Developer Tools & Devops · OSV + Claude
OSV MCP with Claude: Find and Track Known Software Vulnerabilities Faster
The short answer
Claude connects to OSV through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that lets Claude securely use software with permissions you control. Once connected, Claude can search OSV by package, version, commit or vulnerability identifier, read the details and report which known issues apply to your software.
What is OSV?
OSV is an open vulnerability database and API. It lists known security flaws in open source software across many package ecosystems, and lets you search them by package name, version, commit or vulnerability identifier. Development teams, security engineers and platform operations staff use it to check whether the libraries they depend on have known issues, and to keep track of new advisories as they are published.
How Claude connects to OSV through MCP
The Model Context Protocol, or MCP, is an open standard that acts like a universal adapter between Claude and other software. It lets Claude use a tool securely, reading information and taking actions, with the permissions your organisation sets. OSV is open and needs no sign-in, so the connection is simple to set up, though access is still scoped to what you choose to allow.
Once connected, Claude can typically query OSV for vulnerabilities affecting a named package and version, fetch the full details of a vulnerability by its ID, filter results by severity and affected version ranges, and summarise what changed in recent advisories. Your team can ask questions in everyday language instead of writing API queries by hand.
Permissions and approvals keep people in charge. Read-only lookups are the default, and you decide which ecosystems and workflows Claude can reach. Where a finding should trigger a ticket, a patch or a change to a dependency, a named person reviews and approves that step before anything happens, and every query is logged for audit.
What you can automate
Checking dependencies before a release
Before a product ships, a developer asks Claude to review the package list for a service. Claude checks each package and version against OSV and lists any known vulnerabilities, ranked by severity and whether the installed version falls in the affected range. The team sees a clear list of what needs upgrading before the release goes out.
Triage of a new advisory
When a security advisory is published about a widely used library, a security engineer asks Claude which of the company's projects use it. Claude searches OSV for the advisory details, identifies the affected version ranges and summarises the fix. The team can then prioritise patches for the systems that are actually exposed.
Weekly vulnerability monitoring
A platform operations lead asks Claude to check a standing list of critical packages each week and report anything new since the last check. Claude summarises new entries by severity and affected range, so the team spends less time scanning raw advisory feeds and more time on fixes.
Supplier and procurement due diligence
A procurement manager reviewing a software vendor asks whether the open source components named in the vendor's bill of materials have known issues. Claude looks up each component and version in OSV and produces a short table of findings for the risk review, which a security team member then checks.
Explaining findings to non-specialists
A product manager asks Claude to explain a vulnerability in plain English. Claude fetches the record by its ID and rewrites the technical description into a short note covering what is affected, how serious it is and what action is recommended, which helps the business decide on priorities.
An end-to-end workflow: Dependency vulnerability review before each release
TriggerA release branch is created in the company's source code repository.
Claude reads the package manifest for the service and lists each dependency with its version.
Claude queries OSV for known vulnerabilities against each package and version.
Claude filters the results by severity and checks whether each installed version falls within the affected range.
Claude creates a summary ticket in the ticketing system, grouping findings by severity with suggested upgrade versions.
The security lead reviews the ticket and approves which upgrades must be completed before release.
The approved list and the query log are stored in the team's document system for the audit record.
OutcomeTeams typically find known issues before release rather than after, with a clear, approved upgrade list and an audit trail for each release.
How we set it up
Free automation audit
We review your development and security workflows with you to find where OSV lookups would save time, such as release checks, advisory triage or weekly monitoring. There is no charge for this session.
Connect Claude to OSV
We connect Claude to OSV using its MCP server or direct API access. OSV requires no sign-in, so we configure the connection with read-only scope and limit it to the ecosystems and query types you approve.
Design the end-to-end workflow
We map how OSV findings flow into your ticketing, source control and document systems, and decide which steps need a named person to approve before any action is taken.
Test against real cases
We run the workflow against past releases and known advisories from your own estate to check that the results are accurate and that severity and version ranges are interpreted correctly.
Launch, monitor and train
We launch with monitoring and audit logs in place, then train your developers and security staff on how to ask questions, read the results and handle approvals.
Who benefits
- Software development leads
- Check dependencies against known vulnerabilities before each release, without leaving their workflow.
- Security engineers
- Triage new advisories faster by seeing which projects and versions are affected.
- Platform and operations managers
- Receive a regular, summarised view of new vulnerabilities in the packages they run.
- Procurement and risk teams
- Get a clear first view of open source risk in vendor software before formal review.
Security and control
- Read-only access by default, so Claude queries OSV without changing any code or system.
- Named approvers for any step that opens tickets, changes dependencies or alerts customers.
- Scoped access to the ecosystems and query types your organisation approves.
- Full audit logs of every query and every action taken as a result.
- Clear labelling of OSV data as a source to be verified, with security staff confirming findings before acting on them.
For teams in the US, UK, India and the Middle East
Organisations in the United States and the United Kingdom can host the Claude workflow in their chosen region, aligned with their own security and data governance policies. Companies in India must consider the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, when personal data is involved, and we select the hosting region to support that. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, data protection laws shape where systems can run, so we configure hosting to meet local requirements. Every deployment is designed around the rules that apply to your organisation.
Learn more about Claude and MCP
Anthropic's AI model and assistant.
Secure links between Claude and business tools.
How engineers build and change software with Claude.
Hosted agents that run multi-step work.
The open standard Claude uses to connect to tools.
Frequently asked questions
What does the OSV MCP server do?
The OSV MCP server gives Claude a secure way to query the OSV vulnerability database. Claude can search by package, version, commit or vulnerability ID, read the full details of an advisory and filter results by severity and affected range. It is a practical bridge between a natural language question and the database, so your team does not need to write API calls by hand.
Is it secure to connect OSV to Claude?
OSV is an open database and needs no sign-in, which keeps the connection simple. Security comes from how the connection is set up: we use read-only access, limit the scope to approved queries and keep full audit logs. Consequential actions, such as opening tickets or changing dependencies, require a named person to approve them first.
What can Claude do with OSV once it is connected?
Typically, Claude can look up known vulnerabilities for a package and version, fetch details of a specific advisory, filter by severity and affected ranges, and summarise recent additions. It reads and explains the information. Any change to your systems is a separate step that you control and approve.
How long does setup take?
Setup time depends on how many workflows you want and how many systems they touch. A focused connection to OSV for a single workflow is often quick to configure, while a full end-to-end design with ticketing and approvals takes longer. We confirm the timeline after the free automation audit.
Which plan or permissions are needed?
OSV requires no sign-in, so no paid plan or special credential is needed to query the public database. Your organisation will still need permission to connect Claude to its development and ticketing systems, which we set up with least-privilege access. We confirm the exact access needed during the audit.