About the Tools

What is tref and tref-mcp? Explained simply.

What is TREF?

TREF is like a digital trading card for facts.

Think of it like this:

Imagine you write a fact on a card. On the back, you write where you learned it (like "Wikipedia" or "my science book"). Then you put a special sticker on the card that proves nobody changed what you wrote.

That's what TREF does - but for computers!

Every TREF block has:

  • 1
    The fact itself - What you want to share
  • 2
    Where it came from - Links to sources, so people can check
  • 3
    A special ID - Like a fingerprint that proves nobody changed it

What is "tref" (the command)?

tref is a tool you type in the Terminal (that black window where hackers type stuff in movies).

Think of it like this:

You know how you can ask Siri or Alexa to do things by talking? The Terminal is like that, but you type instead of talk. And tref is a helper that lives in the Terminal.

You can tell it to:

  • +
    Create a fact card
    tref publish "The moon is 384,400 km from Earth"
  • ?
    Check if a card is real
    tref validate mycard.tref
  • *
    See all your cards
    tref list

What is "tref-mcp"?

tref-mcp lets AI assistants (like Claude) use TREF.

Think of it like this:

Imagine you have a super smart friend (the AI) who knows lots of stuff. But sometimes you want to give them a fact card to make sure they use the exact right information.

tref-mcp is like a special mailbox that lets your AI friend receive and read your fact cards.

MCP stands for "Model Context Protocol" - but you can just think of it as "the way AI assistants talk to tools".

Which one should I use?

Use tref if...

  • You like typing commands
  • You want to make lots of cards quickly
  • You're building something with code

Use tref-mcp if...

  • You use Claude Code
  • You want AI to create/read cards
  • You want AI to have verified facts

Or just use the Builder in your browser - no installation needed!

Why does this matter?

The problem:

On the internet, people copy and paste stuff all the time. But after a while, nobody knows where the information came from. Was it true? Who wrote it? Did someone change it?

The solution:

TREF keeps track of everything. When you share a TREF block, the sources come with it. When you copy it, it stays the same. When you change it, it gets a new ID (so you can't pretend it's the original).

TREF = Facts you can trust