closeread-verify

A verified dependency-audit verdict any AI agent can call.

A free scanner gives you raw CVEs. closeread-verify gives you the judgment: the verdict checked against the version you actually installed, the one finding that matters, and the exact fix. It runs as an MCP server, so any agent (Claude Code, Cursor, your own) can call it before it ships code and get back a checked answer, not a wall of noise.

Why this and not npm audit

A raw scanner and the agent itself can already produce a list of CVEs. What they cannot manufacture is the verdict. closeread-verify is built around the one discipline that separates a real audit from a scan:

• It reports the INSTALLED version, not the declared floor. ^4.17.0 in a manifest is not what you shipped. The tool resolves the real pinned version from your lockfile and checks that, so it does not cry wolf over a caret range you already patched, and does not miss a vulnerable pin a manifest-only scan would wave through.

• It splits direct vs transitive. The dependency you declared and own (yours to bump) is separated from the one you inherited five levels down. Most scanners flatten these into one undifferentiated list. This one tells you which is which.

• It surfaces the one finding that matters. Instead of 200 rows, you get a single lead: the highest-severity direct production issue, with the exact fix. If the only findings are transitive or dev-only, the lead is honestly null rather than a manufactured headline.

• It is deterministic and re-checkable. No LLM in the path. Same lockfile in, same verdict out. Advisories are confirmed against OSV.dev. The verdict carries its own basis so a reviewer can re-run it.

That verified artifact, not the raw scan, is the product.

Related MCP server: DepShield MCP

Install

pip install closeread-verify

Python 3.11+. No API key, no account, no source access. Lockfile in, verdict out.

Use it as an MCP server

closeread-verify is the stdio command that starts the server:

closeread-verify

Client config

Add it to your MCP client. Claude Code / Cursor style (mcp.json / claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "closeread-verify": {
      "command": "closeread-verify"
    }
  }
}

If you installed into a specific environment, point at that interpreter instead:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "closeread-verify": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "closeread.mcp_server"]
    }
  }
}

The three tools

The filename is load-bearing: it routes the content to the right ecosystem parser. Supported lockfiles include package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, Pipfile.lock, Gemfile.lock, composer.lock, and Cargo.lock.

Example

Calling audit_dependencies on a requirements.txt that pins flask==0.12.0:

{
  "source": "lockfile:requirements.txt",
  "lead": {
    "summary": "flask@0.12.0 affected by GHSA-562c-5r94-xh97",
    "severity": "high",
    "is_direct": true,
    "dependency_kind": "prod",
    "location": "requirements.txt:1",
    "fix": "Update flask to a patched version (see references).",
    "confidence": 0.9
  },
  "findings": {
    "issues": [],
    "direct": [
      {
        "kind": "dependency",
        "package": "flask",
        "severity": "high",
        "is_direct": true,
        "versions": ["0.12.0"],
        "advisories": ["GHSA-562c-5r94-xh97", "GHSA-5wv5-4vpf-pj6m", "GHSA-m2qf-hxjv-5gpq"],
        "locations": ["requirements.txt:1"],
        "recommendation": "Update flask to a patched version (see references)."
      }
    ],
    "transitive": []
  },
  "counts": { "product_critical": 3, "issues": 0, "direct": 1, "transitive": 0 },
  "verification": {
    "basis": "each version is the INSTALLED version resolved from the lockfile, not the declared floor; advisories confirmed via OSV; result is deterministic and re-checkable",
    "scanner": "closeread SCA (deterministic, no LLM)",
    "advisory_source": "OSV.dev",
    "as_of": "2026-06-08T12:00:00+00:00"
  }
}

The agent does not get a scan to interpret. It gets a verdict to act on: bump flask, here is the line, here is why.

The verified-audit primitive for the agent era

Agents are starting to write, review, and ship code on their own. Before an agent opens a PR or green-lights a deploy, it needs an answer to a simple question with a checkable answer: is anything I depend on known-vulnerable, in the version I actually pinned, and is it mine to fix? closeread-verify is that primitive. One MCP call, a deterministic verdict, no LLM in the loop to hallucinate a CVE that does not exist or miss one that does.

Scope, honestly

• Ecosystems: npm/yarn/pnpm, pip/poetry/pipenv, RubyGems, Packagist (Composer), crates.io (Cargo).

• Deterministic: no LLM, no network beyond OSV.dev advisory lookups.

• Lockfile-only: it reads manifests and lockfiles. It does not need, request, or transmit your source code.

• What it is not: this is the free, deterministic dependency-audit tier. It is not a full code review, not a SAST engine, not a license or architecture audit. It does one thing: a verified verdict on your dependencies.

License

MIT. Built by Free Guy.