MCP MCP server · io.github.ref-tools
io.github.ref-tools/ref-tools-mcp
Token efficient search for coding agents over public and private documentation.
- host stars
- 1,176
- 30-day movement
- +10/day
- Related entries
- 62
- Connections
- 1
npmlocalstdio
Ref MCP is a Model Context Protocol server that gives coding agents token-efficient search over public and private documentation. It exposes tools like ref_search_documentation and ref_read_url, which filter results and fetch only the relevant part of a page as markdown.
Documentation lookups otherwise flood your agent's context window; Ref minimizes tokens to reduce context rot and cost.
Use it to
- Search public or private docs from an MCP client
- Fetch and convert URLs to markdown for agents
- Wire documentation search into Cursor or other MCP tools
- Use as a source for OpenAI deep research
- Debug the server locally with MCP Inspector
For Developers running AI coding agents that consult documentation
- Runs
- installed — on your machine
- Transport
- stdio
- Tools
- 1
- Packaged as
- npm:ref-tools-mcp
- Install
- npx -y ref-tools-mcp
- Needs
- 1 environment variable, including secrets
- Version
- 3.0.1
- Last release
- 2025-09-09
topicsmcpdocumentationsearchcoding-agentstoken-efficiencycontext-window