Is Pho Research Tools free?

Yes, Pho Research Tools is free to use.

How do I install Pho Research Tools?

Pho Research Tools is a remote plugin. You do not need to install anything locally. Add the server URL to your AI app's MCP configuration and you are ready to go.

Is Pho Research Tools safe to use?

Yes. Pho Research Tools passed MCP Marketplace's automated security scan with a score of 10/10 (low risk). Every server on MCP Marketplace is security-scanned before it's listed; see the full security report on this page for the findings and permissions.

What AI apps work with Pho Research Tools?

Pho Research Tools uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and works with any MCP-compatible AI app, including Claude, ChatGPT / Codex, Gemini, Copilot, Cursor, and more.

Back to Browse

Pho Research Tools MCP Server

by Thaohienhomes

Developer ToolsLow Risk10.0MCP RegistryRemote

Free

Server data from the Official MCP Registry

Verifies AI-written references; finds real papers, evidence, datasets and research tools; PRISMA.

About

Verifies AI-written references; finds real papers, evidence, datasets and research tools; PRISMA.

Remote endpoints: streamable-http: https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp

Security Report

10.0

Low Risk10.0Low Risk

Valid MCP server (1 strong, 1 medium validity signals). No known CVEs in dependencies. Imported from the Official MCP Registry.

9 tools verified · Open access · No issues found

Security scores are indicators to help you make informed decisions, not guarantees. Always review permissions before connecting any MCP server.

Permissions Found in Source Code

Found by scanning the linked source code. This listing connects to a hosted endpoint, so none of this runs on your machine: it describes what the server software does where it is hosted.

HTTP Network Access

Connects to external APIs or services over the internet.

How to Connect

Remote Plugin

No local installation needed. Your AI client connects to the remote endpoint directly.

Add this to your MCP configuration to connect:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "io-github-thaohienhomes-pho-research-tools": {
      "url": "https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Documentation

View on GitHub

From the project's GitHub README.

Phở Research Tools

An open-source MCP server that lets any AI assistant check its own references. It verifies citations, flags retractions, finds the strongest evidence for a claim, formats bibliographies, runs PRISMA 2020 screening and finds open datasets and research software, using only open databases: Crossref, PubMed, OpenAlex, Europe PMC, DataCite, bio.tools and others.

AI models invent references. This server gives Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP client a way to look each one up in a public database before you trust it.

Tool	What it does
`verify_references`	Checks each reference: verified, real but with wrong details (with the corrected record), likely fabricated, not found, retracted, or ambiguous.
`check_retractions`	Retraction, expression-of-concern and correction notices for a list of DOIs.
`search_papers`	Searches OpenAlex and PubMed. Every result has a DOI or PMID; retracted papers are left out and preprints are labelled.
`format_citations`	APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, IEEE or AMA, or BibTeX, RIS and CSL-JSON, formatted from the real record.
`prisma_flow_diagram`	A PRISMA 2020 flow diagram (PNG + SVG) with a check that the counts add up.
`find_evidence`	The strongest evidence on a claim, ordered by level of evidence (guideline, meta-analysis, RCT and down), each with its conclusion quoted verbatim.
`screening_log`	Turns screening decisions into PRISMA counts, a diagram and a CSV log, and lists the problems a reviewer would catch.
`find_datasets`	Open datasets for a research question, with licence verdicts, verified source papers and a shareable brief.
`find_tools`	Research software for a task from the bio.tools registry, with licence verdicts, verified papers, maintenance labels and install lines.

All nine tools are read-only. Results are database lookups, not model opinions: likely_fabricated means the DOI is not registered or no matching record exists, and find_evidence never says whether a paper supports a claim; its quoted conclusion does.

Use the hosted server (no install)

Add this URL as a custom connector / MCP server in your client:

https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp

Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http pho-research https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp
Claude (web, desktop): Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
ChatGPT: Settings → Apps & Connectors → Developer mode → Create.
Cursor, VS Code, others: see apps/mcp/README.md.

No account is needed. Anonymous use has a daily allowance; a free account at pho.chat raises it. Prefer a web page? The same tools run at pho.chat/tools.

Hand a whole research question to Phở's agent

With a Phở API key (pho_sk_…, from pho.chat/settings → API keys) sent as the header X-Pho-Api-Key, the same server adds run_research, get_research_run and cancel_research_run: your agent starts a full Phở research run (several rounds of PubMed search, retraction checks, evidence grading, a cited report), follows it, and gets the report back as Markdown. It runs on your Phở account (Pro or Founder plan; 0 credits when you saved your own model provider key in Phở).

claude mcp add --transport http pho-research https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp --header "X-Pho-Api-Key: $PHO_API_KEY"

Setup for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, the OpenAI Agents SDK, LangGraph and plain REST: apps/mcp/examples/agents/.

Verified Citations skill

This repository also ships Verified Citations, an Agent Skill that makes an assistant use the tools above on every reference it writes: find sources with search_papers instead of recalling them, run verify_references before showing anything, format with format_citations, and say which references were corrected, retracted or removed.

Claude Code (plugin: skill + MCP server in one step)

claude plugin marketplace add thaohienhomes/pho-research-tools
claude plugin install verified-citations@pho-research-tools

The plugin adds the skill and connects the pho-research MCP server. Run /mcp to check the server shows as connected. From a local checkout, pass the folder path to marketplace add instead.

Cursor (Agent Plugin: skill + MCP server in one step)

The repository root is an Agent Plugin: plugin.json names the plugin, skills/ holds the skill, and mcp.json connects the pho-research server at https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp. Cursor loads it as-is:

Teams and Enterprise: Dashboard → Plugins & MCPs → Add Marketplace → Import from Repo, and paste https://github.com/thaohienhomes/pho-research-tools.
Local: clone or copy this repository to ~/.cursor/plugins/local/verified-citations, run Developer: Reload Window, and check under Customize that the plugin and the pho-research MCP server are listed.

The plugin logo is assets/logo.svg. Support: support@pho.chat.

skills.sh (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI and other agents)

npx skills add thaohienhomes/pho-research-tools --skill verified-citations

This installs the skill only. Connect the MCP server in your agent too, for example in Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http pho-research https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp

ClawHub (OpenClaw)

clawhub install verified-citations

Then add https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp as a remote MCP server in OpenClaw.

Claude.ai, ChatGPT and others

Add https://mcp.pho.chat/mcp as a custom connector; step-by-step instructions for each app are at https://pho.chat/tools/mcp/. Without the connector, paste a reference list into the free checker at https://pho.chat/tools/citation-checker/.

Run it yourself

Requires Node 22+ and pnpm 9.

pnpm install
pnpm dev            # http://localhost:8787/mcp

Every setting is optional for a local run; see apps/mcp/.env.example. A Dockerfile is in apps/mcp/ (docker build -f apps/mcp/Dockerfile -t pho-mcp .).

Repository layout

Path	What it is
`apps/mcp`	The MCP server (Streamable HTTP, Hono). Quotas, optional sign-in, analytics, all off unless configured.
`packages/scholar-core`	Verification, retraction checks, search, citation formatting and PRISMA rendering. Pure TypeScript, no AI SDK, no database.
`packages/citation-engine`	DOI, BibTeX and RIS parsing and Crossref helpers.
`docs/samples/scholar-core`	Sample outputs, regenerated and checked by the test suite.
`skills/verified-citations`	The Verified Citations Agent Skill.
`.claude-plugin/`, `.mcp.json`	Claude Code plugin + one-plugin marketplace (skill and MCP server in one install).
`plugin.json`, `mcp.json`	Agent Plugin manifest for Cursor and other Agent Plugins clients (skills found in `skills/`).
`assets/logo.svg`	Plugin logo, a vector version of `apps/mcp/public/icon.png`.
`server.json`, `glama.json`	MCP Registry entry (published by `.github/workflows/publish-mcp-registry.yml`) and Glama maintainer claim.

pnpm test        # 190 tests, all replaying recorded API responses
pnpm typecheck

Open data only

Every source this server calls has an open API and open metadata. Nothing paywalled is fetched or stored. Embedded CSL styles are CC BY-SA 3.0; details in NOTICE.md.

Privacy

What the hosted server receives and keeps: https://pho.chat/tools/privacy/

Contributing and license

Issues and pull requests are welcome; read CONTRIBUTING.md first. Security reports: SECURITY.md.

Code is MIT. Built by Phở, a research workspace for doctors and scientists.

Tiếng Việt: Phở Research Tools là máy chủ MCP mã nguồn mở giúp trợ lý AI tự kiểm tra tài liệu tham khảo (xác minh trích dẫn, kiểm tra rút bài, định dạng, vẽ sơ đồ PRISMA 2020), chỉ dùng dữ liệu khoa học mở.

Reviews

No reviews yet

Be the first to review this server!

4.8

Local

MCP Marketplace

Free

by mcp-marketplace · Developer Tools

Search and install MCP servers from inside your AI client.