Ref Tools Mcp
This server tackles a real problem with AI coding agents: they often pull in way too much documentation context, which both costs tokens and degrades model performance through context rot. It provides two tools for searching and reading technical docs, both public and private. The smart bit is how it handles sessions: repeated searches filter out already-seen results, and when reading a page it uses your search history to return only the relevant 5k tokens instead of dumping 20k+ tokens of an entire docs site into context. Works over stdio or HTTP transport, and the tools automatically adapt their names when used with OpenAI's deep research client.
- GitHub stars
- 1.1K
- tools
- 2
- auth
- Secret needed
- transport
- STDIO
- env var
- 1
- last updated
- Sep 9, 2025
Tools
2 toolsPublic tool metadata for what this MCP can expose to an agent.
ref_search_documentationSearch for documentation on the web or github as well from private resources like repos and pdfs. Use Ref 'ref_read_url' to read the content of a url.1 params
Search for documentation on the web or github as well from private resources like repos and pdfs. Use Ref 'ref_read_url' to read the content of a url.
querystringref_read_urlRead the content of a url as markdown. The EXACT url from a 'ref_search_documentation' result should be passed to this tool.1 params
Read the content of a url as markdown. The EXACT url from a 'ref_search_documentation' result should be passed to this tool.
urlstringSponsors
Agent CaffeineSponsoredClose your lid, come back to finished work
SnugSponsoredThe clipboard manager for the AI eraPromote your product hereReach 125k+ visitors monthly
WaxSponsoredBlock anything with supervision, without erasing your iPhonePromote your product hereReach 125k+ visitors monthly
knobsSponsoredSee your site on any phone, any day, in any languageConfiguration
REF_API_KEY*secretYour API key for Ref
Readme
Ref MCP
A ModelContextProtocol server that gives your AI coding tool or agent access to documentation for APIs, services, libraries etc. It's your one-stop-shop to keep your agent up-to-date on documentation in a fast and token-efficient way.
For more see info ref.tools
Agentic search for exactly the right context
Ref's tools are designed to match how models search while using as little context as possible to reduce context rot. The goal is to find exactly the context your coding agent needs to be successful while using minimum tokens.
Details
- Repository
- github.com/ref-tools/ref-tools-mcp
- Category
- Search & Web Crawling
- Package
ref-tools-mcp- Transport
- STDIO
- Auth
- Required
- Registry
- MCP registry, active
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