Check an MCP server's health and ownership before you install it
MCP Census tracks more than 50,000 MCP servers and returns PASS, REVIEW, BLOCK or UNKNOWN from public evidence, and can audit a whole MCP config in one call over REST or MCP.
Source
jveldsman on Hacker News · 2026-10-20 · Project link
Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-23.
What they did
MCP Census tracks more than 50,000 MCP servers and returns PASS, REVIEW, BLOCK or UNKNOWN from public evidence, and can audit a whole MCP config in one call over REST or MCP.
Result (as claimed)
A free first check before you trust a server, not a malware scan.
Tools they used
Cost: Pricing depends on the tools you pick; check each official pricing page.
Set it up
Pick a contained repo or task
Start on a branch or side project where mistakes are cheap.
Install and configure
Set up MCP Census, MCP. Read what it can run on your machine and limit permissions where possible.
Run it on a real task
Give it a well-scoped issue and let it work. Review the diff like any pull request.
Add guardrails
Keep tests and CI in the loop, and never let an agent push to main or touch production secrets unattended.
Copy the full setup prompt
Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code. Goal: Check an MCP server's health and ownership before you install it What the original author did: MCP Census tracks more than 50,000 MCP servers and returns PASS, REVIEW, BLOCK or UNKNOWN from public evidence, and can audit a whole MCP config in one call over REST or MCP. Reported result (as claimed by the author): A free first check before you trust a server, not a malware scan. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50173159 Tools they used: MCP Census, MCP Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Codex. Goal: Check an MCP server's health and ownership before you install it What the original author did: MCP Census tracks more than 50,000 MCP servers and returns PASS, REVIEW, BLOCK or UNKNOWN from public evidence, and can audit a whole MCP config in one call over REST or MCP. Reported result (as claimed by the author): A free first check before you trust a server, not a malware scan. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50173159 Tools they used: MCP Census, MCP Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Grok Bot. Goal: Check an MCP server's health and ownership before you install it What the original author did: MCP Census tracks more than 50,000 MCP servers and returns PASS, REVIEW, BLOCK or UNKNOWN from public evidence, and can audit a whole MCP config in one call over REST or MCP. Reported result (as claimed by the author): A free first check before you trust a server, not a malware scan. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50173159 Tools they used: MCP Census, MCP Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
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