offbeat beta
Guides / the MCP server

The analyzer, inside your editor.

The MCP server hands agent hosts the deterministic analyzer as three native tools. The host model does the rewriting itself, so rewriting costs nothing beyond the model you already run. Every analysis is scored by the hosted premium engine: one tier, the full one.

Getting the server

The server is a single Node file with zero runtime setup. During the beta, ask through the feedback form and we send it; once published to a registry the same install becomes one npx line. Everything below assumes the file lives at C:/offbeat/offbeat-mcp.cjs; adjust the path.

Claude Code

claude mcp add offbeat -- node C:/offbeat/offbeat-mcp.cjs

That is the whole install. Open a new session and ask Claude to "scan this file with the offbeat tools". To remove it: claude mcp remove offbeat.

Codex CLI

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.offbeat] command = "node" args = ["C:/offbeat/offbeat-mcp.cjs"]

OpenCode

Add to opencode.json:

{ "mcp": { "offbeat": { "type": "local", "command": ["node", "C:/offbeat/offbeat-mcp.cjs"] } } }

Honesty note: the server is verified end to end in Claude Code. The Codex and OpenCode snippets follow each tool's current documented config shape but are not live-verified by us yet.

The three-tool flow

  1. offbeat_scan measures a text: score, failing checks, findings with exact evidence. Use it alone as a prose gate, or to decide whether a rewrite is worth it.
  2. offbeat_plan_rewrite returns the targeted brief plus a masked copy of the text (code, URLs, and front matter become placeholder tokens). The host model rewrites the masked text following the brief.
  3. offbeat_verify_rewrite gates the attempt: placeholders restored and checked byte for byte, full re-analysis, a PASSED or NOT PASSED verdict, and residual findings for a second pass.

A prompt that exercises the whole loop: "Use the offbeat tools to humanize this file: scan it, plan the rewrite, do the rewrite yourself, then verify. Iterate once if the verify step lists residual findings."

Privacy and configuration

The tools score through the hosted Offbeat analyzer: the text travels to our API over HTTPS, the full premium rule set (corpus-derived lexicons and structural signals) scores it server-side, and you get back scores, checks, and findings in your own words. The rules never leave the server, and the text is analyzed in memory, not stored. Masking and placeholder restoration always happen on your machine.

There is no offline analysis mode: premium is the only tier, and it runs on our servers. If the analyzer cannot be reached, or the account has no access, the tools return a clear error that says exactly what to do next; they never substitute a weaker local result.