NPMScan

What NPMScan MCP server does

NPMScan MCP server gives an MCP client read-only access to npm package and security analysis. It can search the npm registry, inspect package metadata and version history, check OSV.dev vulnerability records, retrieve recent advisory feeds, and look up CVEs through NIST NVD with CISA KEV and FIRST EPSS enrichment.

The analysis extends beyond known advisories. Tools inspect lifecycle scripts and referenced files in published tarballs, reconstruct maintainer changes, check npm and Sigstore provenance, evaluate license policies, identify possible typosquats, and examine a maintainer’s package blast radius. Dependency-oriented tools accept package lists, manifests, lockfiles, CycloneDX or SPDX content, raw npm audit JSON, and GitHub repository URLs.

How it works

The public MCP service is available at https://npmscan.com/api/mcp. Tool calls query npm, OSV.dev, GitHub advisory data, NIST NVD, and related sources as appropriate to the operation. Version-specific checks can distinguish a package that is absent from the registry from one that exists but has findings, including versions removed from npm for malicious activity.

For larger reviews, batch vulnerability checks parse dependency inventories and process them in chunks. Transitive analysis resolves dependency graphs to a configurable depth, while comparison, upgrade simulation, remediation, alternative-selection, and prioritization tools combine several signals into decision-oriented results. Every tool result includes an npmscanUrl pointing to the corresponding npmscan.com write-up.

Claude Code users can also use the supplied skills for dependency audits, package trust checks, new-dependency evaluation, incident response, and CI or pull-request gating. These skills sequence the underlying tools for specific workflows rather than adding a separate data source.

Setup and configuration

NPMScan MCP server requires no API key or authentication. Configure an MCP-compatible client with the public endpoint, using the client’s normal setup process; the repository also provides a Claude Code plugin and setup guidance for other clients. No environment variables are required by the public service based on the provided material.

The service is stateless and rate-limited to 30 requests per minute per IP. It returns the same public data available through the npmscan.com service, so applications should account for request limits when auditing large inventories.

Tools and capabilities

Available operations include:

• Search packages and compare candidates using downloads, dependents, rank, maintenance, popularity, and typosquat signals.
• Inspect latest or exact package versions, including scripts, maintainers, licenses, trends, stars, TypeScript support, and vulnerability status.
• Query individual or batch dependencies through OSV.dev, including parsed manifests, lockfiles, SBOMs, and unresolved-package signals.
• Analyze install scripts, transitive dependencies, provenance, maintainer history, maintainer blast radius, and license compliance.
• Audit GitHub repositories, generate CycloneDX or SPDX SBOMs, enrich npm audit output, and compare dependency snapshots.
• Retrieve remediation playbooks, suggest alternatives, simulate upgrades, prioritize findings, and inspect CVEs or recent advisories.

Limitations and notes

NPMScan MCP server performs read-only lookups; it does not modify packages, repositories, or dependency files. Install-script analysis is a heuristic static scan and is not proof that a package is malicious. Advisory feeds are recent-source feeds rather than complete package histories, so package-specific malware checks should use the vulnerability query tools.

A clean result should not be inferred from an unresolved npm name or version: the tools report existence information separately. Provenance and maintainer checks are signals for investigation, and upgrade simulation can classify a change as unknown when the available metadata does not support a stronger conclusion.