Phở Research Tools

An open-source MCP server that lets any AI assistant check its own references.It verifies citations, flags retractions, formats bibliographies and draws PRISMA 2020diagrams, using only open scholarly databases: Crossref, PubMed and OpenAlex.

AI models invent references. This server gives Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any MCP clienta 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.

All five tools are read-only. Results are database lookups, not model opinions:likely_fabricated means the DOI is not registered or no matching record exists.

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 atpho.chat raises it. Prefer a web page? The same tools run atpho.chat/tools.

Verified Citations skill

This repository also ships Verified Citations, an Agent Skill that makes an assistantuse the tools above on every reference it writes: find sources with search_papersinstead of recalling them, run verify_references before showing anything, format withformat_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 checkthe server shows as connected. From a local checkout, pass the folder path tomarketplace add instead.

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

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

Teams and Enterprise: Dashboard → Plugins & MCPs → Add Marketplace → Import fromRepo, 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 thepho-research MCP server are listed.

The plugin logo is assets/logo.svg. Support: [email protected].

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 inClaude 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 eachapp are at https://pho.chat/tools/mcp/. Without the connector, paste a reference list intothe 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 isfetched 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 fordoctors and scientists.

Tiếng Việt: Phở Research Tools là máy chủ MCP mã nguồn mở giúp trợ lý AI tự kiểm tratài liệu tham khảo (xác minh trích dẫn, kiểm tra rút bài, định dạng, vẽ sơ đồ PRISMA2020), chỉ dùng dữ liệu khoa học mở.

Phở Research Tools