https://github.com/roninforge/akashi
Verify an MCP server is alive and conformant. Keyless. Emits an embeddable verified-on-date badge.
https://github.com/roninforge/akashi
cli developer-tools golang health-check keyless mcp model-context-protocol
Last synced: 8 days ago
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Verify an MCP server is alive and conformant. Keyless. Emits an embeddable verified-on-date badge.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/roninforge/akashi
- Owner: RoninForge
- License: mit
- Created: 2026-07-02T03:00:58.000Z (16 days ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-07-02T05:11:23.000Z (16 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-07-02T05:13:31.162Z (16 days ago)
- Topics: cli, developer-tools, golang, health-check, keyless, mcp, model-context-protocol
- Language: Go
- Homepage: https://roninforge.org
- Size: 38.1 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# akashi
Verify an MCP server is alive and conformant. Keyless.
`akashi` probes a Model Context Protocol server with only public,
unauthenticated signals and tells you whether it is healthy, degraded, or dead.
It emits an embeddable "verified on DATE" badge for the healthy ones.
The name means "proof" or "certificate" (証) in Japanese.
## Zero keys, by construction
akashi reads only public endpoints: the official MCP registry, the GitHub API,
the npm and PyPI registries, Docker Hub's anonymous manifest API, and the
server's own remote endpoint via a capability-only MCP `initialize` handshake.
It never authenticates to a probed server and never runs one of its tools. The
`initialize` request negotiates protocol capabilities and executes nothing, so
it is safe to send to a server you do not trust. Any GitHub token akashi finds
(`GITHUB_TOKEN`, `GH_TOKEN`, or your local `gh`) is used only against the public
GitHub API to raise the rate limit, exactly as a human running `gh` would. No
user secret is ever sent to a probed server.
## Install
```sh
curl -fsSL https://roninforge.org/akashi/install.sh | sh
```
Or with Go:
```sh
go install github.com/RoninForge/akashi/cmd/akashi@latest
```
## Usage
```sh
akashi check
```
`` may be:
- an official-registry server name (`io.github.owner/name`)
- a GitHub repository URL (`https://github.com/owner/repo`)
- a remote endpoint URL (`https://mcp.example.com/sse`)
A healthy server that ships an npm package:
```
$ akashi check ai.adeu/adeu
ai.adeu/adeu checked 2026-07-02 UTC, keyless
PASS registry status active
PASS server.json valid validates against its declared JSON Schema
PASS repo reachable exists
PASS repo freshness pushed 0d ago
PASS package npm published (1.18.1)
PASS at least one live entrypoint 2 alive
PASS license present MIT
OK healthy
```
A healthy hosted server, with its tools listed over a full MCP session:
```
$ akashi check ac.tandem/docs-mcp
ac.tandem/docs-mcp checked 2026-07-02 UTC, keyless
PASS registry status active
PASS server.json valid validates against its declared JSON Schema
PASS repo reachable exists
PASS remote reachable HTTP 200 via initialize
PASS MCP conformance initialize handshake ok
PASS tools/list 13 tools: search_docs, get_doc, ...
PASS at least one live entrypoint 2 alive
OK healthy
```
A dead one:
```
$ akashi check io.github.akutishevsky/spotify
io.github.akutishevsky/spotify checked 2026-07-01 UTC, keyless
PASS registry status active
FAIL repo reachable 404 (repository gone)
FAIL remote reachable unreachable
FAIL at least one live entrypoint nothing installable or reachable
DEAD dead (nothing works)
reasons: repo_404, remote_unreachable
```
### Output formats
```sh
akashi check --json # the full result row, for scripts and CI
akashi check --badge # a shields.io endpoint badge JSON
```
### Exit codes
| Code | Meaning |
|------|---------|
| 0 | healthy |
| 1 | degraded, dead, or unknown (a real health finding) |
| 2 | invocation or network error |
## Census: scan the whole registry
`akashi scan` runs the same keyless check set as `akashi check` against every
server in the official MCP registry and writes a dated dataset.
```
akashi scan --out ./census # the whole registry
akashi scan --out ./census --limit 500 # a sample
```
It writes two files into `--out`:
- `records.jsonl` - one probe result per server, one JSON line each. Each line
is byte-identical to `akashi check --json`, so any row is
independently reproducible with a single-server check.
- `summary.json` - verdict counts and rates, a remote-bearing segment, name
validation findings, and the run's reproducibility parameters.
A scan resumes automatically: rerun with the same `--out` and servers already
recorded are not re-probed. Concurrency, the per-server timeout, and the server
count are tunable with `--concurrency`, `--timeout`, and `--limit`.
## What it checks
**Health** (can I get and run this at all):
- Registry status: the registry has not deprecated or deleted it.
- Repository reachable: the source still exists (not 404, not archived).
- Repository freshness: last push under 90 days (pass), under a year (warn),
over a year (fail).
- Package published: the npm, PyPI, or Docker Hub entrypoint installs.
- Remote reachable: the hosted endpoint answers. akashi tries a capability-only
MCP `initialize` handshake first (which also yields the conformance signal),
and falls back to a plain GET for transports the handshake cannot exercise
(for example an SSE endpoint), so a transport mismatch is never called dead.
- At least one live entrypoint: something is actually usable.
**Conformance** (is it a well-behaved MCP server):
- `server.json` validates against the JSON Schema it declares. An invalid
manifest downgrades the verdict to degraded.
- `initialize` handshake negotiates a protocol version.
- The JSON-RPC response echoes the request id (not an HTML page impersonating a
server with a 200).
- `tools/list` resolves over a full MCP session, using the official
[MCP go-sdk](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/go-sdk) client. This is
the strongest keyless proof that the endpoint is a real, working server (a raw
`initialize` 200 only shows it answered one request). It runs no tool: it
connects, reads the advertised tool list, and closes. It is informational and
never downgrades the verdict, since many valid servers advertise no tools.
- A license is declared.
An auth-gated remote (a 401/403 to `initialize`) is treated as alive, not
broken. akashi never supplies credentials to reach past it, and does not attempt
`tools/list` against it.
## Verdicts
- **healthy** - at least one live entrypoint and nothing broken.
- **degraded** - usable, but something is broken (a 404 repo link while the
package still installs, a stale-over-a-year repo, a deprecated registry entry,
a down remote while a package works).
- **dead** - registry-deleted, or every probed entrypoint is broken.
- **unknown** - only entrypoints akashi cannot probe without a key were
declared.
A degraded, dead, deprecated, or unknown server never renders a green
"verified" badge.
## Badge
`--badge` emits a [shields.io endpoint](https://shields.io/badges/endpoint-badge)
JSON. Host it and embed:
```
```
A healthy server reads `verified ` in green; anything else reads its
verdict, so a stale or broken server can never masquerade as verified.
## GitHub Action
Fail CI when a server you depend on is not healthy:
```yaml
- uses: RoninForge/akashi@v0
with:
server: io.github.owner/name
# allow-degraded: true # optional: only dead/unknown fails
```
## License
MIT. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).
Part of [RoninForge](https://roninforge.org). Sibling tools:
[hanko](https://github.com/RoninForge/hanko) (plugin manifest validator),
[tsuba](https://github.com/RoninForge/tsuba) (skill scaffolder).