Hound

The dependency bloodhound for AI coding agents.

npm version npm downloads CI License: MIT

Hound MCP Deployment Diagram

Why Hound?

AI coding agents recommend and install packages without knowing if they're safe — and most security tools require accounts, API keys, or paid plans to tell you. Hound fixes that: it scans for vulnerabilities, checks licenses, audits dependency trees, and detects typosquatting across 7 ecosystems — zero config, zero API keys, zero cost.

Hound is the only security tool built specifically for AI coding agents — works across npm, PyPI, Go, Cargo, Maven, NuGet, and RubyGems, and plugs into Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and any MCP client out of the box.

It uses two fully free, unauthenticated public APIs: deps.dev (Google Open Source Insights) and OSV (Google Open Source Vulnerabilities).

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Quickstart

Claude Code

claude mcp add hound -- npx -y hound-mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / Windsurf

Add to your MCP config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hound": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "hound-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code (Copilot)

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "hound": {
        "type": "stdio",
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "hound-mcp"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Config file locations

Client	Config path
Claude Desktop (macOS)	~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json
Windsurf	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

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Tools

12 tools → Full reference with example outputs

Tool	What it does
hound_audit ⭐	Scan an entire lockfile for vulnerabilities across all dependencies
hound_score	0–100 Hound Score (vulns + scorecard + recency + license) with letter grade
hound_compare	Side-by-side comparison of two packages with a recommendation
hound_preinstall	GO / CAUTION / NO-GO verdict before installing a package
hound_upgrade	Find the minimum safe version upgrade that resolves all known vulns
hound_license_check	Scan a lockfile for license compliance against a policy
hound_vulns	All known vulnerabilities for a package version, grouped by severity
hound_inspect	Full package profile — license, vulns, scorecard, stars, dep count
hound_tree	Full resolved dependency tree with transitive deps
hound_typosquat	Detect typosquatting variants of a package name
hound_advisories	Full advisory details by GHSA, CVE, or OSV ID
hound_popular	Scan popular packages for known vulnerabilities

Supported ecosystems: npm · pypi · go · maven · cargo · nuget · rubygems

Built-in Prompts

3 prompts you can invoke directly from your AI client. → Full prompt reference

Prompt	What it does
security_audit	Full project security audit — vulns, licenses, typosquats
package_evaluation	Go/no-go recommendation before adding a new dependency
pre_release_check	Pre-ship dependency scan that flags release blockers

Use Cases

→ See full examples with real lockfiles and expected output

• Before merging a PR — scan the lockfile diff to catch newly introduced vulnerabilities before they land in main
• Auditing an inherited codebase — run hound_audit on an existing lockfile to get a full report in seconds
• Checking a package before adding it — use hound_preinstall to get a GO / CAUTION / NO-GO verdict
• License compliance — run hound_license_check to ensure no GPL or AGPL packages sneak into a commercial project
• CI security gate — ask your AI agent to run a security audit as part of every release check

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Local Development

git clone https://github.com/tiluckdave/hound-mcp.git
cd hound-mcp
pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm test         # run tests
pnpm check        # typecheck + lint + test

Roadmap

• Docker support — run Hound as a container for CI/CD pipelines
• bun.lockb parser — Bun lockfile support
• gradle.lockfile parser — Gradle (Java/Android) ecosystem support
• hound_diff tool — compare two lockfile snapshots to surface newly introduced risks
• GitHub Action — run hound_audit as a PR check without an AI agent

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md to get started.

The one rule: Hound must stay zero-config and free forever. Don't add features that require API keys or accounts.

Good first issues are labeled and ready.

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Community

💬 Questions or ideas? Open a Discussion

License

MIT © 2026 Tilak Dave