Recall Check

npx add-mcp 'https://recalls.openkrill.app/mcp'

Questions it answers

Check whether a car, a baby product, a food or a medicine has been recalled in the United States, using the official recall databases.

Ask "does my 2018 Honda Accord have any recalls?", "decode this VIN", "is this car seat recalled?", "was there a recall on this infant formula?" or "any dog food recalls this week?".

Recall Check reads three public U.S. government sources: NHTSA for vehicle recalls and VIN decoding, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for consumer products, and the FDA enforcement reports on openFDA for food, supplements and drugs, plus the FDA's recall announcements for pet food.

Each answer shows what was recalled, why it is dangerous, what the maker will do about it, and the recall number so you can check it at the source.

It covers United States recalls only and is not a safety guarantee: no match does not prove an item is safe, and a match may not cover your exact item. Vehicle recalls are listed by year, make and model, so confirm a specific car at nhtsa.gov/recalls with its VIN.

It never asks for an owner name or a license plate. It stores nothing about you: recall answers are cached for up to 24 hours, and the only lasting record is a daily count of calls per tool.

What it can do

• Lists the NHTSA recalls for a vehicle by model year, make and model
• Decodes a 17-character VIN into year, make, model, trim and engine
• Searches CPSC recalls of consumer products such as cribs, strollers, sleepers and heaters
• Searches FDA food, supplement and drug recalls, optionally limited to recent days
• Lists recent FDA pet food recalls, such as dog or cat food from the last week
• Shows the hazard, the maker's remedy and a link or recall number to confirm at the source

Tools

• check_vehicle_recalls, Check vehicle recalls. Use this when the user asks whether a car, truck or motorcycle has recalls, such as "does my 2018 Honda Accord have any recalls?". Pass the model year, make and model. Returns the NHTSA safety recalls for that year, make and model, newest first, with the component, summary, consequence, the manufacturer's remedy and whether NHTSA says to stop driving or park outside. Recalls are by model, not by VIN, so it cannot say whether one car's repair is still open; send the user to nhtsa.gov/recalls with their VIN for that. US vehicles only.
• decode_vin, Decode a VIN. Use this when the user gives a 17-character vehicle identification number or asks to "decode this VIN". Returns the model year, make, model, trim, body class, manufacturer, plant country, engine and fuel from NHTSA vPIC, and warns when the VIN's check digit does not match. Follow it with check_vehicle_recalls using the year, make and model to list the vehicle's recalls.
• search_product_recalls, Search product recalls. Use this when the user asks whether a consumer product is recalled, such as a crib, stroller, toy, appliance, heater or tool, or "is this car seat recalled?" (for car seat accessories). Pass the brand and product as on the label. Returns matching U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalls, newest first, with the hazard, the remedy, the company contact and the CPSC link. Set withinDays for recent recalls only. Car seats and tires themselves are NHTSA recalls this tool cannot see, and the answer says so. It does not cover vehicles, food or drugs.
• search_food_drug_recalls, Search food and drug recalls. Use this when the user asks about a recall of food, infant formula, a dietary supplement or a medicine, such as "was there a recall on this baby formula?" or "any supplement recalls this week?". Set category to "food" (human food, infant formula and supplements) or "drug". For pet food use search_pet_food_recalls instead. Pass the product words as labels use them ("infant formula", "peanut butter", "ibuprofen"). Set withinDays for recent recalls, such as 7 for this week. Returns FDA enforcement reports with product-title hits ranked above ingredient-text hits, each recall marked with matchKind ("product" or "text"), plus the recall class, product, reason, firm, lot codes and distribution. The matches count is the number of text matches across reports, not a product-recall total. It does not cover pet food, or meat, poultry and egg products regulated by USDA.
• search_pet_food_recalls, Search pet food recalls. Use this when the user asks about a recall of dog food, cat food, pet treats or other pet food, such as "dog food recall this week". Optionally pass a brand or hazard as query, and set withinDays for recent recalls, such as 7 for this week. Returns matching FDA recall announcements, newest first, with the title, date, summary and FDA link. It only sees the FDA's 20 most recent recall announcements (about three weeks) and says so, so for an older recall point the user to the FDA recalls page.

Add Recall Check in Claude

Claude connects to a remote MCP server as a custom connector. The connection is made from Anthropic's cloud, not from your laptop, so the server must be on the public internet. Recall Check is. These steps were checked against Claude's custom-connector article (updated 2026-08-11) and the Claude Code MCP docs on 2026-10-01.

On a Pro or Max plan:

1. Open Customize, then Connectors.
2. Select the plus button, then Add custom connector.
3. Paste https://recalls.openkrill.app/mcp. Leave Advanced settings empty: this server does not need an OAuth client id or secret.
4. Select Add. The connector is yours. Anthropic has not reviewed it, and it is not a Directory listing.
5. In a conversation, open the plus button, then Connectors, and enable Recall Check. Ask: Does my 2018 Honda Accord have any recalls?

On Team and Enterprise, an Owner adds the connector first at Organization settings, then Connectors, then Add, then Custom, then Web, and pastes the same URL. Members then connect it from Customize. A Free plan can add one custom connector.

In Claude Code, add it from the project directory:

claude mcp add --transport http recalls https://recalls.openkrill.app/mcp

That writes a local or user config. A JSON entry needs "type": "http" (or streamable-http) plus the url. An entry with a url and no type is skipped. Confirm with claude mcp get recalls. The tools you should see are check_vehicle_recalls, decode_vin, search_product_recalls, search_food_drug_recalls, search_pet_food_recalls.

If Claude tries to fetch https://recalls.openkrill.app/mcp from its code sandbox and reports HTTP 403, the block is Claude's sandbox network allowlist, not this server. The sandbox proxy answers 403 with x-deny-reason: host_not_allowed for every host outside the allowlist. Use the connector above instead: connector calls come from Anthropic's cloud and do not pass the sandbox proxy. To let the sandbox reach it as well, an Owner adds recalls.openkrill.app under Settings, then Capabilities, then Additional allowed domains.

Enable the connector only in conversations that need it. Claude can call the tools while you work, including during research, so turn off any tool you do not want invoked. Recall Check does not write to your accounts. It still receives the arguments of each call. Read the privacy page before you paste anything that is not public.

If it does not work

The tool does not show up

In Claude, enable the connector in the conversation from the plus button, then Connectors. In Claude Code, run claude mcp list from the same directory you added it in, then start a new session: a running session does not load a new server.

429 or rate_limited

Each server takes 60 calls a minute from one network, and some tools take fewer. Past that the call comes back as a tool error that starts with rate_limited: wait a minute and ask again. daily_limit means the server reached its shared daily cap, which resets at 00:00 UTC. A limit is not an answer, so do not read it as no results. For higher limits, ask support@openkrill.app for a key.

JSON entry has no type

Claude Code skips an entry in .mcp.json that has a url but no type. Add "type": "http" next to the url, or add the server with claude mcp add --transport http, which writes the type for you. The VS Code entry needs the same type field. Cursor and Pi read the url alone.

A call checked on 2026-10-11

A year, make and model is the lookup NHTSA publishes. It is not a VIN-specific safety certificate. The request below was posted to https://recalls.openkrill.app/mcp as tools/call. HTTP 200. Source: the Recall Check server, read 2026-10-11.

{
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "check_vehicle_recalls",
    "arguments": {
      "year": 2018,
      "make": "Honda",
      "model": "Accord",
      "limit": 2
    }
  }
}

• status. ok
• notice. US recall data only. This is not a safety guarantee: an item with no match here may still be affected, and a match may not cover your exact item. Confirm with the official source before relying on it. NHTSA lists recalls
• recalls. 2 returned

Repeat the call yourself if you need a newer reading. Cached answers expire. A rate limit is not a result: wait and try again. Nothing in the call is a ranking, a filing, or advice.

Using it in production

Nothing to install and nothing to run: no package, no Python or Node.js version and no environment variable. Recall Check runs on our servers, and your client only needs the URL https://recalls.openkrill.app/mcp.

Rate limit	60 tool calls a minute from one network. initialize and tools/list do not count.
Daily cap	5000 tool calls a day per server, shared by every caller. It resets at 00:00 UTC.
At a limit	The call comes back as a tool error that starts with rate_limited (wait a minute) or daily_limit (try after 00:00 UTC), never as a partial answer.
Key	None. Do not add an Authorization header or a key field.
Higher limits	Email support@openkrill.app with the server name, the calls a day you expect and what they are for. We answer within 1 business day.
Freshness	Some answers come from a short cache. Each guide shows the date of its checked call; repeat a call when you need a newer reading.
Uptime	Scheduled test calls check the servers through the same endpoint. There is no SLA yet.
Data	What each server receives and keeps is on the privacy page.

Use it in other apps

• Recall Check in ChatGPT
• Recall Check in Cursor
• Recall Check in VS Code
• Recall Check in Pi

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Recall Check MCP server in Claude?

In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors, choose Add custom connector and paste https://recalls.openkrill.app/mcp. In Claude Code, run claude mcp add --transport http recalls https://recalls.openkrill.app/mcp. No restart is needed for either.

Do I need an API key to run Recall Check in Claude?

No. This server takes no API key. For higher limits, email support@openkrill.app with the server name (Recall Check), the calls a day you expect and what they are for. We answer within 1 business day.

What should I do if Recall Check does not connect in Claude?

Check that the connector URL ends in /mcp and that Advanced settings are empty. In Claude Code, run claude mcp get recalls; a JSON entry with a url but no type is skipped, so add type http.