# Research Chain (npm · @pipeworx/mcp-research-chain)

One call, one paper: everything openly available around it — full text, license, datasets, code…

- Trust score: 80/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +3
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-05

## Components

- remote · `gateway.pipeworx.io`: 84/100, [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-research-chain/research-chain-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-research-chain/research-chain-mcp)
- npm · `@pipeworx/mcp-research-chain`: 80/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-research-chain/pipeworx-mcp-research-chain.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-research-chain/pipeworx-mcp-research-chain)

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `@pipeworx/mcp-research-chain`
- 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-research-chain).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).
  - Actively maintained (last published 0 days ago).
  - Disclosure check failed: no security disclosure policy was found in the source repository.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 54/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (good).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 467 tokens (~467/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 Research Chain MCP server?

Research Chain runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-research-chain. 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-research-chain -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-research-chain
```

### Cursor

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

### VS Code

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

### Codex

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

### opencode

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

### OpenClaw

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

### Hermes

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

### Netclaw

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

### Vellum

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

### Other

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

## 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 80, +3)

- [security regression] Tool safety: pass → unverified
- [security] Stability: Stability not yet verified: we do not have a sandbox capture of the MCP schema this version of the package serves yet.
- [functional regression] Capabilities: pass → unverified
- [functional regression] Tool coverage: 100 → unverified
- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.20
- [functional] First check of Schema quality: unverified
- [functional] Package version: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1

### 2026-11-02 (score 77, 0)

- [functional regression] Security disclosure: unverified → fail

### 2026-11-01 (score 77, 0)

- [functional regression] Security disclosure: fail → unverified

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

- [functional regression] Security disclosure: unverified → fail

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

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (1)

### `research_chain` (~414 tokens)

Everything openly available around a paper, in ONE call: full text, license, datasets, code, and citations. Given a DOI, PMID, or arXiv id, walks paper (Crossref + OpenAlex) -> open copies with PER-COPY license and version (Unpaywall + PubMed Central — never collapses "free to read" into "permitted to reuse") -> datasets that cite it (DataCite relatedIdentifiers) -> code/materials that implement it (Zenodo, Hugging Face Papers) -> papers that cite it (Semantic Scholar, falling back to OpenAlex's citation graph if Semantic Scholar is rate-limited or returns nothing — `citing.source` says which one answered) -> retraction status (Crossref/Retraction Watch). Use for "what datasets/code are linked to <DOI>", "is this paper retracted", "find an open copy of <DOI> and its license", "who has cited <paper>". Each leg is independently fetched — a slow/dead upstream is listed in sources_failed rather than failing the whole call.

Input parameters:

- `arxiv_id` (string): arXiv id, e.g. "2312.00752". Resolved to arXiv's own DataCite DOI (10.48550/arXiv.<id>) — best-effort for pre-2022 papers.
- `doi` (string): DOI of the paper, e.g. "10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2" (a doi.org URL is also accepted).
- `max_citing` (number): Max citing papers to return (1-25, default 10).
- `max_datasets` (number): Max datasets to return (1-100, default 25). DataCite's `total` count is always returned even when truncated.
- `pmid` (string): PubMed ID, e.g. "32015507". Resolved to a DOI via NCBI's ID Converter.

## Diagnostics

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

## Score history

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

## Common questions

### What is the Research Chain MCP server?

Research Chain is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.pipeworx-io/research-chain. One call, one paper: everything openly available around it, full text, license, datasets, code… This page covers its npm package (@pipeworx/mcp-research-chain).

### Is the Research Chain MCP server safe to use?

Research Chain scores 80 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 Research Chain MCP server expose?

Research Chain exposes 1 tool: research_chain. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 414 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Research Chain MCP server still maintained?

Research Chain 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 Research Chain MCP server under?

Research Chain declares the MIT licence, which is OSI-approved. That covers the source only, and says nothing about the cost of any service it calls.

### What did VerifyMCP test on the Research Chain MCP server?

VerifyMCP ran 16 checks on Research Chain, covering Malware scan, Known CVEs, Install scripts, Dependency health and 12 more. Endpoint Security and Transport & Reachability do not apply to an npm package, so they were not tested. The score does not measure everything, and the scoring documentation lists what it leaves out.

## Links

- npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@pipeworx/mcp-research-chain
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/@pipeworx/mcp-research-chain
- Repository: https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-research-chain
- Website: https://pipeworx.io/packs/research-chain
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-research-chain/pipeworx-mcp-research-chain.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-research-chain/pipeworx-mcp-research-chain/changelog.json
- Trust report (JSON): https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-research-chain/pipeworx-mcp-research-chain.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-research-chain/pipeworx-mcp-research-chain