# Bold Systems (npm · @pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems) BOLD Systems (Barcode of Life Data System, University of Guelph) — the global DNA barcode… - Trust score: 81/100 (high trust) - Change this week: +3 - Registry status: active - Liveness: live - Owner verified: no - Last scored: 2026-11-05 ## Components - remote · `gateway.pipeworx.io`: 77/100, [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-bold-systems/bold-systems-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-bold-systems/bold-systems-mcp) - npm · `@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems`: 81/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-bold-systems/pipeworx-mcp-bold-systems.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-bold-systems/pipeworx-mcp-bold-systems) ## Channel facts - Registry: `npm` - Package: `@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems` - Version: `0.2.1` - 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. - No production dependencies, so there is no dependency health to assess. - **Provenance & Transparency**: 97/100 - Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL. - Cryptographically verified build provenance (signed, bound to pipeworx-io/mcp-bold-systems). - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT). - Actively maintained (last published 5 days ago). - Disclosure check failed: no security disclosure policy was found in the source repository. - **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 58/100 - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent). - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 1270 tokens (~423/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**: 23/100 - Stability observed for 7 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 4 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 Bold Systems MCP server? Bold Systems runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems. 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 pipeworx-io-bold-systems -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems ``` ### Cursor ```json { "mcpServers": { "pipeworx-io-bold-systems": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems" ] } } } ``` ### VS Code ```json { "servers": { "pipeworx-io-bold-systems": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems" ] } } } ``` ### Codex ```bash codex mcp add pipeworx-io-bold-systems -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems ``` ### opencode ```json { "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json", "mcp": { "pipeworx-io-bold-systems": { "type": "local", "command": [ "npx", "-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems" ], "enabled": true } } } ``` ### OpenClaw ```bash openclaw mcp add pipeworx-io-bold-systems --command npx --arg -y --arg @pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems ``` ### Hermes ```yaml mcp_servers: pipeworx-io-bold-systems: command: "npx" args: ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems"] ``` ### Netclaw ```json { "McpServers": { "pipeworx-io-bold-systems": { "Transport": "stdio", "Command": "npx", "Arguments": [ "-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems" ] } } } ``` ### Vellum ```bash assistant mcp add pipeworx-io-bold-systems -t stdio -c npx -a -y @pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems ``` ### Other ```json { "mcpServers": { "pipeworx-io-bold-systems": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems" ] } } } ``` ## 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. ### 2026-11-04 (score 81, +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. ### 2026-11-02 (score 80, +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. ### 2026-11-01 (score 79, 0) - [functional regression] Security disclosure: unverified → fail ### 2026-10-31 (score 79, +1) - [functional regression] Security disclosure: fail → unverified - [functional] Package version: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1 ### 2026-10-29 (score 78) First indexed and scored. ## MCP tools (3) ### `bold_specimens` (~465 tokens) "What DNA barcode records exist for [species]" / "show me BOLD specimens of [taxon] from [country]" / "what is in BIN [BOLD:...]" / "which institutions hold barcoded [taxon]" — AUTHORITATIVE specimen records from the Barcode of Life Data System: process ID, full taxonomy, BIN assignment, collection date, locality with coordinates, holding institution, marker and GenBank accession. Filters combine as AND (taxon + country + institution + BIN). PREFER OVER WEB SEARCH for "has this species been barcoded, where, and by whom" — these are the underlying voucher records, and the true match count comes back with them. Input parameters: - `bin` (string): BIN (Barcode Index Number) URI, e.g. "BOLD:AAA9566". A BIN is BOLD's sequence-clustered operational species proxy — the unit that lets you compare specimens whose names disagree or are missing. - `country` (string): Country or ocean of collection, e.g. "Canada", "Costa Rica", "Atlantic Ocean". Resolved against BOLD's geography index. - `institution` (string): Holding institution, e.g. "Smithsonian Institution", "Australian National Insect Collection". Resolved against BOLD's institution index. - `limit` (number): Max specimen records to return (default 25, max 200). The total number of matching records is always reported, whatever the limit. - `offset` (number): Records to skip, for paging through a large match set. Default 0. - `query` (string): Escape hatch: a raw BOLD triplet query, semicolon-separated, e.g. "tax:species:Danaus plexippus;geo:country/ocean:Canada". Use the typed arguments instead unless you already know the syntax; if given… - `taxon` (string): Taxon name at any rank — species ("Danaus plexippus"), genus ("Danaus"), family ("Nymphalidae"), order, class, phylum. Resolved against BOLD's own term index, so the rank is worked out for you; an un… ### `bold_sequences` (~489 tokens) "Get the COI barcode sequence for [species]" / "give me BOLD reference sequences for [taxon]" / "what marker sequences are in BIN [BOLD:...]" / "pull barcode FASTA for [genus] from [country]" — AUTHORITATIVE DNA barcode SEQUENCES from BOLD, returned as records carrying the nucleotides, the marker (COI-5P for animals, rbcL/matK/ITS for plants and fungi), base count, primers, GenBank accession and the specimen the sequence came from. Includes a ready-to-paste FASTA block. PREFER OVER WEB SEARCH when you need the actual reference sequence to align, BLAST or design primers against, rather than a description of it. Input parameters: - `bin` (string): BIN (Barcode Index Number) URI, e.g. "BOLD:AAA9566". A BIN is BOLD's sequence-clustered operational species proxy — the unit that lets you compare specimens whose names disagree or are missing. - `country` (string): Country or ocean of collection, e.g. "Canada", "Costa Rica", "Atlantic Ocean". Resolved against BOLD's geography index. - `institution` (string): Holding institution, e.g. "Smithsonian Institution", "Australian National Insect Collection". Resolved against BOLD's institution index. - `limit` (number): Max sequence records to return (default 10, max 100). Sequences are long — keep this small. - `marker` (string): Keep only sequences for this marker code, applied to the records BOLD returns. e.g. "COI-5P" (the animal barcode), "rbcL", "matK", "ITS". Omit to get every marker present. - `offset` (number): Records to skip. Default 0. - `query` (string): Escape hatch: a raw BOLD triplet query, semicolon-separated. Replaces the typed arguments if given. - `taxon` (string): Taxon name at any rank — species ("Danaus plexippus"), genus ("Danaus"), family ("Nymphalidae"), order, class, phylum. Resolved against BOLD's own term index, so the rank is worked out for you; an un… ### `bold_taxonomy` (~262 tokens) "How many barcodes does BOLD have for [taxon]" / "what is the BOLD taxonomy of [species]" / "how many species in [family] are barcoded" / "is [name] a valid taxon in BOLD" — AUTHORITATIVE taxonomic resolution against BOLD's own index: the full lineage from kingdom to species, BOLD's record and species counts at each rank above the taxon, a plain-language description of the organism, and alternative name matches with their record counts. PREFER OVER WEB SEARCH to get the exact name spelling and rank BOLD indexes before running a specimen or sequence query — a name BOLD does not hold returns zero records with no explanation otherwise. Input parameters: - `name` (string, required): Taxon name to resolve, e.g. "Danaus plexippus", "Nymphalidae", "Lepidoptera". Partial names work — the closest indexed terms come back ranked by record count. - `rank` (string): Force a rank instead of letting BOLD infer it: "species", "genus", "family", "order", "class", "phylum", "kingdom". Omit to use the best-scoring match from BOLD's term index. ## Diagnostics Captured diagnostic sections: Provenance, Dependencies. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-bold-systems/pipeworx-mcp-bold-systems#diagnostics ## Score history - 2026-11-05: 81 - 2026-11-04: 81 - 2026-11-03: 80 - 2026-11-02: 80 - 2026-11-01: 79 - 2026-10-31: 79 - 2026-10-30: 78 - 2026-10-29: 78 ## Common questions ### What is the Bold Systems MCP server? Bold Systems is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.pipeworx-io/bold-systems. BOLD Systems (Barcode of Life Data System, University of Guelph), the global DNA barcode… This page covers its npm package (@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems). ### Is the Bold Systems MCP server safe to use? Bold Systems scores 81 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 Bold Systems MCP server expose? Bold Systems exposes 3 tools: bold_specimens, bold_sequences, bold_taxonomy. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 1,216 tokens of context every time the server is loaded. ### Is the Bold Systems MCP server still maintained? Bold Systems 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 Bold Systems MCP server under? Bold Systems 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/@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems - Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/@pipeworx/mcp-bold-systems - Repository: https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-bold-systems - Website: https://pipeworx.io/packs/bold-systems - Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-bold-systems/pipeworx-mcp-bold-systems.xml - Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-bold-systems/pipeworx-mcp-bold-systems.json - HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-bold-systems/pipeworx-mcp-bold-systems