{
  "slug": "ref",
  "name": "Ref (Ref Context)",
  "url": "https://ref.tools",
  "cat": "mcp",
  "group": "ai",
  "tagline": "Token-efficient docs search MCP",
  "price": "$9/mo for 1,000 queries · $10 per additional 1,000 credits",
  "tier": "paid",
  "pick": false,
  "what": "An MCP server that searches public and private documentation from any MCP-compatible coding agent, tuned to return the relevant chunk rather than a whole page. Served at <code>https://api.ref.tools/mcp</code> using an <code>x-ref-api-key</code> header or OAuth. Ref also ships Ref Plans, a plan-review workspace sharing the same credit pool.",
  "why": "Point it at your own private docs — internal API references, a design system, a team wiki — and the agent stops guessing at in-house conventions. Token efficiency keeps doc lookups from crowding out your actual code.",
  "warn": "No meaningful free tier, and credits are shared with Ref Plans, so plan-orchestration usage quietly drains your documentation-search budget.",
  "install": "claude mcp add --transport http Ref https://api.ref.tools/mcp --header 'x-ref-api-key: YOUR_KEY'",
  "category": {
    "key": "mcp",
    "name": "MCP servers & registries",
    "desc": "How your agent reaches past the terminal. Directory scale is not a quality signal.",
    "group": "ai",
    "groupName": "Put AI inside it"
  },
  "freshness": null,
  "health": {
    "ok": true,
    "status_code": 200,
    "final_url": "https://ref.tools/",
    "checked_at": "2026-08-19T00:17:14.278+00:00"
  },
  "corrected_at": null,
  "upstream_changed_at": null
}