certindex-mcp
An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes CertIndex's Certificate Transparency search tools to any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, the MCP Inspector, Continue, etc.).
CertIndex indexes the full public CT corpus (~5 M certificates, growing ~100 k/day). This server wraps the public CertIndex REST API so an LLM can ask questions like:
- "List every TLS certificate ever issued for
example.com." - "What subdomains has Let's Encrypt seen for
mycompany.io?" - "Show me certs expiring in the next 30 days for
api.mycompany.io." - "Pull the full PEM and CT log metadata for SHA-256
<fingerprint>."
Why this repo exists
The CertIndex monorepo bundles an MCP server (mounted at
https://api.ctindex.io/mcp) that talks directly to the production
Postgres index. This standalone package is a thin client-side
shim: it speaks MCP to your editor / agent and forwards every tool
call to the hosted CertIndex REST API over HTTPS. Two consequences:
- You don't need a copy of the index — sign up for a free API key at https://ctindex.io and you're done.
- The package has a tiny dependency footprint (
mcp,httpx,pydantic) — easy to audit, easy to vendor, no DB drivers.
Install
pip install certindex-mcp
Or with uvx for one-shot use:
uvx certindex-mcp
To install the latest development version from source instead:
pip install git+https://github.com/certindex/certindex-mcp
Quickstart — Claude Desktop
Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
(macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):
{
"mcpServers": {
"certindex": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["certindex-mcp"],
"env": {
"CERTINDEX_API_KEY": "ctx_live_..."
}
}
}
}
Restart Claude Desktop. The ten CertIndex tools appear in the tool tray.
Tools
Ten tools, matching the hosted CertIndex MCP server 1:1:
| Tool | What it does | Notable parameters |
|---|---|---|
search_certificates |
Search the CT index by domain, CN, issuer, SAN, validity, or wildcard status. | domain, cn, issuer, san, expired, is_wildcard, page/limit |
get_certificate |
Fetch a single cert by SHA-256 fingerprint. | sha256, include_enrichment |
get_domain_certificates |
Every cert ever issued for an exact domain. | valid_only, include_enrichment, include_signals (paid plans), page/limit |
get_subdomains |
Enumerate unique subdomains seen in CT. | Offset (page/limit) or keyset cursor mode — pass cursor="" to start, then feed back each response's next_cursor |
get_latest_cert |
Most recent currently-valid cert for a domain. | include_enrichment, include_signals, include_precerts (let precertificates compete for "latest") |
get_expiring_certs |
Certs for a domain expiring within days days. |
days |
submit_global_sweep |
Submit an async, domain-less CN/SAN substring sweep of the entire index (POST /v1/sweeps). |
cn/san_contains (3+ chars, at least one required), issuer, is_wildcard, is_precert, expired, first_seen_*/not_after_* date bounds, strict_attribution, resume_token (continuation past the result cap) |
get_sweep_results |
Poll a sweep job and paginate its results when done (GET /v1/sweeps/{id}). |
sweep_id, page/limit (up to 1,000) |
get_usage |
Caller's tier, current usage, remaining quota, and entitlements. | — |
get_historical_backfill_status |
Check / start the paid deep-history backfill for a domain. | domain |
Quickstart — MCP Inspector
export CERTINDEX_API_KEY=ctx_live_...
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx certindex-mcp
Configuration
| Env var | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
CERTINDEX_API_KEY |
(required) | Your CertIndex API key. Mint one at https://ctindex.io/app/keys |
CERTINDEX_BASE_URL |
https://api.ctindex.io |
Override for self-hosted deployments / staging |
CERTINDEX_TIMEOUT |
30 |
Per-request HTTP timeout (seconds) |
Security
Input validation, rate-limit handling, and our supply-chain posture are documented in SECURITY.md. Please report vulnerabilities to security@ctindex.io rather than filing public issues.
Development
git clone https://github.com/certindex/certindex-mcp
cd certindex-mcp
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest
CI runs on Python 3.11 / 3.12 / 3.13.
License
MIT © CertIndex contributors.
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