FAQ
Questions before you run a scan.
Straight answers about what mcpprobe does, what it never does and where your data goes. Each answer comes from a policy page, and links to it where there is more to read.
Basics
What is an MCP server?
MCP servers are the connectors that let AI assistants and agents use your tools and data. MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is the open standard they use. A server exposes tools such as “search issues” or “send email” to any AI app that connects to it.
What MCP security is, and why it mattersWhat does mcpprobe test?
The live server, reached the way a client would reach it: whether it answers without authentication, whether its OAuth metadata follows the MCP authorization spec, whether it refuses requests from other websites and forged sessions, what its tool descriptions say to the model, and how it handles bad input. Version 0.1.0 runs 16 read-only checks; the full catalogue has 29 entries.
The checks catalogueHow is this different from a normal web vulnerability scanner?
A web scanner crawls pages and forms. mcpprobe speaks the MCP protocol: it works out which protocol revision the server uses, lists its tools, reads their descriptions and annotations, checks the MCP authorization spec (RFC 9728 metadata, PKCE, token audience) and remembers the tool list so it can tell you when a description changes after you approved it.
Does it test my prompts or my AI model?
No. It tests the server and the protocol. LLM red-teaming tools test prompts and models; the two do different jobs.
What mcpprobe is notSafety
Will a scan break or change anything on my server?
No. The default checks never call a tool. They send what a normal client sends, plus a handful of harmless malformed requests, at no more than 5 requests a second by default and never more than 10. A scan never writes, modifies or deletes data. Deeper checks that call tools are coming soon and will run only within a scope you set, never on tools marked destructive.
What a scan never doesCan I scan a server I don't own?
No. Use mcpprobe only on servers you own or are authorised to test. Hosted scans and deeper checks refuse to run until you prove control of the host with a DNS TXT record, or locally for a stdio server you run yourself. There are no scans of unverified servers, including servers listed in public registries.
Scanning policyDo I need to prove I own the server?
For hosted scans, yes, on every plan including Free: a DNS TXT record you publish at _mcpprobe.<host>, or local verification for stdio servers you run yourself. Verification is re-checked before every scan and expires after 90 days.
How do I stop mcpprobe scanning my host?
Publish a DNS TXT record at _mcpprobe.<host> containing mcpprobe-opt-out=all, or answer 200 at /.well-known/mcpprobe-opt-out. The scanner checks both before its first request and stops. You do not need an account. You can also block the mcpprobe user-agent at your web server.
How to opt outWhat IP addresses and user-agent does it use?
Every request carries the user-agent mcpprobe/0.1.0 (+https://mcpprobe.tech/scanning-policy). The CLI runs on your own machine, so it uses your addresses. Hosted scans will come from ranges published at /scanning-ips.json before the first hosted scan; the list is empty until then.
How we identify ourselvesData
Does the CLI send anything to you?
No. No telemetry, no tool descriptions, no results. It talks only to the server you name, plus at most one request to the authorization server that server advertises, which you can turn off with --no-follow-as.
Do you send my tool descriptions to an AI model?
Not by default. The checks are rule-based and the CLI makes no calls to AI models. On hosted plans, an optional judge for tool-description poisoning is off unless you turn it on, and the provider is named in your account and in every report that used it.
SecurityWhere is data stored, and for how long?
Hosted data is processed in London (AWS eu-west-2). Evidence is kept for 30 days on Free, 12 months on Team and 24 months on Business, then deleted. Authorisation records are kept for six years because they are the legal record that a scan was permitted.
What happens if there is a breach?
If a personal-data breach affects hosted customers, we will notify the affected customers within 72 hours of becoming aware of it.
Trust centreProduct
What do the free CLI and the hosted plans each do?
The CLI is free and open source: run it as often as you like, locally or in CI with the GitHub Action, with JSON and SARIF output. Hosted plans add scheduled re-scans, change alerts, private reports, evidence export and a public badge that stays current.
PricingWhen does hosted scanning launch?
Hosted scanning is planned for mid-November 2026. The CLI and the GitHub Action are available today.
What counts as a target?
One MCP endpoint URL or one stdio package. Staging and production are two targets.
Does it work with stdio servers?
Yes. The CLI can start a stdio server you run on your own machine and test it locally, with --stdio and the command that launches the server.
QuickstartWhich frameworks does it map to?
The OWASP MCP Top 10 (in beta, cited as MCP01:2025 to MCP10:2025), the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications (ASI01 to ASI10) and the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications. “Mapped to” means a check gives evidence for that item. It is not a certification.
OWASP MCP Top 10 coverageHow accurate is it?
Every check documents its known false positives in the catalogue, and heuristic checks show a confidence level. We will publish each check's measured false-positive rate once it has 100 or more samples in a public dataset; until then the catalogue says “Pending”.
What does “coming soon” mean?
The 8 active checks (injection, supply chain and sandbox) are registered in v0.1.0 and reported as not implemented; no payloads are sent. They will be announced in the changelog when they ship. Hosted scanning is planned for mid-November 2026.
ChangelogCan I cancel a hosted plan?
Any time from Billing. Your targets drop to the Free limits at the end of the period; nothing is deleted for 30 days.
Company
Who is behind mcpprobe?
A small, independent UK company. mcpprobe is a trading name of ORGANIC VILLAGE(UK) LIMITED, registered in England and Wales under company number 11783758.
About usIs it open source?
Yes. The scanner CLI and the GitHub Action are open source. Version 0.1.0 is MIT-licensed; releases from v0.2 will be Apache-2.0.
Can I get the Team plan free for an open-source server?
Yes. Public open-source MCP servers get Team free. Write to hello@mcpprobe.tech with the repository link.
Can I help shape what you build?
Yes. We have 10 design partner places: 3 months of the Team plan free in exchange for honest feedback.
Design partnersStill have a question?
Write to hello@mcpprobe.tech. You will hear back from the person who wrote the checks.