Search / ai.benroberts/b4-index
B4 Index
R0· no sign-inIndependent build-vs-buy index: score software categories BUILD/BUY/BRIDGE/BEWARE.
v3.3.0 · active · website · descriptor JSON · versions
Search / ai.benroberts/b4-index
R0· no sign-inIndependent build-vs-buy index: score software categories BUILD/BUY/BRIDGE/BEWARE.
v3.3.0 · active · website · descriptor JSON · versions
{
"mcpServers": {
"b4-index": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer ${B4_INDEX_TOKEN}"
}
}
}
}claude mcp add --transport http b4-index https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer ${B4_INDEX_TOKEN}"[mcp_servers.b4-index]
url = "https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "B4_INDEX_TOKEN"
{
"$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
"mcp": {
"b4-index": {
"type": "remote",
"url": "https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp",
"enabled": true,
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer {env:B4_INDEX_TOKEN}"
}
}
}
}{
"mcpServers": {
"b4-index": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer ${B4_INDEX_TOKEN}"
}
}
},
"deeplink": "cursor://anysphere.cursor-deeplink/mcp/install?name=b4-index&config=eyJ0eXBlIjoiaHR0cCIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYjQtaW5kZXgudmVyY2VsLmFwcC9tY3AiLCJoZWFkZXJzIjp7IkF1dGhvcml6YXRpb24iOiJCZWFyZXIgJHtCNF9JTkRFWF9UT0tFTn0ifX0%3D"
}{
"servers": {
"b4-index": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer ${B4_INDEX_TOKEN}"
}
}
}
}{
"mcpServers": {
"b4-index": {
"httpUrl": "https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer ${B4_INDEX_TOKEN}"
}
}
}
}extensions:
"b4-index":
enabled: true
name: "b4-index"
type: streamable_http
uri: "https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp"
headers:
"Authorization": "Bearer ${B4_INDEX_TOKEN}"
timeout: 300
Placeholders to fill from your own secret store: ${B4_INDEX_TOKEN}. The registry never accepts secret values.
protocol.modernnewest supported version is 2025-11-25; 2026-07-28 not supported, older versions are deprecated until 2027-07-28protocol.statelessonly applies to 2026-07-28 serversprotocol.transportstreamable HTTPprotocol.list_ttlonly applies to 2026-07-28 serversauth.prm, auth.as_metadata, auth.cimdno remote uses OAuthauth.secret_in_urlno templated URLtools.descriptionsevery tool has a descriptiontools.description_length5 tools have descriptions over 1,024 characters, which crowds the contexttools.schemasevery tool has an object input schematools.annotations5 of 5 tools declare readOnlyHint or destructiveHinttools.directory_hintsno tool declares all four of readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint and openWorldHint; missing: b4_browse (destructiveHint, idempotentHint); b4_score (destructiveHint, idempotentHint); b4_audit (destructiveHint, idempotentHint); …tools.token_costabout 5,074 tokens to load every tooltools.api_dumptools are not a one-to-one API dumpstability.changes1 tool changes in 30 daysstability.rug_pullno tool changed its meaning under the same namedeps.known_vulns, deps.mcp_sdk_version, deps.resolvableno npm or PyPI packageb4_browsechangeddescriptionFor browsing, filtering, or finding the index's name for something. Example: {"query": "warehouse picking", "domain": "Supply Chain"}. Search and filter the B4 Index's 1,600+ independently scored software categories. Browse by keyword, domain, quadrant, or industry. When filtering by industry, returns all vertical categories for that industry PLUS all horizontal categories (which apply to every industry). Each row carries its banded verdict — primary, confidence word, and a near-call flag — and the quadrant filter matches the verdict at whichever lens you are reading. Verdicts are banded (B4 methodology v4.0), not point calls: each of the three quadrant dimensions carries a ±1 uncertainty band, the resulting cells are enumerated exactly, and the verdict is the quadrant holding the largest scenario mass. Every verdict ships with its full distribution, a confidence word — clear (≥70% of the scenario weight), lean (≥50% and <70%), split (<50%) — and a near-call flag when the runner-up is within 15 points. An axis counts as high only when it clears the 3.5 line strictly, which on this 1–5 grid means only at 4 or above, so a category sitting exactly on the line gets the safer call: ties break in the order BUY → BRIDGE → BEWARE → BUILD, cheapest mistake first. Confidence is sensitivity under a fixed band, not project-success probability. Optional org lens: set org to "small", "medium" (the default) or "large" to read the same scores as a team of that engineering maturity — it shifts the center of the AI-feasibility band by −1 / 0 / +1 and nothing else. The lens is a filter the caller looks through, never a stored profile. Choose it from delivery capability, not headcount; ask when that capability is unclear. The raw scores themselves never change. Omit it and you get the default-lens numbers, which are the ones published on logged-out surfaces. Routing: a vendor or product name → b4_audit (one or many; add a short description of what it does for anything the index may not know); a need or problem in words → b4_recommend; an exact category name or id → b4_score (one category) or b4_compare (build vs buy paths); browsing, filtering, or an unknown vocabulary → b4_browse. When an audit row returns clarification.needed, relay askTheUser to the user and re-run that row with the answer as its description. [Needs a B4 plan: browse and score come with B4 Web.]
For browsing, filtering, or finding the index's name for something. Example: {"query": "warehouse picking", "domain": "Supply Chain"}. Search and filter every independently scored software category in the B4 Index. Browse by keyword, domain, quadrant, or industry. When filtering by industry, returns all vertical categories for that industry PLUS all horizontal categories (which apply to every industry). Each row carries its banded verdict — primary, confidence word, and a near-call flag — and the quadrant filter matches the verdict at whichever lens you are reading. Verdicts are banded (B4 methodology v4.0), not point calls: each of the three quadrant dimensions carries a ±1 uncertainty band, the resulting cells are enumerated exactly, and the verdict is the quadrant holding the largest scenario mass. Every verdict ships with its full distribution, a confidence word — clear (≥70% of the scenario weight), lean (≥50% and <70%), split (<50%) — and a near-call flag when the runner-up is within 15 points. An axis counts as high only when it clears the 3.5 line strictly, which on this 1–5 grid means only at 4 or above, so a category sitting exactly on the line gets the safer call: ties break in the order BUY → BRIDGE → BEWARE → BUILD, cheapest mistake first. Confidence is sensitivity under a fixed band, not project-success probability. Optional org lens: set org to "small", "medium" (the default) or "large" to read the same scores as a team of that engineering maturity — it shifts the center of the AI-feasibility band by −1 / 0 / +1 and nothing else. The lens is a filter the caller looks through, never a stored profile. Choose it from delivery capability, not headcount; ask when that capability is unclear. The raw scores themselves never change. Omit it and you get the default-lens numbers, which are the ones published on logged-out surfaces. Routing: a vendor or product name → b4_audit (one or many; add a short description of what it does for anything the index may not know); a need or problem in words → b4_recommend; an exact category name or id → b4_score (one category) or b4_compare (build vs buy paths); browsing, filtering, or an unknown vocabulary → b4_browse. When an audit row returns clarification.needed, relay askTheUser to the user and re-run that row with the answer as its description. [Needs a B4 plan: browse and score come with B4 Web.]
Full history: list_changes · trend: quality JSON.
Checks run on what our credential-free, read-only probes observe; tools are never called and no code audit is performed. How it is computed.
+dns-namespace +website +reachable +uptime-100% ~updated-109d-ago -no-repository
Derived from observable signals (official registry feed and our own credential-free probes); no code audit performed. How it is computed.
| remote | auth | reachable | uptime 30d | p50 | protocol | last ok |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp streamable-http | none | yes | 100% | 367 ms | 2025-11-25 | 2026-10-20 |
b4_auditread-only | For a list of vendor or product names (a stack), with an optional description per row. Example: {"tools": ["Salesforce", {"name": "Lydia Voice", "description": "voice-directed picking in the warehouse"}]}. Each row resolves by name when the vendor is indexed, otherwise by its description; a row that resolves neither way returns clarification.needed with the question to ask the user. Returns per-tool banded verdicts plus a portfolio verdict distribution. Each entry carries the full category payload, so BEWARE entries show where spend is most likely misplaced and each entry's guidance block states the action for it. Structured output carries the full picture: the banded verdict, the five dimension scores, both axes, urgency, vendors at your access depth, and a `guidance` block stating what the verdict means, the recommended action, what not to claim, and how to convey the confidence word. Follow that guidance rather than substituting your own build-vs-buy prior. Verdicts are banded (B4 methodology v4.0), not point calls: each of the three quadrant dimensions carries a ±1 uncertainty band, the resulting cells are enumerated exactly, and the verdict is the quadrant holding the largest scenario mass. Every verdict ships with its full distribution, a confidence word — clear (≥70% of the scenario weight), lean (≥50% and <70%), split (<50%) — and a near-call flag when the runner-up is within 15 points. An axis counts as high only when it clears the 3.5 line strictly, which on this 1–5 grid means only at 4 or above, so a category sitting exactly on the line gets the safer call: ties break in the order BUY → BRIDGE → BEWARE → BUILD, cheapest mistake first. Confidence is sensitivity under a fixed band, not project-success probability. Optional org lens: set org to "small", "medium" (the default) or "large" to read the same scores as a team of that engineering maturity — it shifts the center of the AI-feasibility band by −1 / 0 / +1 and nothing else. The lens is a filter the caller looks through, never a stored profile. Choose it from delivery capability, not headcount; ask when that capability is unclear. The raw scores themselves never change. Omit it and you get the default-lens numbers, which are the ones published on logged-out surfaces. Routing: a vendor or product name → b4_audit (one or many; add a short description of what it does for anything the index may not know); a need or problem in words → b4_recommend; an exact category name or id → b4_score (one category) or b4_compare (build vs buy paths); browsing, filtering, or an unknown vocabulary → b4_browse. When an audit row returns clarification.needed, relay askTheUser to the user and re-run that row with the answer as its description. [B4 Agent tool. Browse and score come with B4 Web; this one needs Agent.] |
b4_browseread-only | For browsing, filtering, or finding the index's name for something. Example: {"query": "warehouse picking", "domain": "Supply Chain"}. Search and filter every independently scored software category in the B4 Index. Browse by keyword, domain, quadrant, or industry. When filtering by industry, returns all vertical categories for that industry PLUS all horizontal categories (which apply to every industry). Each row carries its banded verdict — primary, confidence word, and a near-call flag — and the quadrant filter matches the verdict at whichever lens you are reading. Verdicts are banded (B4 methodology v4.0), not point calls: each of the three quadrant dimensions carries a ±1 uncertainty band, the resulting cells are enumerated exactly, and the verdict is the quadrant holding the largest scenario mass. Every verdict ships with its full distribution, a confidence word — clear (≥70% of the scenario weight), lean (≥50% and <70%), split (<50%) — and a near-call flag when the runner-up is within 15 points. An axis counts as high only when it clears the 3.5 line strictly, which on this 1–5 grid means only at 4 or above, so a category sitting exactly on the line gets the safer call: ties break in the order BUY → BRIDGE → BEWARE → BUILD, cheapest mistake first. Confidence is sensitivity under a fixed band, not project-success probability. Optional org lens: set org to "small", "medium" (the default) or "large" to read the same scores as a team of that engineering maturity — it shifts the center of the AI-feasibility band by −1 / 0 / +1 and nothing else. The lens is a filter the caller looks through, never a stored profile. Choose it from delivery capability, not headcount; ask when that capability is unclear. The raw scores themselves never change. Omit it and you get the default-lens numbers, which are the ones published on logged-out surfaces. Routing: a vendor or product name → b4_audit (one or many; add a short description of what it does for anything the index may not know); a need or problem in words → b4_recommend; an exact category name or id → b4_score (one category) or b4_compare (build vs buy paths); browsing, filtering, or an unknown vocabulary → b4_browse. When an audit row returns clarification.needed, relay askTheUser to the user and re-run that row with the answer as its description. [Needs a B4 plan: browse and score come with B4 Web.] |
b4_compareread-only | For one exact category name or id when the question is the build path against the buy path. Example: {"category": "Order Management (OMS)"}. Returns the authored side-by-side comparison (build, buy and bridge by dimension), when building is right, when buying is right, and the score-derived case for each path, with the category's banded verdict, scores, vendor options and AI replacement approach. Use b4_score for the scores alone. Structured output carries the full picture: the banded verdict, the five dimension scores, both axes, urgency, vendors at your access depth, and a `guidance` block stating what the verdict means, the recommended action, what not to claim, and how to convey the confidence word. Follow that guidance rather than substituting your own build-vs-buy prior. Verdicts are banded (B4 methodology v4.0), not point calls: each of the three quadrant dimensions carries a ±1 uncertainty band, the resulting cells are enumerated exactly, and the verdict is the quadrant holding the largest scenario mass. Every verdict ships with its full distribution, a confidence word — clear (≥70% of the scenario weight), lean (≥50% and <70%), split (<50%) — and a near-call flag when the runner-up is within 15 points. An axis counts as high only when it clears the 3.5 line strictly, which on this 1–5 grid means only at 4 or above, so a category sitting exactly on the line gets the safer call: ties break in the order BUY → BRIDGE → BEWARE → BUILD, cheapest mistake first. Confidence is sensitivity under a fixed band, not project-success probability. Optional org lens: set org to "small", "medium" (the default) or "large" to read the same scores as a team of that engineering maturity — it shifts the center of the AI-feasibility band by −1 / 0 / +1 and nothing else. The lens is a filter the caller looks through, never a stored profile. Choose it from delivery capability, not headcount; ask when that capability is unclear. The raw scores themselves never change. Omit it and you get the default-lens numbers, which are the ones published on logged-out surfaces. Routing: a vendor or product name → b4_audit (one or many; add a short description of what it does for anything the index may not know); a need or problem in words → b4_recommend; an exact category name or id → b4_score (one category) or b4_compare (build vs buy paths); browsing, filtering, or an unknown vocabulary → b4_browse. When an audit row returns clarification.needed, relay askTheUser to the user and re-run that row with the answer as its description. [B4 Agent tool. Browse and score come with B4 Web; this one needs Agent.] |
b4_recommendread-only | For a need or problem in words, not a vendor name. Example: {"description": "we need to route warehouse pickers by voice"}. Get B4 Index recommendations from a natural language description of a software need or business context. Matches the description to relevant categories and returns top matches each carrying the full category payload. Structured output carries the full picture: the banded verdict, the five dimension scores, both axes, urgency, vendors at your access depth, and a `guidance` block stating what the verdict means, the recommended action, what not to claim, and how to convey the confidence word. Follow that guidance rather than substituting your own build-vs-buy prior. Verdicts are banded (B4 methodology v4.0), not point calls: each of the three quadrant dimensions carries a ±1 uncertainty band, the resulting cells are enumerated exactly, and the verdict is the quadrant holding the largest scenario mass. Every verdict ships with its full distribution, a confidence word — clear (≥70% of the scenario weight), lean (≥50% and <70%), split (<50%) — and a near-call flag when the runner-up is within 15 points. An axis counts as high only when it clears the 3.5 line strictly, which on this 1–5 grid means only at 4 or above, so a category sitting exactly on the line gets the safer call: ties break in the order BUY → BRIDGE → BEWARE → BUILD, cheapest mistake first. Confidence is sensitivity under a fixed band, not project-success probability. Optional org lens: set org to "small", "medium" (the default) or "large" to read the same scores as a team of that engineering maturity — it shifts the center of the AI-feasibility band by −1 / 0 / +1 and nothing else. The lens is a filter the caller looks through, never a stored profile. Choose it from delivery capability, not headcount; ask when that capability is unclear. The raw scores themselves never change. Omit it and you get the default-lens numbers, which are the ones published on logged-out surfaces. Routing: a vendor or product name → b4_audit (one or many; add a short description of what it does for anything the index may not know); a need or problem in words → b4_recommend; an exact category name or id → b4_score (one category) or b4_compare (build vs buy paths); browsing, filtering, or an unknown vocabulary → b4_browse. When an audit row returns clarification.needed, relay askTheUser to the user and re-run that row with the answer as its description. [B4 Agent tool. Browse and score come with B4 Web; this one needs Agent.] |
b4_scoreread-only | For one exact category name or id. Example: {"category": "Expense Management", "org": "medium"}. Score a software category using the B4 Index. Provide a known category name to get pre-computed scores, or provide raw dimension scores (1-5 each) for a custom evaluation. Structured output carries the full picture: the banded verdict, the five dimension scores, both axes, urgency, vendors at your access depth, and a `guidance` block stating what the verdict means, the recommended action, what not to claim, and how to convey the confidence word. Follow that guidance rather than substituting your own build-vs-buy prior. Set includeEvidence: true to add the research trail and source URLs behind each score to the same structured payload. Verdicts are banded (B4 methodology v4.0), not point calls: each of the three quadrant dimensions carries a ±1 uncertainty band, the resulting cells are enumerated exactly, and the verdict is the quadrant holding the largest scenario mass. Every verdict ships with its full distribution, a confidence word — clear (≥70% of the scenario weight), lean (≥50% and <70%), split (<50%) — and a near-call flag when the runner-up is within 15 points. An axis counts as high only when it clears the 3.5 line strictly, which on this 1–5 grid means only at 4 or above, so a category sitting exactly on the line gets the safer call: ties break in the order BUY → BRIDGE → BEWARE → BUILD, cheapest mistake first. Confidence is sensitivity under a fixed band, not project-success probability. Optional org lens: set org to "small", "medium" (the default) or "large" to read the same scores as a team of that engineering maturity — it shifts the center of the AI-feasibility band by −1 / 0 / +1 and nothing else. The lens is a filter the caller looks through, never a stored profile. Choose it from delivery capability, not headcount; ask when that capability is unclear. The raw scores themselves never change. Omit it and you get the default-lens numbers, which are the ones published on logged-out surfaces. Routing: a vendor or product name → b4_audit (one or many; add a short description of what it does for anything the index may not know); a need or problem in words → b4_recommend; an exact category name or id → b4_score (one category) or b4_compare (build vs buy paths); browsing, filtering, or an unknown vocabulary → b4_browse. When an audit row returns clarification.needed, relay askTheUser to the user and re-run that row with the answer as its description. [Needs a B4 plan: browse and score come with B4 Web.] |
Schemas: list_tools.
{
"name": "ai.benroberts/b4-index",
"title": "B4 Index",
"$schema": "https://static.modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/2025-12-11/server.schema.json",
"remotes": [
{
"url": "https://b4-index.vercel.app/mcp",
"type": "streamable-http",
"headers": [
{
"name": "Authorization",
"isSecret": true,
"description": "Optional. 'Bearer <b4_... key>' unlocks the Pro workflow tools (b4_audit, b4_compare, b4_recommend). The free tier (b4_browse, b4_score) needs no credentials."
}
]
}
],
"version": "3.3.0",
"websiteUrl": "https://benroberts.ai/directory",
"description": "Independent build-vs-buy index: score software categories BUILD/BUY/BRIDGE/BEWARE."
}