SaferAgenticAI MCP Server
Serves the SaferAgenticAI framework (canonical criteria + Implementation Patterns layer) to coding assistants via the Model Context Protocol.
Available in
Published to the canonical MCP catalogues — install from a registry-aware client or the CLI below:
Also rolling out across the wider MCP ecosystem: mcp.directory, mcpservers.org, PulseMCP (via the registry ingest), and mcp.so.
Install
Pick the path that matches your setup.
Option 1 — uvx (fastest, no manual venv)
If you have uv installed, point your MCP
client at:
uvx --from git+https://github.com/NellInc/saferagenticai-mcp saferagenticai-mcp
uv handles isolation and caches the install. Works for single-command config
lines in ~/.claude/mcp.json.
Option 2 — pipx (isolated global install)
pipx install "git+https://github.com/NellInc/saferagenticai-mcp"
Exposes saferagenticai-mcp globally; updated with pipx upgrade saferagenticai-mcp.
Option 3 — manual venv (works offline from a checkout)
Homebrew / system Python blocks direct pip install under PEP 668, so if
you've cloned the repo and want an editable install:
python3 -m venv research/mcp/.venv
research/mcp/.venv/bin/pip install -e research/mcp/server
Produces research/mcp/.venv/bin/saferagenticai-mcp. Pattern YAML edits in
the repo are picked up live (editable mode).
Option 4 — from PyPI
pipx install saferagenticai-mcp
uv tool install saferagenticai-mcp
pip install --user saferagenticai-mcp
For audit-trail reproducibility, pin the version: pipx install saferagenticai-mcp==0.3.6.
The package bundles criteria-v1.json + 238 pattern YAMLs + 4 exemplars
operational_heuristics.yaml inside saferagenticai_mcp/_data/, so a
wheel install works without any repo checkout. (The 0.3.0 wheel predates the
corpus extension and bundles only 214 patterns, no heuristics; 0.3.1 is the
first complete build.)
Add to ~/.claude/mcp.json (or your IDE's MCP config). Pick the variant that
matches your install option.
With uvx
{
"mcpServers": {
"saferagenticai": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"--from",
"git+https://github.com/NellInc/saferagenticai-mcp",
"saferagenticai-mcp"
]
}
}
}
With pipx or manual venv
{
"mcpServers": {
"saferagenticai": {
"command": "/absolute/path/to/saferagenticai-mcp"
}
}
}
For a manual venv checkout, the absolute path is
<repo>/research/mcp/.venv/bin/saferagenticai-mcp.
Restart Claude Code / your IDE after editing. The server will load on the
first tool call from your assistant.
| Tool | Input | Returns |
|---|
list_suites | — | 16 suites with titles and subgoal counts |
get_requirement | id, include_pattern | one subgoal + its Pattern layer; falls back to fuzzy candidates if no exact match |
list_requirements | suite/type/content_type/confidence filters | filtered subgoal list with reliability signals |
search_patterns | query, limit, verbosity | field-weighted ranked matches with matched_in and (in full mode) snippets + confidence flags. Field weights: title 10×, summary 4×, sfr 3×, description 2×, body 1× |
get_cross_references | id, include_inferred | outgoing adjacencies |
get_reverse_references | id | incoming adjacencies (who cites this pattern) |
resolve_id | query | canonicalise a partial id, slug fragment, or display_id; always returns candidates |
find_patterns_for_task | task, limit, verbosity | top patterns grouped by suite for a task description; defaults to compact mode for cheap triage |
list_unreviewed | limit | patterns without reviewed_by, sorted low-confidence first |
review_stats | — | coverage %, per-suite, per-confidence; plus validation issue count |
list_operational_heuristics | suite_id?, query? | operational heuristics distilled from production agentic AI deployment, optionally filtered by suite or keyword |
get_operational_heuristic | id | single operational heuristic by id (e.g. OH::geoffrey-pattern); returns full entry with principle, framework mapping, design patterns, and discovery narrative |
Data sources
- Normative framework:
framework/catalog/, loaded through the generated assessor/src/data/criteria-v1.json projection
- Pattern layer:
research/mcp/suites/<SUITE>/<pattern_id>.yaml (238 files)
- Exemplars:
research/mcp/exemplars/*.yaml (fallback for four anchor subgoals)
- Operational heuristics:
research/mcp/operational_heuristics.yaml (14 heuristics)
At startup the server loads both and builds an in-memory index keyed by pattern_id. display_id lookups are also supported but may resolve to multiple subgoals (underlined variants).
Smoke test (without MCP installed)
python3 -c "
from saferagenticai_mcp.framework_loader import load_framework
idx = load_framework()
print(f'{len(idx.subgoals)} subgoals, {sum(1 for s in idx.subgoals.values() if s.has_pattern)} with patterns')
"
Versioning
- Canonical framework: follows
criteria-v1.json's version field.
- Pattern layer:
v1-draft while this directory is being populated; v1 once reviewed.
- Server: semantic versioning. Current release is 0.3.6 (framework
1.3-draft, full 238-pattern corpus, and operational heuristics bundled). Pin explicitly for audit reproducibility.
What's already built in
- Hot reload — server stat-walks the source tree on each tool call; edits show up without restart.
- Load-time validation — required fields, content_type enum, confidence enum. Invalid patterns log WARNINGs but don't fail the server.
find_patterns_for_task — natural-language task → top patterns grouped by suite. Replaces the need for a separate embedding index at current scale.- Reverse xref index — built at load, queried by
get_reverse_references.
Not implemented
- Auth / remote transport (stdio only).
- Embedding-based semantic search — the field-weighted keyword scoring is sufficient at 238 patterns; embeddings would be worth it at 10× this scale.
mark_reviewed write tool — deliberately not added. Phase 3 review edits go through the YAML directly (editor + git diff = auditable); the MCP stays read-only.
The broader agent-native architecture proposes composite orientation, context-pack,
workspace, planning, action, and verification operations. They are explicitly not
part of the current 0.3.6 interface. See
../../architecture/README.md for the target and
compatibility plan.
The authoritative catalog maps current MCP identifiers and slugs to permanent
requirement IDs. Server 0.3.6 retains its twelve-tool interface, loads the
generated packaged snapshot, validates saai.catalog.v1, and reports the shared
snapshot hash.
License
This server (the code in this directory) is licensed MIT — see LICENSE.
The safety-framework content it serves (the patterns, canonical criteria, and operational heuristics bundled under saferagenticai_mcp/_data/) is part of the SaferAgenticAI framework, published under CC-BY-4.0 at the repository root. Attribution: Nell Watson and the Agentic AI Safety Community of Practice.