# Fix list: Verda From Anchor Terminal's listing at https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/verda, the October 2026 research run, assessed 8 October 2026. Grade B, 62.3 out of 100. This is everything the published grade says the listing lacks, the biggest possible gain to the total first. It comes from the reason given for each score, the checklist each category was scored against (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist), the provenance checks, the deductions, what we couldn't check and what the review panel asked for. A fix counts at the next check, once it's public. For a coding agent working on Verda: work through the items below in the product, its docs and its public pages. Each category gives the reason for its score, with the points each checklist item earned, and the checklist itself, so the gap is the items that earned less than their points. Change the product, not the wording, and keep a note of what you changed and where it's published. ## 1. Payments & pricing, 20 out of 100, up to 10 more on the total Why it scored 20: No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the OpenAPI document or the pricing page (0). Hourly prices for every instance type are public at verda.com/pricing and from `GET /v1/instance-types` without a token (20). No free tier or trial. Accounts are prepaid, and credits are granted only for approved blog posts or videos (0). Signup and credential creation happen in the browser console (0). The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-payments): The published rubric, also on the [x402 page](https://www.anchorterminal.com/x402/). - 40, a machine payment protocol (x402, MPP or L402) on the tool's own endpoints. 10 to 30 when it covers only some endpoints or only goes through a third party, and the note says which. - 20, per-call or per-unit pricing published without a login. 10 for public plan-only pricing, 0 for "contact sales" or prices behind a login. - 20, a free tier or trial that doesn't need a card. - 20, autonomous onboarding, meaning an agent can get access without a person signing up in a browser (keyless use, x402, a programmatic key API). Payment platforms and agent wallets rarely charge for their own API over a machine protocol, so the first line has steps for them, and the highest one that applies counts. 40 when x402, MPP or L402 runs on all their own endpoints, 30 when it runs on part of their own API, 25 when their merchants can accept one, 20 for running a facilitator, 15 for paying as a buyer, and 0 when the only protocol is their own. Merchant acceptance sits above a facilitator because the platform's own customers can charge agents through it, while a facilitator settles for sellers who wire up the protocol themselves. The counter-argument (a facilitator does more for the protocol as a whole) has a point. Each note says which step applied. Open-source software you run yourself is scored on its hosted or paid option if it has one. A free, self-hosted package with nothing to buy gets 20, 20 and 20 for the last three lines, and 0 to 40 for the first only if it ships a payment protocol. ## 2. Reliability, 67 out of 100, up to 6.6 more on the total Why it scored 67: Graded on the hosted lines for the REST API. BetterStack page at status.verda.com with 21 components, 180-day bars and an RSS feed (20). Four incidents between 10 July and 8 October 2026, none posted against the API component. Serverless Containers were slow or unavailable for about 9.5 hours on 13 August, the container gateway returned intermittent 500s for about 50 minutes on 4 September, container uploads failed for about 2 hours on 20 September, and some instances, volumes and billing records were affected for about 3 hours on 25 September (10). Rate limits published, 500 requests a minute per project and 60 per endpoint (15). A 429 carries `Retry-After` and `RateLimit` headers, instance actions and volume deletion are idempotent, but instance creation has no idempotency key (12 of 15). No SLA found, and the terms give no warranty of uninterrupted availability (0). The REST API is generally available, while the CLI's MCP server is marked beta (10). The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-reliability): Hosted APIs, MCP servers, models and platforms. - 20, a public status page with component history (Statuspage, Instatus, BetterStack or the vendor's own). - 0 to 30, the incident record for the last 90 days on that page. 30 for a clean record or trivial incidents only, 20 for minor incidents only, 10 for one major outage (an hour or more of a core API down, or errors across the board), 0 for several. 5 when there's no history we could read, and the note says so. - 15, rate limits documented with numbers. - 15, documented 429 or overload handling (Retry-After, backoff guidance), and idempotency keys or safe-retry guidance where writes are involved. - 10, an SLA published for any paid tier. - 10, the surface agents use is generally available, not beta or preview. Local packages, SDKs, frameworks and stdio MCP servers. - 20, installs from an official package with supported runtimes stated. - 25, a public CI and test suite, passing on the default branch. - 0 to 25, open crash or regression issues relative to activity (25 for few and handled, 0 for many, old and unanswered). - 15, semver discipline and breaking changes called out in a changelog. - 15, version 1.0 or later, or declared stable. Protocols are read from their reference implementations, the public facilitators or servers, spec stability and test vectors. ## 3. Agent ergonomics, 63 out of 100, up to 6 more on the total Why it scored 63: No field selection, and instance and volume lists return whole arrays (12 of 25). `page` and `pageSize` with totals in `X-Total-Count` on scripts and journals, a cursor on the audit log, and status, tag and location filters on other lists, but no pagination on instances or volumes (12 of 20). Errors carry a stable `code` and a `message`, and bulk actions return per-item results with 207 (16). Actions that are already in the requested state return 204 and volume deletion is idempotent, but create calls have no idempotency key. The MCP tools require `confirm: true` for billed and destructive calls and carry no read-only or destructive annotations (10 of 20). Official SDKs for Python and Go, a Terraform provider and a CLI. A launch needs an instance type, image, hostname, SSH key and location (13 of 15). The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-ergonomics): - 0 to 25, context cost. For MCP, the number and size of the tool definitions (25 for ten or fewer compact tools, 15 for 11 to 30, 5 for more than 30, plus up to 10 back for toolsets, dynamic loading or read-only subsets). For APIs, whether responses can be sized (field selection, limits, summaries). - 20, pagination, filtering and output-size controls. - 20, actionable, documented error responses, codes and messages an agent can recover from. - 20, idempotency or safe retries, and for MCP the `readOnlyHint` and `destructiveHint` annotations. - 15, sensible defaults, few required parameters, and official SDKs in at least two languages. Models are read for tool use, structured output, prompt caching, context length, batch and SDKs. Frameworks for how much code and how many defaults a tool-calling agent with MCP needs. ## 4. Security & auth, 68 out of 100, up to 5.6 more on the total Why it scored 68: OAuth 2.0 client credentials. Access tokens expire after 3,600 seconds, credentials are deleted when their creator leaves the project, and every token carries the single scope `cloud-api-v1`. No secret travels in a URL (20 of 30). Credentials follow their creator's role of owner, admin or developer, and no read-only credential was found. The MCP server and the CLI's `--agent` mode require explicit confirmation for billed and destructive actions, and deleted volumes sit in trash for 96 hours (10 of 20). Responses are infrastructure metadata, apart from container logs (10). Audit log in the console and at `GET /v1/audit/log`, 90 days in CloudEvents format with IP address and origin, marked beta (14 of 15). security.txt is valid until 31 December 2026 and names a disclosure policy at vdp.verda.com. The home page states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, 27017, 27018 and 27701. The trust centre and the policy page are drawn by script and we couldn't read them, and no bug bounty was found (14 of 20). The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-security): - 0 to 30, the credential model. 30 for OAuth 2.1 with scopes, or scoped and revocable keys with rotation. 20 for plain revocable API keys. 10 for one all-powerful key. 10 off when a secret can travel in a URL query string as a documented option. - 0 to 20, read-only or least-privilege modes, and confirmation or approval for destructive actions. - 0 to 15, prompt-injection posture where the tool returns untrusted content (documented mitigations or guidance). A tool that returns no untrusted content gets 10. - 0 to 15, audit logs or per-call visibility for the operator. - 0 to 20, a security programme. security.txt or a disclosure policy, a bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001, advisories handled in public. Models are read for retention, whether API data trains models (and whether that's off by default), zero-retention options and certifications. Frameworks for telemetry defaults, approval hooks, guardrails and sandboxing. ## 5. Schema & documentation, 82 out of 100, up to 2.9 more on the total Why it scored 82: Public OpenAPI 3.1 document at api.verda.com/v1/openapi.json with 112 operations and 156 schemas (25). `llms.txt` on verda.com, docs.verda.com and api.verda.com, every docs page as Markdown and the corpus in `llms-full.txt` (10). Only 27 of 112 operations have a description. Those that do state billing effects, for example that `shutdown` keeps charging (10 of 20). Required fields, 104 enums and UUID formats, but several fields accept a string or an array, and the docs ask clients to treat enums as open (11 of 15). 756 examples and an error table of eight codes. 60 of 112 operations document an error response and none lists 429 (11 of 15). Versioned in the path, with a dated changelog of 24 entries in 2026 (15). The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-schema): APIs and MCP servers. - 25, a machine-readable contract (a public OpenAPI file or similar; for MCP, typed JSON Schema inputs on every tool). - 10, llms.txt or Markdown docs served for agents. - 0 to 20, descriptions that say what a tool is for, when to use it and when not to, read from the tool definitions in the source or the API reference. - 0 to 15, typed inputs with enums, constraints and required fields, and no free-form JSON blobs. - 0 to 15, examples and documented error responses. - 15, versioning and a public changelog. Models are read from the API reference, the OpenAPI file, llms.txt, the structured-output and tool-use docs and the model cards. Frameworks from docs a model can follow, typed interfaces, examples and the API reference. ## 6. Transparency & trust, 76 out of 100, up to 2.1 more on the total Made of editorial 57, provenance 95. Why it scored 76: Closed service under Terms of Service dated 30 September 2025 and Finnish law. The CLI and SDKs are Apache-2.0 (15 of 30). The terms include data processing terms, and the privacy policy has a retention table. Deleted customer data is removed within 96 hours per the privacy policy and clause 10.9.2, while Schedule 3 of the same terms says 72 hours. The privacy policy shows no readable date (20 of 30). No deprecation policy with a notice period. Deprecated endpoints are flagged in the spec, and HDD volumes were announced as deprecated in April 2026 before creation was blocked on 21 September (10 of 20). The docs name three data centres in Helsinki, the terms promise 15 days' notice of a new sub-processor, and the privacy policy names Front and Stripe. The sub-processor list is drawn by script and we couldn't read it (12 of 20). The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-transparency): - 0 to 30, source availability and licence clarity. 30 for open source under an OSI licence, 15 for closed with clear terms, 0 for unclear terms. - 0 to 30, data handling and retention statements that agree with each other (privacy policy, DPA, retention periods, subprocessors). - 0 to 20, a deprecation policy or notices with dates. - 0 to 20, telemetry disclosed with an opt-out (local software), or subprocessors and data locations disclosed (hosted). The other half of Transparency and trust is the provenance score, computed from checked facts (below). The category score is the mean of the two. Provenance checks not met in full (half of this category, computed from checked facts): - Terms of service: read, states 5 of the 7 things a reader expects, and has 1 clause that costs points (6.3 of 10) - Privacy policy: read, states 6 of the 8 things a reader expects (8.5 of 10) ## 7. Maintenance & community, 83 out of 100, up to 1.5 more on the total Why it scored 83: The newest API changelog entry is dated 7 October 2026 (30). 11 dated API entries since 11 September 2026 (20). A public changelog, monthly release notes, email and chat support and a forum. GitHub issues were not read (10 of 15). Current official clients. `verda` 1.24.1 on PyPI from 12 August 2026, CLI v1.8.2 from 18 August 2026, a Go SDK and a Terraform provider (15). The CLI repository runs lint, test and security workflows, and v1.8.2 raised a vulnerable Go version (8 of 10). The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-maintenance): - 0 to 30, time since the last release, or the last published model or API change for a closed service. 30 within 30 days, 20 within 90, 10 within 180, 0 older. - 20, at least three releases or dated changelog entries in the last 90 days. - 0 to 25, responsiveness. Issues and pull requests answered on GitHub (the open issues and how recent the replies are). For closed services, a public changelog and a support or community channel that answers, 0 to 15. - 15, presence in the official MCP registry under a verified namespace (MCP servers), or current official SDKs (APIs and models). - 10, package health, current dependencies and CI. Models are read for deprecation notice periods and model churn rather than release counts. ## Deductions Each comes off the total. A fixed and documented problem counts for less at the next check. - 2026-03-19, making `location_code` required on `POST /v1/instances`, `POST /v1/clusters` and `POST /v1/volumes`. Requests that had defaulted to FIN-01 began returning 400. The API changelog dates the change 19 March and the docs 23 March, and neither records advance notice. Documented, so 3 points (https://docs.verda.com/welcome-to-verda/release-notes/verda-api-changes/index.md). ## What we couldn't check What we couldn't read counted as absent. Publishing it on a page a plain HTTP fetch can read (not only in a browser) lets the next check count it. - The lead was right about the rename and the 18 MCP tools. verda.com/llms.txt says Verda was previously known as DataCrunch, and the terms still name the supplier as Verda (DataCrunch Oy). - unchecked: trust.verda.com and trust.verda.com/subprocessors are drawn by script (Vanta), so the certificates and the sub-processor list were not read. The SOC 2 Type II and ISO claims come from the home page. - unchecked: vdp.verda.com is drawn by script, so the scope and safe-harbour wording of the disclosure policy were not read. - unchecked: GitHub stars and open issues. The GitHub API answered with a rate limit for our address. - The privacy policy shows a Last updated label with no date we could read. - The API changelog mentions `GET /v1/inference/models`, which is not in the OpenAPI document. The docs source hides the inference section. - The CLI source carries the copyright of Verda Cloud Oy, while the terms name DataCrunch Oy. We recorded the entity the terms name. - The 30 December 2025 data loss on a shared filesystem is recorded as a weakness. It is not one of the deduction types in the brief, so no points were taken. - Whether customers were warned by email before `location_code` became required is unknown. ## Weaknesses - No free tier. Accounts are prepaid, and instances are discontinued and volumes deleted when the balance reaches zero - Cloud API credentials carry one scope, `cloud-api-v1`, with no read-only credential found in the reviewed documentation - `POST /v1/instances` has no idempotency key, so a retried launch can start a second billed instance - The MCP server is marked beta and its tools carry no read-only or destructive annotations - On 30 December 2025 a storage migration overwrote part of a shared filesystem in FIN-03, and Verda reported irreversible data loss for some customers - No SLA was found, and the terms give no warranty of uninterrupted availability ## What costs an agent a turn today The notes we give agents before they call it. Each one is a workaround an agent shouldn't need. - Exchange the client ID and secret at `POST /v1/oauth2/token`, then send the access token as a Bearer header. It expires after 3,600 seconds, so refresh it. - Send `location_code` on every create call. Requests without it have returned 400 since March 2026. - Call `GET /v1/instance-availability` before launching. `POST /v1/instances` returns 503 `service_unavailable` when the location has no capacity. - List instances before retrying a failed launch, because create has no idempotency key. - Use the `delete` action to stop charges. `shutdown` keeps billing, and deleted volumes stay recoverable for 96 hours unless `delete_permanently` is set. ## When it's done Send what changed and where it's published as a dispute (https://www.anchorterminal.com/builders/#disputes, or `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/contact` with `"kind": "dispute"`). Disputes are answered in public, and the listing is checked again by the same checklist. Paying for an audit or a listing claim changes nothing here.