# American Default Research (remote · mcp.americandefault.org)

Read-only MCP for U.S. household distress: 96 indicators, ADI composite, 3,144 counties.

- Trust score: 72/100 (medium)
- Change this week: +5
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-08-03

## Components

- remote · `mcp.americandefault.org`: 72/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/org-americandefault-research/mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/org-americandefault-research/mcp)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `1.0.1`

## 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 2026-08-03.

- **Endpoint Security**: 74/100
  - 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 is enforced; there's no plaintext access path.
  - 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**: 69/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 961 tokens (~160/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**: 27/100
  - Stability observed for 8 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.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.

## Install

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http org-americandefault-research https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.org-americandefault-research]
url = "https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "org-americandefault-research": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add org-americandefault-research --url https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  org-americandefault-research:
    url: "https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp"
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "org-americandefault-research": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.americandefault.org/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.

### 2026-08-02 (score 72, 0)

- [security] Tool “get_adi_composite” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads
- [security] Tool “get_county_scorecard” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads
- [security] Tool “get_cross_correlations” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads
- [security] Tool “search_indicators” rewrote its description, which is the text the model reads
- [functional regression] Schema quality: 807 → 961
- [functional] Server version: 1.27.1 → 1.27.2
- [functional] New tool “get_indicator_v2”
- [cosmetic] “get_indicator” reworded the description of “slug”

### 2026-08-01 (score 72, +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.

### 2026-07-31 (score 71, +2)

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

### 2026-07-30 (score 69, +1)

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

### 2026-07-29 (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.

### 2026-07-27 (score 67, +1)

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

### 2026-07-26 (score 66)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (6)

### `get_indicator` (~180 tokens)

Fetch a compact snapshot of an American Default economic indicator by slug. Returns latest value, unit, frequency, direction, pre-computed aggregates (period averages, extremes, sustained runs), editorial prose (when available), and canonical APA / MLA / Chicago / news-copy citations. Raw historical series is NOT included — use https://americandefault.org/api/indicators/{slug}.json for the full data. Slug examples: 'the-buffer' (personal savings rate), 'mortgage-delinquency', 'initial-unemployment-claims-sa'.

Input parameters:

- `slug` (string, required): The kebab-case indicator slug (e.g., 'the-buffer' for personal savings rate, 'mortgage-delinquency', 'initial-unemployment-claims-sa'). 103 indicators available. Use `search_indicators` first to disc…

### `get_indicator_v2` (~139 tokens)

Fetch an explicitly versioned compact indicator snapshot. Returns the latest value and canonical citation plus `trend_suppressed` and `series_breaks` comparison-safety fields. Callers must pass `response_version='v2'`; unsupported versions fail closed. The legacy `get_indicator` tool remains pinned to its original v1 shape.

Input parameters:

- `response_version` (string, required): Required explicit response contract version. The only supported value for this tool is 'v2'.
- `slug` (string, required): The kebab-case indicator slug (e.g., 'the-buffer' or 'the-pinch'). Use `search_indicators` to discover slugs.

### `get_county_scorecard` (~159 tokens)

Fetch a county's County Distress Index (CDI) scorecard by 5-digit FIPS code. Returns composite score (0-100), score label, national + state rank, 5-domain breakdown (Delinquency, Default & Legal, Debt Burden, Labor, Safety Net & Buffer), key findings, and pre-baked APA / MLA / Chicago / news-copy citations. Accepts 4-digit FIPS with implicit leading zero. 3,144 counties available.

Input parameters:

- `fips` (string, required): The 5-digit numeric county FIPS code as a string (e.g., '13063' for Clayton County, GA). 4-digit values are zero-padded internally. 3,144 counties available.

### `get_adi_composite` (~96 tokens)

Fetch the latest quarterly reading of the American Distress Index (ADI) composite. Returns the composite score (0-100), band (1-5) with its label and the literal reading gloss, the composite's own rank in history, and the five-domain breakdown (Delinquency, Default & Legal, Debt Burden, Labor, Safety Net & Buffer) with domain scores and member component percentiles. Updated quarterly.

### `search_indicators` (~198 tokens)

Search the 103-indicator registry by keyword. Returns ranked matches (up to `limit`, default 10, max 50) with slug, branded name, underlying name, category, and canonical URL. Scoring is substring+prefix over slug, branded_name, name, and category — e.g. query 'savings' returns both The Buffer (personal saving rate) and The Safety Net (emergency savings survey). Use this when you want to discover which slug corresponds to a concept before calling `get_indicator`.

Input parameters:

- `limit` (integer): Max number of ranked matches to return. Default 10. Hard cap 50 (values above are clamped). Values above 1000 are rejected as abuse.
- `query` (string, required): The keyword to search (e.g., 'savings', 'mortgage', 'inflation'). Scoring runs substring + prefix matching over slug, branded_name, name, and category fields.

### `get_cross_correlations` (~189 tokens)

Fetch statistically-validated leading/lagging relationships for an indicator. Source: the five-filter leading-indicator scanner (cross-correlation → first-differenced CCF → multi-crisis validation → Granger causality → out-of-sample validation). Returns two lists: `as_leader` (pairs where this indicator precedes its follower) and `as_follower` (pairs where another indicator precedes this one). Only fully-validated pairs are included — partial matches are not surfaced. Most of the 103 indicators return empty lists; only a handful of pairs clear the full gauntlet.

Input parameters:

- `slug` (string, required): The kebab-case indicator slug to look up (e.g., 'the-buffer', 'initial-unemployment-claims-sa'). Returns split lists of pairs where this indicator is the leader vs the follower. Empty lists are commo…

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/org-americandefault-research/mcp#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-08-03: 72
- 2026-08-02: 72
- 2026-08-01: 72
- 2026-07-31: 71
- 2026-07-30: 69
- 2026-07-29: 68
- 2026-07-28: 67
- 2026-07-27: 67
- 2026-07-26: 66

## Links

- Remote endpoint: https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp
- Repository: https://github.com/vibecode1/american-default-mcp
- Website: https://americandefault.org/press/mcp/
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/org-americandefault-research/mcp/changelog.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/org-americandefault-research/mcp/changelog.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/org-americandefault-research/mcp