About W3c
W3c is an MCP server for developers and researchers looking up W3C and web-platform specifications. It searches standards and returns specification status, organization, and official links, with both gateway and local stdio options.
Key features
- 01Search specifications by keyword or topic
- 02Look up specs by shortname or title
- 03Return status, organization, and official URLs
Use cases
- 01Find the standard defining a web feature
- 02Check a specification’s status and source
- 03Look up accessibility or browser-platform standards
MCP support
Exposes `w3c_search` and `w3c_spec` to MCP clients. It can be used through the Pipeworx gateway or run locally over stdio.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://gateway.pipeworx.io/w3c/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http pipeworx-io-w3c https://gateway.pipeworx.io/w3c/mcp{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-w3c":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/w3c/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"pipeworx-io-w3c":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/w3c/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-w3c":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/w3c/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-w3c":{"serverUrl":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/w3c/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
Tools
Details
From the project READMEmcp-w3c
W3C MCP — web-standards lookup over w3c/browser-specs (GitHub, CF-reachable).
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1679+ live data sources.
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
w3c_search | Find W3C / web-standards specifications by keyword or topic — HTML, CSS, WCAG accessibility, DOM, SVG, WAI-ARIA, WebAuthn, Fetch, and 800+ others. Answers "what W3C spec defines X", "the CSS grid specification", "web accessibility standard", "which spec covers custom elements". Returns specs with shortname, title, status (Recommendation / Working Draft / Living Standard), organization, and official URL. Example: w3c_search({ query: "flexbox" }). |
w3c_spec | Detail for one web-standards spec by shortname ("WCAG21", "css-grid-1", "html") or title fragment ("web content accessibility"). Returns title, status, organization (W3C/WHATWG), working groups, series, official URL, editor's-draft URL. Example: w3c_spec({ spec: "WCAG21" }). Accepts shortname/name/title too. |
Quick Start
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"w3c": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/w3c/mcp"
}
}
}
What this endpoint actually serves
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/w3c/mcp returns the tools in the table
above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx,
discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.
This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.
Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pipeworx": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
}
}
}
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1679+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No MCP client? Call it over HTTP
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/w3c_search \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"query":"flexbox"}'
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/w3c_search. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
Standalone (no gateway account)
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
{
"mcpServers": {
"w3c": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-w3c"]
}
}
}
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-w3c
It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call
for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.
Using with ask_pipeworx
Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about W3c data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
More
License
MIT
Comments
New to MCP?
From what the protocol is to installing your first server, these answers cover most first questions.
An open protocol that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data in a uniform way. Clients talk to the model; MCP servers provide tools, resources and prompt templates. They exchange standard messages, so one server can be reused by many clients.