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Balford metalworking engineering answers

R0· no sign-in

Metal stamping, deep drawing and DFM answers from Balford's own published engineering pages.

v1.0.0 · active · website · descriptor JSON · versions

An agent can connect right now, no human step.Remote endpoint, no authentication, reachable on the last probe.
Quality92new
Trust83of 100
Uptime, 30 days100%
Latency p50446 ms

Connect

8 clients · secrets stay placeholders
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ask": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://balford.net/ask/mcp"
    }
  }
}
claude mcp add --transport http ask https://balford.net/ask/mcp
[mcp_servers.ask]
url = "https://balford.net/ask/mcp"
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "ask": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://balford.net/ask/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ask": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://balford.net/ask/mcp"
    }
  },
  "deeplink": "cursor://anysphere.cursor-deeplink/mcp/install?name=ask&config=eyJ0eXBlIjoiaHR0cCIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYmFsZm9yZC5uZXQvYXNrL21jcCJ9"
}
{
  "servers": {
    "ask": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://balford.net/ask/mcp"
    }
  }
}
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ask": {
      "httpUrl": "https://balford.net/ask/mcp"
    }
  }
}
extensions:
  "ask":
    enabled: true
    name: "ask"
    type: streamable_http
    uri: "https://balford.net/ask/mcp"
    timeout: 300

Quality 92 / 100new

protocol100 · weight 25
  • pass
    protocol.modernsupports 2026-07-28 (server/discover)
  • pass
    protocol.statelessanswers without a session
  • pass
    protocol.transportstreamable HTTP
  • pass
    protocol.list_ttltool list is cacheable (ttlMs 3600000)
authorizationn/a · weight 15
  • n/a
    auth.prm, auth.as_metadata, auth.cimdno remote uses OAuth
  • n/a
    auth.secret_in_urlno templated URL
tool hygiene86 · weight 30
  • pass
    tools.descriptionsevery tool has a description
  • pass
    tools.description_lengthdescriptions are concise
  • pass
    tools.schemasevery tool has an object input schema
  • pass
    tools.annotations3 of 3 tools declare readOnlyHint or destructiveHint
  • fail
    tools.directory_hintsno tool declares all four of readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint and openWorldHint; missing: list_engineering_topics (destructiveHint); ask_balford_engineering (destructiveHint); search_balford_material (destructiveHint)
  • pass
    tools.token_costabout 702 tokens to load every tool
  • pass
    tools.api_dumptools are not a one-to-one API dump
stabilityn/a · weight 15
  • n/a
    stability.changes, stability.rug_pulltool history recorded for 6 of the 7 days needed
dependenciesn/a · weight 15
  • n/a
    deps.known_vulns, deps.mcp_sdk_version, deps.resolvableno npm or PyPI package

3 tools, about 702 tokens to load them all · tool set 77f6062e2ad0 · checked 2026-10-20 08:26 UTC

Tool changes

No tool definition changes recorded. A server's first observation is its baseline; later probes record what changes.

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.

Trust 83 / 100

no-repository
provenance55
liveness100
freshness100
hygiene80

+dns-namespace +website +reachable +uptime-100% +updated-6d-ago -no-repository

Derived from observable signals (official registry feed and our own credential-free probes); no code audit performed. How it is computed.

Endpoints

remoteauthreachableuptime 30dp50protocollast ok
https://balford.net/ask/mcp streamable-httpnoneyes100%446 ms2026-07-28, 2025-11-25, 2025-06-18, 2025-03-262026-10-20

Tools (3)

ask_balford_engineeringread-onlyAnswer a metalworking engineering or sourcing question from Balford's own published engineering material. Covers fine blanking and thinning / ironing deep drawing as focus processes, plus progressive and transfer dies, precision stamping, sheet metal, CNC, brazing, annealing, plating, tolerances, DFM and RFQ preparation. Returns a written answer with numbered citations plus the source pages. Use this for 'how do I', 'what is', 'which process fits', or 'what do you need for an RFQ' questions. It will not quote a price, a lead-time guarantee, a certification Balford does not hold, or anything from a customer drawing. Answers are assembled from Balford's own published engineering material and cite the page each claim came from. Nothing is quoted that is not already public on balford.net. This is not a quotation, a certification claim, or a dimensional acceptance.
list_engineering_topicsread-onlyList the canonical engineering questions Balford's knowledge base is built around, grouped by process family, with the URL of the answer page for each. Use this to find the right published answer before asking a free-form question, or to see whether a topic is covered at all. Costs no model tokens.
search_balford_materialread-onlyRetrieve the passages of Balford's published engineering material that match a query, without writing an answer. Use this to check what Balford has actually published on a topic, to gather source URLs for a citation, or to ground your own reasoning. Costs no model tokens. Answers are assembled from Balford's own published engineering material and cite the page each claim came from. Nothing is quoted that is not already public on balford.net. This is not a quotation, a certification claim, or a dimensional acceptance.

Schemas: list_tools.

Similar MCP servers

Official server.json
{
  "name": "net.balford/ask",
  "title": "Balford metalworking engineering answers",
  "$schema": "https://static.modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/2025-12-11/server.schema.json",
  "remotes": [
    {
      "url": "https://balford.net/ask/mcp",
      "type": "streamable-http"
    }
  ],
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "websiteUrl": "https://balford.net/ask/",
  "description": "Metal stamping, deep drawing and DFM answers from Balford's own published engineering pages."
}