026-09-28 (score 67, +1)

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

### 2026-09-27 (score 66)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (2)

### `check_citation` (~87 tokens)

Check a citation

Check one US legal citation, or a sentence holding a few: whether it exists in the sources Loupe checks, which case it is, and whether a pin cite falls inside the opinion. Give it exactly as written, with the case name and year if the document has them, because the commonest error is a real citation attached to the wrong case.

Input parameters:

- `citation` (string, required)

### `search_cases` (~63 tokens)

Find a case by name

Search the case names in Loupe's index, or look up the case a citation names. Give the parties' names, and the year if known. A case missing from the results may still exist.

Input parameters:

- `query` (string, required)
- `year` (string)

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/legal-loupe-citation-lookup/mcp-public#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-09-28: 67
- 2026-09-27: 66

## Common questions

### What is the Loupe: free citation lookup MCP server?

Loupe: free citation lookup is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as legal.loupe/citation-lookup. Check if a US legal citation exists, names its case and has a valid pin cite; or find a case. Free. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://loupe.legal/mcp-public).

### Is the Loupe: free citation lookup MCP server safe to use?

Loupe: free citation lookup scores 67 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 Loupe: free citation lookup MCP server expose?

Loupe: free citation lookup exposes 2 tools: check_citation, search_cases. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 150 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Does the Loupe: free citation lookup MCP server require authentication?

No. We connected to Loupe: free citation lookup without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.

### Is the Loupe: free citation lookup MCP server still maintained?

Loupe: free citation lookup is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 28 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://loupe.legal/mcp-public
- Website: https://loupe.legal/data
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/legal-loupe-citation-lookup/mcp-public.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/legal-loupe-citation-lookup/mcp-public.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/legal-loupe-citation-lookup/mcp-public