Telos

What HarperZ9/telos MCP server does

HarperZ9/telos MCP server is a zero-dependency Node.js workbench for creating, simulating, and replaying AI work on a local machine. Its MCP surface combines five server areas: telos, gather, index, forum, and crucible. The documented catalog reports 69 available tools, including 41 native telos tools, with additional declared compatibility tools.

The project records work as inspectable artifacts rather than only returning an outcome. Runs can produce action receipts, routing ledgers, context packs, and proof packets. Verification packets use three possible outcomes: MATCH when claims recompute successfully, DRIFT when recomputed values disagree, and UNVERIFIABLE when required evidence is missing.

How it works

The main MCP entry point is launched through npm start or node demo/telos-mcp.mjs and communicates over stdio. The repository also includes CLI entry points for orientation, status, health checks, proof assembly, verification, context preparation, and workstation control.

Proof workflows embed the materials needed to check their load-bearing claims. A verifier recomputes digests and other values from those materials instead of trusting a verdict stored in the packet. The supplied proof lanes cover agent actions, research claims, visual evidence, and build invariants. Research demonstrations include causal inference, embodied simulation, and quantum error correction, each with stated negative controls and non-claims.

HarperZ9/telos MCP server also includes deterministic creative kernels and ten measurement meters covering signals such as histograms, dithering, clusters, audio, flicker, curvature, interaction, uncertainty, and frame budgets. Its native-control surface catalogs browser and Windows UI Automation capabilities, while browser evidence packets make automated browsing reviewable.

Setup and configuration

The documented runtime requirement is Node.js 20 or newer; CI runs on Node.js 24. A basic local run is:

 git clone https://github.com/HarperZ9/telos.git
 cd telos
 node demo/run.mjs

To start the MCP server for a host, run npm start. The repository also provides telos and telos-mcp bin entries that route to the same demo surface. node demo/catalog.mjs --summary reports the tool catalog, while node demo/server-manifest.mjs --summary prints the five-server launch map and host configuration examples for Codex, Claude, and OpenAI Agents.

No runtime dependencies are listed, and the supplied material does not specify environment variables, API credentials, or remote service setup. The model-foundry area can route work across hosted frontier APIs and local open-weight models, but the excerpt does not define credentials or provider configuration for those routes.

Tools and capabilities

HarperZ9/telos MCP server supports:

• Inspecting the combined five-server tool catalog and server manifest.
• Running CI, presentation, accessibility, performance, compatibility, and operator checks against local materials.
• Creating and verifying agent-action, research, visual, and build proof packets.
• Building validated, budgeted context packs and envelopes for large workspaces.
• Running deterministic creative kernels and measurement meters.
• Inspecting status, room state, action receipts, and loop ledgers.
• Cataloging native browser and Windows workstation-control capabilities.

The sample commands demonstrate a successful MATCH packet and a failing case that returns UNVERIFIABLE when the evidence cannot support a confident result.

Limitations and notes

The project is local-first and the provided material describes stdio as the host launch method, while the catalog also lists streamable HTTP as a transport. It is not presented as a hosted service. The excerpt does not document authentication, environment variables, package-registry installation, or support for specific clients beyond host configuration examples.

A MATCH only means that the claims covered by the verifier were recomputed from the packet. The project explicitly distinguishes missing witness coverage from counterevidence, and a packet cannot obtain a valid pass merely by embedding a MATCH label. Hosted model routing may require provider-specific setup, but those requirements are not specified here.

The repository is marked with an FSL-1.1-ALv2 license badge. Review that license before incorporating the code into a product with distribution or commercial-use requirements.