# alexar76/argus [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🔒 Security  
**Repository:** https://github.com/alexar76/argus  
**GitHub Stars:** 1  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 370  
**Views:** 3  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/alexar76-argus

## Description
ARGUS-3 as a stdio MCP server (argus mcp → argusask, argusstatus). WARDEN vets third-party MCP servers before any tool runs (LUMEN-scored firewall, tool-def pinning, drift sentinel). Distinct from aimarket-oracle-gateway (oracle tools) and aimarket-plugins (hub packager). npm @alexar76/argus3 · live.

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **argus_ask** — argus_ask({ task: "Summarise https://example.com in three bullets", response_format: "bullets" })
- **argus_status** — JSON status
- **argus_capabilities** — argus_capabilities({ include_schemas: false })

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "argus": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","argus-warden"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What alexar76/argus MCP server does

The alexar76/argus MCP server gives an MCP client access to three operations: submit a bounded natural-language task, inspect service status, and discover available capabilities. Its primary task interface is `argus_ask`, which accepts a task and can also receive a response format or focus. For example, an agent can request a short, bullet-based summary of a URL.

`argus_status` returns JSON suitable for a liveness check before starting heavier work. `argus_capabilities` returns a JSON tool catalog and can optionally include schemas. These operations let a client inspect the service without consuming model tokens for an ordinary task.

## How it works

The server uses stdio transport through the `argus mcp` entrypoint and is built with the official TypeScript MCP SDK. It is intended for MCP hosts that support local stdio processes, including Claude Desktop and Cursor.

Before a third-party MCP server is allowed to run, WARDEN applies a sequence of checks. The documented sequence includes static tool-definition scanning, a threat-feed check, origin validation, and definition pinning to detect changes. The checks use data already held locally, so WARDEN does not require network access to produce a verdict.

The agent core uses a bounded reasoning budget and reports failures or budget stops through `argus_ask`. Wallet, crypto, paid invocation, and on-chain settlement features are not required for the MCP server’s basic operation and are off by default.

## Setup and configuration

Install the scoped npm package globally, then start the MCP entrypoint:

```bash
npm install -g @alexar76/argus3
argus mcp
```

A host configuration uses the installed `argus` executable with `mcp` as its argument:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "argus": {
      "command": "argus",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

The repository also documents a source-based route using `npm install`, `npm run build`, and `node dist/index.js mcp`. Crypto can be enabled with `ARGUS_CRYPTO_ENABLED=1` together with a wallet, but that setting is optional and is not needed for the standard MCP use case.

## Tools and capabilities

- `argus_ask`: Runs bounded natural-language work through the agent core. It supports optional response-format and focus parameters and returns plain text, or an MCP error when the task fails or reaches its budget limit.
- `argus_status`: Returns JSON service status. Use it for basic or full liveness checks.
- `argus_capabilities`: Returns the available tool catalog, with an option to include schemas.
- WARDEN protection: Evaluates third-party MCP servers before tool execution using static scanning, threat data, origin checks, and definition pinning.
- Model-provider flexibility: The broader ARGUS agent supports Anthropic-native, OpenAI-compatible, and local Ollama providers, according to the project documentation.

## Limitations and notes

The alexar76/argus MCP server is a local stdio process rather than a hosted MCP endpoint. Its documented compatible hosts are Claude Desktop, Cursor, Glama, and other stdio-capable MCP clients; this listing only identifies Claude Desktop and Cursor as supported client slugs.

The repository is a read-only mirror of a canonical monorepo, and pull requests to the mirror are not accepted. WARDEN’s protection applies to third-party MCP servers that ARGUS evaluates; it does not turn every task into a general-purpose security scan. Crypto and wallet functions are opt-in, so users seeking on-chain settlement must configure those features separately. The project is licensed under MIT.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/alexar76-argus/readme_