# Instead (remote · instead.work)

Hire staff for UK cafés, pubs and shops: post a free job, print hiring posters, find London jobs.

- Trust score: 71/100 (medium)
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-05

## Components

- remote · `instead.work`: 71/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/work-instead-instead/instead.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/work-instead-instead/instead)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://instead.work/mcp`
- 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 2026-11-05.

- **Endpoint Security**: 80/100
  - 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.
  - 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**: 65/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (good).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 1059 tokens (~176/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**: 10/100
  - Stability observed for 3 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 96/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 88% of tool parameters carry a description.
- **Tool Safety**: 75/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - 0 of 1 tool(s) whose name or description implies an irreversible operation declare an MCP destructiveHint annotation; "pay_rates" implies "pay" and declares readOnlyHint instead, contradicting what its own name says it does.
  - An AI judge read all 7 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 Instead MCP server?

Instead is a hosted endpoint at https://instead.work/mcp, 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 work-instead-instead 'https://instead.work/mcp'
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "work-instead-instead": {
      "url": "https://instead.work/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "work-instead-instead": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://instead.work/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.work-instead-instead]
url = "https://instead.work/mcp"
```

### opencode

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

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add work-instead-instead --url 'https://instead.work/mcp' --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  work-instead-instead:
    url: "https://instead.work/mcp"
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "work-instead-instead": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://instead.work/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add work-instead-instead -t streamable-http -u 'https://instead.work/mcp'
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "work-instead-instead": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://instead.work/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.

### 2026-11-04 (score 71, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 3 to 7. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 1 days of observed history at the previous scan, 2 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-11-03 (score 70, 0)

- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.03

### 2026-11-02 (score 70)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (6)

### `how_to_hire` (~94 tokens)

How to hire staff

Advice for a small UK business owner who needs staff (café, pub, restaurant, bar, shop, salon): how to find people through those who already know the business, what to pay, the UK rules to follow, and what Instead costs.

Input parameters:

- `area` (string): Where the business is, like Hackney
- `role` (string): The job, like barista, chef or Christmas temp

### `post_job` (~286 tokens)

Post a job

Make a job for a small business on Instead, free. It takes applications at once through a link and QR code; the owner then publishes it to read and answer applicants by opening the publish link and signing in with their email (30 seconds). The job is public for applications as soon as it is made, under the business name, pay, hours and area given.

Input parameters:

- `area` (string, required): The neighbourhood, like Hackney or Stoke Newington
- `business_name` (string, required): The business's name as customers know it
- `city` (string)
- `country` (string)
- `description` (string): What the job is like, in the owner's words. Plain text
- `email` (string): The owner's email, to send them the publish link and tell them when people apply
- `hours` (string): Like 'Weekends, 8am to 4pm'
- `must_haves` (array): What every applicant needs, like 'Weekend availability'
- `pay_max` (number): The top of the range, if there is one
- `pay_min` (number, required): The pay, or the bottom of the range
- `pay_unit` (string)
- `role` (string, required): The job title, like Barista or Kitchen porter
- `temporary` (boolean): True for seasonal or temporary work, like Christmas staff

### `make_hiring_poster` (~184 tokens)

Make hiring posters

Print-ready posters for a job: an A4 window poster, an A5 poster for regulars and an A6 table card, each with a QR code people apply from. Takes a job made with post_job (its code or link) or a live Instead job (its link or slug).

Input parameters:

- `accent` (string): The business's colour, like #2F6B4F
- `address` (string): Short address for the poster, like '14 Chatsworth Rd · E5'
- `job` (string, required): The code or link post_job returned, or a live job's instead.work/j/ link
- `look` (string): a: Loud colour; b: Till receipt; c: Chat thread
- `reward` (string): A thank-you for a regular who sends the hire, like 'a month of free coffee'

### `search_jobs` (~160 tokens)

Search jobs

Live jobs at independent UK cafés, pubs, restaurants, bars, shops and salons on Instead, London first: every job shows the pay, applying takes about two minutes from a phone with no account, and everyone hears back within 48 hours. Also returns independent London places hiring on their own websites and new places across the UK hiring their first team (not on Instead yet): apply on their website, or leave details once for several at the leave_details_url.

Input parameters:

- `area` (string): A neighbourhood, borough, town or postcode district, like Hackney or E8
- `min_hourly_pay` (number): Lowest pay wanted, in pounds an hour
- `query` (string): The kind of work, like barista, kitchen or weekend

### `pay_rates` (~92 tokens)

What London hospitality jobs pay

The hourly pay independent London cafés, restaurants, pubs, bars and bakeries advertise on their own websites this month, by role: the middle (median), the range and how many ads (Instead's London Hospitality Pay Index). For an owner choosing what to pay, or someone weighing up a job.

Input parameters:

- `role` (string): The job, like barista, chef or kitchen porter. Leave out for every role

### `get_job` (~50 tokens)

Job details

Everything about one live job: what it involves, pay, hours, what's needed and the business, with the link to apply.

Input parameters:

- `job` (string, required): The job's link or slug from search_jobs

## Diagnostics

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

## Score history

- 2026-11-05: 71
- 2026-11-04: 71
- 2026-11-03: 70
- 2026-11-02: 70

## Common questions

### What is the Instead MCP server?

Instead is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as work.instead/instead. Hire staff for UK cafés, pubs and shops: post a free job, print hiring posters, find London jobs. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://instead.work/mcp).

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

Instead scores 71 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 Instead MCP server expose?

Instead exposes 6 tools: how_to_hire, post_job, make_hiring_poster, search_jobs, pay_rates, get_job. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 866 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Does the Instead MCP server require authentication?

No. We connected to Instead without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.

### Is the Instead MCP server still maintained?

Instead 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.

## Links

- Remote endpoint: https://instead.work/mcp
- Website: https://instead.work/
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/work-instead-instead/instead.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/work-instead-instead/instead.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/work-instead-instead/instead