DANE Record Grounding Data for AI Agents

Overview

Includes validation of certificate data format, length verification, and security level assessment with recommendations for optimal DANE configuration.

Live Test DANE Record Grounding Data for AI Agents Source →

The tool

Once your client is connected to the VerveContext server, this appears in its tool list as DANERecordGroundingDataforAIAgents. It is read-only and open-world — it fetches and never mutates anything on your side — so most clients call it without asking you to confirm.

{
  "name": "DANERecordGroundingDataforAIAgents",
  "arguments": {
    "record": "_443._tcp.example.com. 3600 IN TLSA 3 1 1 2bb183af273adee2e02d60ba7a0dc0efcf5e0a2af42dab7b3f8ba9c0def1f6c8"
  }
}

You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about _443._tcp.example.com. 3600 IN TLSA 3 1 1 2bb183af273adee2e02d60ba7a0dc0efcf5e0a2af42dab7b3f8ba9c0def1f6c8 in the terms this source covers is enough for it to reach for DANERecordGroundingDataforAIAgents on its own — naming it explicitly also works, and is the way to force the call.

Connecting

One server URL covers every source in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth: the client opens a browser once, and there is no key to paste into a config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vervecontext": {
      "url": "https://api.vervecontext.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

https://api.vervecontext.com/v1/mcp

Per-client setup — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.

Arguments

These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

What the model gets back

The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client reads fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" and error is null on success; a null field means the value was not available for that input, not that the call failed.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "raw_record": "_443._tcp.example.com. 86400 IN TLSA 3 1 1 0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF",
    "parsed": {
      "name": "_443._tcp.example.com.",
      "port": 443,
      "protocol": "tcp",
      "hostname": "example.com",
      "ttl": 86400,
      "class": "IN",
      "usage": 3,
      "selector": 1,
      "matching": 1,
      "certificate_data": "0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF",
      "certificate_data_length": 64
    },
    "interpretation": {
      "usage": {
        "name": "DANE-EE",
        "description": "Domain-issued certificate",
        "full_description": "Certificate must exactly match the provided association data (most common)"
      },
      "selector": {
        "name": "SPKI",
        "description": "SubjectPublicKeyInfo",
        "full_description": "Match against the Subject Public Key Info (recommended)"
      },
      "matching": {
        "name": "SHA-256",
        "description": "SHA-256 hash",
        "full_description": "SHA-256 hash of the selected content (recommended)"
      },
      "security_level": "Recommended",
      "recommendation": "This is the recommended DANE configuration (DANE-EE + SPKI + SHA-256)"
    },
    "validation": {
      "is_valid": true,
      "certificate_data_format": "Valid hexadecimal",
      "certificate_data_length_valid": true
    }
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Why ground on it

A model can produce something that looks like this answer from its training data, and be confidently out of date or simply wrong. This source returns the current value in a shape you can check, which is the difference between an answer you can cite and one you have to hedge.

Point an evaluation at raw_record: it is the field most worth pinning a claim to, and it is either present and current or absent — never plausibly invented.

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.

A call costs 2 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

DANE Configuration

Validate DANE/TLSA record configuration to ensure proper certificate association and DNS security implementation

Authentication Audit

Audit DNS-based authentication of named entities (DANE) for email servers and web services security compliance

Security Scanning

Build DNS security scanning tools that validate TLSA records for certificate pinning and trust anchor verification

Certificate Pinning

Verify certificate pinning implementation using TLSA records to protect against man-in-the-middle attacks and CA compromise

Other ways to use DANE Record Grounding Data for AI Agents

Set up DANE Record Grounding Data for AI Agents on VerveContext, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveContext account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.