ZPL Engine MCP Server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Zero Point Logic Engine — a post-binary stability and neutrality analysis system.

Connects any MCP-compatible AI client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.) to the ZPL Engine API for real-time bias detection, stability scoring, and neutrality analysis across multiple domains.

68 tools (64 unique + 4 backwards-compat aliases) across 11 categories: Core, Finance, Gaming, AI/ML, Security, Crypto, Certification, Advanced, Universal, Meta, and AI Eval.

What's new in v4.0.0 (MAJOR RELEASE)

Two months of incremental work consolidated. 21 bugs fixed, 146 tests (98 unit + 48 live MCP integration), Windows + Linux verified. Backwards compatible — legacy zpl_u_<48hex> keys still work, all 68 tools keep the same input shape.

New commands

• npx zpl-engine-mcp setup — now memory-aware. Detects existing config and offers keep / re-setup / patch-only instead of forcing a fresh login. --force bypasses.

• npx zpl-engine-mcp whoami — shows which account this install is logged into.

• npx zpl-engine-mcp repair — wipes local config + removes the entry from each MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf). Preserves unrelated entries. --yes skips confirmation.

• npx zpl-engine-mcp --help / --version — POSIX-standard usage and version flags.

• zpl_diagnose MCP tool — full health report (config + key + engine + auth) for issue reports.

Critical fixes

• API key regex now accepts wizard-issued keys with type prefixes (zpl_u_mcp_, zpl_u_cli_, zpl_u_default_). Pre-4.0 the wizard install always failed silently.

• Cloudflare HTML responses explained — actionable error messages with cf-ray ID instead of generic 403.

• Smoke test at end of setup — catches replication lag between wizard approval and engine acceptance.

• Secret sanitizer in history — no longer leaks wizard-prefixed ZPL keys or full Anthropic sk-ant-* tokens (regex was truncating at first hyphen).

• Safety bounds on numeric env vars — ZPL_RATE_LIMIT clamped to [1, 600], ZPL_MAX_RETRIES to [0, 5].

Tool fixes

• zpl_simulate 0/0 result on positive inputs (switched to distributionBias + identical-input short-circuit).

• zpl_liquidity table/verdict misalignment (verdict now cites per-pool counts).

• zpl_quota plan auto-detection from config.toml (env > config > "free").

• zpl_quota + zpl_alert token estimate accuracy — 22 tools now persist real tokens_used instead of hardcoded heuristic.

• zpl_teach snippet referenced never-published @zeropointlogic/engine-mcp package name.

• Duplicate Claude Desktop entries auto-deduplicated on setup.

• LANGUAGE dead-code env var removed.

See CHANGELOG for the complete list with rationales.

What's new in v3.7.0

• Setup wizard auto-configures Cursor and Windsurf, not just Claude Desktop. Each run patches claude_desktop_config.json, ~/.cursor/mcp.json, and ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json in a single pass. Clients that aren't installed are skipped silently; each patch is isolated so one missing client never blocks the others. Empty pre-existing config files (common for Cursor's stub {"mcpServers":{}}) are now handled correctly.

What's new in v3.6.1

• Free plan quota corrected — all docs/copy now show 5,000 tokens/month (was erroneously "500 tokens / ~14 days" in early migration draft). Engine-side was already 5,000; this release just syncs the MCP. See CHANGELOG.

What's new in v3.6.0

• npx zpl-engine-mcp setup — one-command device-flow wizard: opens browser, authenticates with your ZPL account, creates a per-machine API key, and auto-patches claude_desktop_config.json. No more copy-paste.

• User-key only — ZPL_SERVICE_KEY fallback removed. MCP requires a zpl_u_... user key so plan limits apply per account.

What's new in v3.4.3

• Local dev fix — with ZPL_ENGINE_ALLOW_INSECURE_LOCAL=1, localhost / 127.0.0.1 / ::1 are accepted as engine hostnames (not only production). Use with http://127.0.0.1:PORT for a local engine.

• Version from package.json — MCP version field, update check, and report footers no longer hardcode semver strings.

• npm test — regression tests for engine URL validation (npm run build && node --test test/engine-url.test.mjs).

What's new in v3.4.2

• Engine URL hardening — default allowlist is engine.zeropointlogic.io only. Self-hosted engines: set ZPL_ENGINE_HOST_ALLOWLIST=your.hostname. Local HTTP: ZPL_ENGINE_ALLOW_INSECURE_LOCAL=1 with http://127.0.0.1 only. Optional ZPL_ENGINE_DISABLE_URL_GUARD=1 disables hostname checks (not recommended). All engine fetch calls use redirect: "error" so redirects cannot carry your Bearer token to a new origin.

What's new in v3.4.1

• v3.4.1 — Bug fixes: fixed zpl_consistency_test bias inversion (inconsistent responses now correctly lower AIN), session-budget double-counting on Claude eval tools (upfront reservation instead of post-increment), zpl_alert budget calc that silently always said "OK" (now uses the same estimate as zpl_quota), zpl_validate_input stack overflow on very large arrays (reduce loop instead of Math.min(...values)), version-check cache ignoring its own 24h window (fixed filename instead of PID-suffixed), stale version strings in zpl_account/zpl_report output. Store now honours ZPL_STORE_PATH (documented) in addition to legacy ZPL_STORE_DIR. CSV export now escapes embedded commas/quotes. API key format is validated client-side (fail-fast on obvious mis-paste, prevents accidentally leaking unrelated secrets in the Authorization header). Removed an internal engine-method reference from zpl_check_response output. Core zpl_sweep and zpl_analyze now honour the per-minute rate limiter.

• v3.4.0 — 8 new AI Eval tools (zpl_consistency_test, zpl_sycophancy_score, zpl_refusal_balance, zpl_language_equity, zpl_persona_drift, zpl_safety_boundary, zpl_hallucination_consistency, zpl_emotional_stability) that run prompts through Claude and score response distributions with the ZPL engine. Requires a separate ANTHROPIC_API_KEY env var. Session budget cap of 100 Claude calls per process to prevent accidental spend. Multilingual propaganda-detection update for zpl_news_bias / zpl_review_bias: EN + RO + FR + DE + ES + IT keyword lists with a symmetric uniformity penalty (100% positive-only OR 100% negative-only texts trigger the same bonus).

• v3.3.0 — Added 4 clearer "balance"-prefixed aliases: zpl_balance_check (= zpl_decide), zpl_balance_compare (= zpl_versus), zpl_balance_pair (= zpl_compare), zpl_balance_rank (= zpl_rank). Both old and new names work; old names get a DEPRECATED note in their description. Existing users keep working without changes.

• v3.2.0 — 4 new tools: zpl_about (project info, no auth), zpl_quota (remaining tokens), zpl_score_only (minimal JSON for CI/CD), zpl_validate_input (free validation). Auto-update check, friendlier signup message, hard disclaimers on hypothetical/bias tools, RNG sample-size warnings, and bias tools re-framed as "language balance" instead of "fake/biased".

• v3.1.0 — Added ZPL_MODE env var (pure | coach). Pure mode hides AIN scores from the AI on text-evaluation tools (zpl_check_response, zpl_news_bias, zpl_review_bias) to prevent reactivity bias / observer effect.

• v3.0.0 (BREAKING) — Removed 5 tools that created false-authority risk: zpl_ask, zpl_certify, zpl_certificate, zpl_predict, zpl_auto_certify. AIN is a STABILITY measurement only — never a prediction or recommendation.

Setup (free, 15 seconds)

Run this in your terminal — it authenticates you, creates an API key, and writes your Claude Desktop config for you:

npx zpl-engine-mcp@latest setup

The wizard will:

1. Open your browser to approve the CLI (sign up if you don't have an account — free, 5,000 tokens/month, no credit card)

2. Save the key to ~/.zpl/config.toml (chmod 600)

3. Patch the MCP config of every supported client that's installed:

   • Claude Desktop — claude_desktop_config.json

   • Cursor — ~/.cursor/mcp.json

   • Windsurf — ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

4. Print which clients were configured and which to restart.

That's it. Clients that aren't installed are skipped silently. If you're using a client we don't auto-detect (Claude Code, VS Code, Zed, ...), the wizard prints the exact JSON snippet to paste into that client's MCP config.

If you can't run the wizard (air-gapped install, policy restriction, etc.):

1. Sign up at zeropointlogic.io/auth/register — free, 5,000 tokens/month, no credit card.

2. Copy your zpl_u_... key from /dashboard.

3. Add to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zpl-engine": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "zpl-engine-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "ZPL_API_KEY": "zpl_u_YOUR_KEY_HERE",
        "ZPL_MODE": "pure"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Restart Claude Desktop.

What is ZPL Engine?

The ZPL Engine computes the AIN (AI Neutrality Index) — a mathematical measure of how stable or biased a system is. It works across:

• Finance — market stability, portfolio bias, risk concentration, forex pairs, fear & greed

• Gaming — economy balance, loot fairness, matchmaking, gacha audit, PvP balance

• AI/ML — model fairness, prediction bias, dataset balance, prompt testing, benchmarks

• Security — vulnerability distribution, risk matrix, compliance scoring

• Crypto — whale concentration, DeFi risk, liquidity analysis, tokenomics

• Certification — language-balance check on text, debate balance, news balance, review authenticity

• Universal — quick decisions, structured comparison, AIN ranking, response balance check

One engine, multiple domains. The engine doesn't know what your data represents — domain "lenses" translate your specific data into the universal mathematical framework.

Modes (ZPL_MODE)

ZPL Engine MCP supports two modes for how text-evaluation results are returned:

Why this matters: stability scoring only works if the measurement doesn't change the thing it measures. If an AI sees "AIN = 42" and then writes the next paragraph, its language naturally drifts to justify the score. Pure mode breaks that feedback loop.

Set via env: "ZPL_MODE": "pure" or "ZPL_MODE": "coach".

Installation

Via npm (recommended):

npm install zpl-engine-mcp

Or clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/cicicalex/zpl-engine-mcp.git
cd zpl-engine-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Alternative client configs

Claude Code CLI (.claude/settings.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zpl-engine": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "zpl-engine-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "ZPL_API_KEY": "zpl_u_YOUR_KEY_HERE",
        "ZPL_MODE": "pure"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local build

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zpl-engine": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/engine-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ZPL_API_KEY": "zpl_u_YOUR_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor / Windsurf

Add to your MCP configuration following the respective IDE's documentation, with the same command/args/env structure.

Tool Categories (67 tools)

Unique tool names: 63. With 4 backwards-compat aliases (zpl_balance_* pairs) the registered total is 67.

New in v3.2: Meta tools

v3.0.0 Removed Tools (and why)

Quick Examples

> Analyze my crypto portfolio for balance: BTC 40%, ETH 25%, SOL 15%, AVAX 10%, DOT 10%

> Check if this loot table is fair: Common 60%, Uncommon 25%, Rare 10%, Legendary 5%

> Is my ML model output balanced? Class A: 1200 predictions, Class B: 300 predictions

> Check this AI response for language balance

> Compare React vs Vue across 5 criteria

Pricing Plans

All paid plans offer 20% discount with annual billing.

Token Cost

Token cost depends on the dimension tier:

API Key Management

• Keys are generated at zeropointlogic.io/dashboard/api-keys

• Format: zpl_u_ + 48 hex characters (user keys). v3.5.0+: the MCP only accepts user keys. Service keys (zpl_s_...) are engine-to-engine only — server-side, IP-restricted, not MCP-usable.

• Keys are SHA-256 hashed server-side — the plaintext is shown once at creation

• To rotate a key: create a new key, update your MCP config, restart Claude, then delete the old key

• If a key is compromised, delete it immediately from the dashboard — it's invalidated instantly

Environment Variables

Architecture

Your AI Client (Claude, Cursor, etc.)
    |
    v (MCP Protocol — stdio)
ZPL Engine MCP Server (this package)
    |
    +-- Tool modules (data -> engine params)
    |   +-- finance, gaming, ai-ml, security, crypto
    |   +-- certification, advanced, universal, meta
    |
    v (HTTPS — Bearer auth)
ZPL Engine API (engine.zeropointlogic.io)
    |
    v (Post-binary computation)
    AIN Result (0.1-99.9)

The MCP server never sees or contains the engine formula. It sends (d, bias, samples) and receives (ain, deviation, status). All computation happens server-side.

Security

• All inputs validated via Zod schemas with strict maxLength limits

• API keys never logged or stored in plaintext locally

• Engine URL allowlist — requests only go to engine.zeropointlogic.io unless you add hosts with ZPL_ENGINE_HOST_ALLOWLIST. Rejects userinfo embedded in ZPL_ENGINE_URL (use env vars for keys). fetch(..., { redirect: "error" }) prevents following HTTP redirects that could send your Bearer token elsewhere.

• In-memory rate limiting (configurable)

• Exponential backoff retry for transient engine failures (5xx only, not 4xx)

• Fail-fast startup if ZPL_API_KEY is not set (except for no-auth tools)

• Local history sanitizes API key prefixes before writing

IP Protection (v3.0.0+)

The ZPL Engine computation method is a trade secret of Zero Point Logic. This MCP has been hardened to never expose it:

• Tool outputs return AIN score + status + tokens used only. No bias, deviation, p-output, dimension, or timing values are exposed.

• The MCP never receives or processes the engine formula — it sends (d, bias, samples) to the server and receives (ain, status) back.

• All computation happens server-side on the proprietary engine. The client-side code contains no algorithmic secrets.

• v3.0 removed tools that allowed user-provided scores to be presented as official AIN measurements (false authority risk).

License

MIT (covers the MCP client code only). The ZPL Engine computation algorithm, AIN formula, and server-side processing are proprietary trade secrets of Zero Point Logic and are NOT covered by this license.

Author

Ciciu Alexandru-Costinel — Zero Point Logic

Links

• ZPL Engine — Main site

• Finance Monitor — Live financial analysis

• API Documentation — Full API reference

• Pricing — Plans & API keys

• Smithery Registry — MCP discovery

See CHANGELOG.md for full version history.