# Marginalia (npm · @pipeworx/mcp-marginalia)

Marginalia MCP — independent web search over a non-commercial, non-SEO index.

- Trust score: 81/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +4
- 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-marginalia/marginalia-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-marginalia/marginalia-mcp)
- npm · `@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia`: 81/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-marginalia/pipeworx-mcp-marginalia.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-marginalia/pipeworx-mcp-marginalia)

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia`
- 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-marginalia).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).
  - Actively maintained (last published 2 days ago).
  - Disclosure check failed: no security disclosure policy was found in the source repository.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 56/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (good).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 457 tokens (~457/item across 1 items; 1 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 1 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 2 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 Marginalia MCP server?

Marginalia runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-marginalia. 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-marginalia -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-marginalia
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx-io-marginalia": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "pipeworx-io-marginalia": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```bash
codex mcp add pipeworx-io-marginalia -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-marginalia
```

### opencode

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

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add pipeworx-io-marginalia --command npx --arg -y --arg @pipeworx/mcp-marginalia
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  pipeworx-io-marginalia:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia"]
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "pipeworx-io-marginalia": {
      "Transport": "stdio",
      "Command": "npx",
      "Arguments": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add pipeworx-io-marginalia -t stdio -c npx -a -y @pipeworx/mcp-marginalia
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx-io-marginalia": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

## 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.

### 2026-11-05 (score 81, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 20 to 23. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 6 days of observed history at the previous scan, 7 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-11-03 (score 80, +16)

- [security improvement] Malware scan: unverified → pass

### 2026-11-02 (score 64, −13)

- [security regression] Malware scan: pass → unverified
- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.13
- [functional] Package version: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1

### 2026-10-30 (score 77, 0)

- [functional regression] Security disclosure: unverified → fail

### 2026-10-29 (score 77)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (1)

### `marginalia_search` (~403 tokens)

Search the INDEPENDENT Marginalia web index — a separate crawler that favours text-heavy, ad-light, non-commercial pages: personal sites, technical writing, documentation, forums, academic and hobbyist pages. Use it when mainstream search results are dominated by SEO content, listicles, and marketing pages, or when you want a second opinion from an index that is NOT Google/Bing-derived (unlike serper_search / exa_search / serpapi). Especially good for programming and niche technical topics, obscure or historical subjects, and finding primary/hobbyist sources. Returns url, title, description, a quality score, and how many other results share the domain. Weak for breaking news, e-commerce, and mainstream/celebrity topics — use serper_search for those. Results are CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 licensed; the licence is returned with every response.

Input parameters:

- `_apiKey` (string): Your Marginalia API key. Optional — without one this falls back to a keyless public endpoint that is heavily rate-limited. Free non-commercial keys: email contact@marginalia-search.com. A COMMERCIAL…
- `count` (number): Number of results to return (1-100, default 20). Only honoured when an API key is supplied.
- `max_per_domain` (number): Max results from any single domain (1-100). Use a low value like 2 to force variety across sites.
- `nsfw` (boolean): Set true to apply the experimental filter that reduces extreme results (default false = no filter).
- `page` (number): Results page, 1-indexed (default 1).
- `query` (string, required): Search terms, e.g. "rust async runtime internals" or "vintage synthesizer repair".

## Diagnostics

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

## Score history

- 2026-11-05: 81
- 2026-11-04: 80
- 2026-11-03: 80
- 2026-11-02: 64
- 2026-11-01: 77
- 2026-10-31: 77
- 2026-10-30: 77
- 2026-10-29: 77

## Common questions

### What is the Marginalia MCP server?

Marginalia is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.pipeworx-io/marginalia. Marginalia MCP, independent web search over a non-commercial, non-SEO index. This page covers its npm package (@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia).

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

Marginalia 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 Marginalia MCP server expose?

Marginalia exposes 1 tool: marginalia_search. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 403 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Marginalia MCP server still maintained?

Marginalia 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 Marginalia MCP server under?

Marginalia 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-marginalia
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/@pipeworx/mcp-marginalia
- Repository: https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-marginalia
- Website: https://pipeworx.io/packs/marginalia
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-marginalia/pipeworx-mcp-marginalia.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-marginalia/pipeworx-mcp-marginalia.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-marginalia/pipeworx-mcp-marginalia