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Proof of Usefulness Report

OptionsAhoy MCP Server

Analysis completed on 6/7/2026

+94
Proof of Usefulness Score
You're In Business

The OptionsAhoy MCP Server presents a highly innovative and practical solution to a well-defined problem: LLM hallucinations in complex equity compensation math. The technical architecture is solid, effectively leveraging the modern Model Context Protocol to bridge AI agents with a deterministic optimization engine. However, the project is still in its infancy, having launched recently with minimal verifiable traction (approximately 500 API calls per day). While real-world utility, technical execution, and market timing are exceptional, the audience reach and user adoption are currently low, placing it squarely in the early-stage/minimal traction category.

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Score Breakdown

Real World Utility+33.75
Audience Reach Impact+6.00
Technical Innovation+20.25
Evidence Of Traction+7.50
Market Timing Relevance+14.25
Functional Completeness+7.50
Subtotal+89.25
Usefulness Multiplierx1.05
Final Score+94

Project Details

Description
OptionsAhoy's mission is to help millions of tech employees who struggle each year with equity compensation that swings with the markets and is taxed under federal and 50 state codes. We expose a deterministic equity-compensation optimizer as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, so any AI assistant can call it instead of guessing the tax math or the optimal schedule. In a benchmark, five frontier models overshot the true after-tax result by 2x to 20x; ours returns the verifiable optimum.
Audience Reach
Equity compensation reaches tens of millions of US workers. Restricted stock units, stock options, and employee stock purchase plans are standard at public tech companies and across startups. The optimizer is reachable by all of them through any MCP-capable assistant: one-line installs for Claude, Cursor, Cline, VS Code Copilot, and Goose, listings in every major MCP registry (Official Registry, Glama, Smithery, PulseMCP, awesome-mcp-servers), and a public /.well-known/mcp.json descriptor. Distribution is effectively unbounded: every new assistant user is one connector away, at zero marginal cost to reach them. Launched May 27, 2026, the server already handles around 500 MCP server calls per day from assistants and the MCP registry ecosystem (per usage stats published on https://optionsahoy.com/for-agents). It reached that volume within its first 10 days through organic discovery, with no paid advertising.
Target Users
Three groups: (1) equity holders and startup or public-company employees making exercise, vest, and sale decisions; (2) financial professionals such as CPAs and advisors who model these for clients; (3) developers building finance or tax AI agents that need a deterministic calculation backend.
Technologies
Other, The server runs the official @modelcontextprotocol/sdk (TypeScript) over both HTTP and stdio transports, with eight guided prompts, six topical resources, a parallel REST API with a published OpenAPI spec and an llms.txt, and structured input validation. Production-deployed on Cloudflare Workers/Functions with D1; Next.js 14, React, and Tailwind front end; tested with Vitest. One-line installs for six MCP clients (Claude, Cursor, Cline, VS Code Copilot, Goose). The architecture is an "LLM in the middle" pattern: the assistant reads the user's situation, then a deterministic optimizer. We're using daily updated stock prices and compiled sector-volatility table and risk-free-rate curve. Seven tools cover the full equity-compensation lifecycle, each computed against federal plus all 50 states and DC. amt_iso_optimize builds a multi-year Incentive Stock Option exercise schedule that maximizes after-tax net final value, modeling AMT credit recovery (Form 8801), grant expiration, and the post-termination exercise window. nso_calculate computes after-tax payout on a non-qualified option exercise across federal, state, and full FICA, comparing sell-at-exercise versus hold-to-long-term-capital-gains. rsu_sell_vs_hold computes RSU vest tax including the 22% supplemental-withholding gap, comparing sell-and-reinvest versus holding past the 12-month cliff. concentration_analyze quantifies single-stock drawdown at 30/50/70% and compares sell-down versus hedge versus hold with long-term gains, state tax, and the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax. protective_put_price prices a protective put or zero-cost collar via Black-Scholes, returning annual cost, max loss, upside cap, and floor-hit probability. qsbs_check runs Section 1202 Qualified Small Business Stock qualification, returning exclusion percentage, federal tax saved, and state conformity. equity_funding_plan is a multi-year, multi-stack optimizer that, given an after-tax funding target and a deadline, returns four plans on the risk/wealth frontier (lock-in-now, balanced, hold-for-growth, recommended).
Traction Evidence
The server runs in production since May 27 2026 and is listed across the major MCP directories (Official MCP Registry, Glama, Smithery, PulseMCP, awesome-mcp-servers), with public self-updating metrics at optionsahoy.com/mcp/usage: around 500 MCP server calls per day, 5,927 in its first 11 days, through organic discovery, with no paid advertising. The MCP server earned AAA score rating on Glama. The tax engine behind the MCP is verified against IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 conformance test, IRC-cited audits.

Algorithm Insights

Market Position
Growing utility with room for optimization
User Engagement
Documented reach suggests active user community
Technical Stack
Modern tech stack aligned with sponsor technologies

Recommendations to Increase Usefulness Score

Document User Growth

Provide specific metrics on user acquisition and retention rates

Showcase Revenue Model

Detail sustainable monetization strategy and current revenue streams

Expand Evidence Base

Include testimonials, case studies, and third-party validation

Technical Roadmap

Share development milestones and feature completion timeline