verifiable-thinking-mcp

---

``
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ "A bat and ball cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more..." │
│ ↓ │
│ TRAP DETECTED: additive_system │
│ > Don't subtract $1 from $1.10. Set up: x + (x+1) = 1.10 │
│ ↓ │
│ Answer: $0.05 (not $0.10) │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
`

Quick Start

`bash
npx -y verifiable-thinking-mcp
`

Add to Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"verifiable-thinking": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "verifiable-thinking-mcp"]
}
}
}
`

Features

| | |
|---|---|
| 🎯 Trap Detection | 15 patterns (bat-ball, Monty Hall, base rate) caught before reasoning starts |
| ⚔️ Auto-Challenge | Forces counterarguments when confidence >95%—no more overconfident wrong answers |
| 🔍 Contradiction Detection | Catches "Let x=5" then "Now x=10" across steps |
| 🌿 Hypothesis Branching | Explore alternatives, auto-detects when branches confirm/refute |
| 🔢 Local Math | Evaluates expressions without LLM round-trips |
| 🗜️ Smart Compression | 56.8% token savings with query-aware CPC compression |
| ⚡ Real Token Counting | Tiktoken integration—3,922× cache speedup, zero estimation error |

Token Efficiency

Every operation counts. Verifiable Thinking uses real token counting (tiktoken) and intelligent compression to cut costs by 50-60% without sacrificing reasoning quality.

`typescript
// Traditional reasoning: ~1,350 tokens for 10-step chain
// Verifiable Thinking: ~580 tokens (56.8% savings)

// Real token counting (not estimation)
countTokens("What is 2+2?") // → 7 tokens (not 3)
// Cache speedup: 3,922× faster on repeated strings

// Compress before processing (not just storage)
scratchpad({
operation: "step",
thought: "Long analysis...", // 135 tokens → 72 tokens
compress: true
})

// Budget controls
scratchpad({
warn_at_tokens: 2000, // Soft warning
hard_limit_tokens: 5000 // Hard stop
})
`

At scale: 1,000 reasoning chains/day = $4,193/year saved (at GPT-4o pricing).

See docs/token-optimization.md for architecture details and benchmarks.

How It Works

`typescript
// Start with a question—trap detection runs automatically
scratchpad({
operation: "step",
question: "A bat and ball cost $1.10...",
thought: "Let ball = x, bat = x + 1.00",
confidence: 0.9
})
// → Returns trap_analysis warning

// High confidence? Auto-challenge kicks in
scratchpad({ operation: "step", thought: "...", confidence: 0.96 })
// → Returns challenge_suggestion: "What if your assumption is wrong?"

// Complete with spot-check
scratchpad({ operation: "complete", final_answer: "$0.05" })
`

Trap Detection

| Pattern | What It Catches |
|---------|-----------------|
| additive_system | Bat-ball, widget-gadget (subtract instead of solve) |
| nonlinear_growth | Lily pad doubling (linear interpolation) |
| monty_hall | Door switching (50/50 fallacy) |
| base_rate | Medical tests (ignoring prevalence) |
| independence | Coin flips (gambler's fallacy) |

Tools

scratchpad — the main tool with 11 operations:

| Operation | What It Does |
|-----------|--------------|
| step | Add reasoning step (trap priming on first) |
| complete | Finalize with auto spot-check |
| revise | Fix earlier step |
| branch | Explore alternative path |
| challenge | Force adversarial self-check |
| navigate | View history/branches |

Other tools: list_sessions, get_session, clear_session, compress

vs Sequential Thinking MCP

| | Sequential Thinking | Verifiable Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Trap detection | ❌ | 15 patterns |
| Auto-challenge | ❌ | >95% confidence |
| Contradiction detection | ❌ | ✅ |
| Confidence tracking | ❌ | Per-step + chain |
| Local compute | ❌ | ✅ |
| Token budgets | ❌ | Soft + hard limits |
| Real token counting | ❌ | Tiktoken (3,922× cache speedup) |
| Compression | ❌ | 56.8% token savings |

Sequential Thinking is ~100 lines. This is 22,000+ with 1,831 tests.

See docs/competitive-analysis.md for full breakdown.

Development

`bash
git clone https://github.com/CoderDayton/verifiable-thinking-mcp.git
cd verifiable-thinking-mcp && bun install
bun run dev # Interactive MCP Inspector
bun test # 1,831 tests
``

License

MIT

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