Validate

A customer discovery co-pilot that plugs into Claude. Guiding founders from raw idea through to product-market fit signals using objective, emotionless and logical discovery call techniques. Channel your inner Spock to PMF!

Install · Tools · Development · Deployment

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What it does

Building the wrong thing is a direct route to startup failure. Validate helps you avoid that by structuring the messy process of customer discovery into a repeatable workflow:

1. Define testable hypotheses: break your idea into specific assumptions
2. Find the right people: build ideal customer profiles, source contacts
3. Run discovery calls: AI-generated call guides following Mom Test principles
4. Capture insights: structured debrief, transcript analysis, bias detection
5. Synthesize and decide: cross-call pattern analysis, pivot signals, validation scorecards

It runs as an MCP server, so it works inside Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP-compatible client.

Architecture

Layer	Tech
Protocol	Model Context Protocol (stdio + SSE transport)
Runtime	Node.js / TypeScript
Database	SQLite via Drizzle ORM (WAL mode, auto-creates tables)
AI	Claude API for coaching, transcript analysis, and synthesis
Packaging	.mcpb bundle for one-click install
Deployment	Local (stdio) or remote (Fly.io via SSE)

Installation

One-click install (recommended)

Download the latest validator.mcpb from Releases, then double-click or drag it into Claude Desktop.

Manual setup

git clone https://github.com/harrykeen/validator.git && cd validator
npm install && npm run build

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "validator": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/validator/dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "sk-...",
        "DB_MODE": "sqlite",
        "DB_PATH": "~/.validator/data.db"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools

Project & Hypothesis Management

Tool	Description
validate_idea	Start validating a new idea — welcome message and coaching questions
create_project	Create a project record after the initial discussion
list_projects	List all validation projects
get_project_status	Full project overview with hypotheses, progress, and metrics
create_hypothesis	Add a testable hypothesis with acceptance criteria
update_hypothesis	Update status or confidence score
list_hypotheses	List hypotheses with confidence scores
prioritize_hypotheses	AI-ranked by importance and testability

Customer Identification

Tool	Description
create_icp	Define an ideal customer profile
suggest_channels	AI suggests where to find your target customers
add_contact	Add a potential interviewee
list_contacts	List contacts with outreach status
update_contact_status	Track progress through the pipeline
search_linkedin	LinkedIn search queries for your ICP
get_linkedin_profile	Fetch LinkedIn profile details

Outreach

Tool	Description
generate_outreach	AI-generated personalised outreach (no pitch, short, specific)
list_outreach	View all messages with status
update_outreach_status	Track sends and responses
get_outreach_stats	Response rates by channel
suggest_outreach_variant	AI A/B variant generation

Conversation Coaching

Tool	Description
generate_call_guide	AI discussion guide following Mom Test principles
get_call_principles	Mom Test principles reference
start_debrief	Structured post-call debrief
record_insight	Capture insights tagged to hypotheses
analyze_transcript	AI transcript analysis with bias detection

Synthesis & Decision

Tool	Description
synthesize_insights	Cross-call pattern analysis
get_validation_scorecard	Hypothesis evidence summary
suggest_next_steps	AI-recommended next actions
detect_pivot_signals	Pivot indicator analysis
get_progress_report	Metrics dashboard

Prompts

Prompt	Description
start-validation	Kick off idea validation
prep-for-call	Pre-call coaching
debrief-call	Post-call insight extraction
weekly-review	Weekly synthesis and planning
pivot-or-persevere	Direction decision analysis

Development

npm install          # install dependencies
npm run build        # compile TypeScript
npm run dev          # watch mode
npm run lint         # check linting
npm run format       # auto-fix formatting
npm run test         # run test suite
npm run bundle       # build .mcpb package

Environment variables

Variable	Description	Default
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Claude API key (required for AI features)	—
DB_MODE	sqlite or postgres	sqlite
DB_PATH	SQLite database path	./validator.db
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL connection string	—
TRANSPORT	stdio or sse	stdio
PORT	Port for SSE transport	3000

Deployment

Validate can run remotely on Fly.io using SSE transport:

fly launch
fly secrets set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-...
fly volumes create validator_data --size 1
fly deploy

See Dockerfile and fly.toml for the production configuration.

License

MIT