AnythingLLM by Mintplex Labs

# Fix list: AnythingLLM

From Anchor Terminal's listing at https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anythingllm, the October 2026 research run, assessed 3 October 2026. Grade D, 53.6 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 AnythingLLM: 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. Security & auth, 38 out of 100, up to 10.9 more on the total

Why it scored 38: Developer API keys are one kind, admin-equivalent across every /v1 endpoint by design per SECURITY.md, stored in plain text, with no scopes or expiry. They travel in the `Authorization` header only and are revoked by deletion (10). There's no read-only key. Inside the app, write actions in built-in skills (filesystem, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar) ask the user first, with an allowlist to skip that, while MCP tool calls run without asking and scheduled jobs approve every call. Multi-user mode adds admin, manager and default roles for the UI (7 of 20). Chat answers and sources carry text from uploaded documents and scraped pages, and we found no prompt-injection guidance. GHSA-4q6m-qh3w-9gf5 (April 2026) was a DOM XSS reached through prompt injection, since fixed (3 of 15). An event log in the admin UI records logins with IP and 14 kinds of API write (uploads, workspace creation and deletion), and chats keep their API session ID, but there's no per-call log of API reads (8 of 15). SECURITY.md takes reports through GitHub advisories only, with a supported-versions policy, and ten advisories were published with fixes between March and July 2026. No security.txt (404), no bug bounty, no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 (10 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.

## 2. Agent ergonomics, 46 out of 100, up to 8.8 more on the total

Why it scored 46: Read with the tool lines for the developer API. Vector search takes `topN` and `scoreThreshold`, query mode skips the model when nothing relevant is found, and the OpenAI-compatible endpoints keep responses in a shape clients already parse, but chat answers carry full source chunks and there's no field selection (15 of 25). `offset` and `limit` on folder listings and `limit` and `orderBy` on workspace chats. Workspace, document and user lists return everything (10 of 20). Missing or wrong keys get 403 with `{"error": "No valid api key found."}`, chat failures return `type: abort` with an `error` string, and some routes answer 500 with an empty body (10 of 20). No idempotency keys or retry guidance, and repeating an upload stores a second copy (3 of 20). A chat needs only a message and a workspace slug, and any OpenAI SDK can call the compatible endpoints, but there's no official SDK (8 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.

## 3. Schema & documentation, 57 out of 100, up to 7 more on the total

Why it scored 57: Read with the API lines, scored on the developer API an agent calls. An OpenAPI 3.0 file with 63 operations and a Bearer scheme, served at /api/docs on every instance and kept in the repository, but request bodies are examples rather than typed schemas (18 of 25). No llms.txt at docs.anythingllm.com (404) and no Markdown copies of pages. The docs source is MDX on GitHub (0). Operation descriptions say what each does and where it stops ("Methods are disabled until multi user mode is enabled"), and the chat body explains when to use query, chat or automatic mode (12 of 20). Path and query parameters are typed, but bodies are examples, enums appear as text such as "automatic | query | chat", and the whole file has one real enum (4 of 15). An example on every operation and status codes per operation (400, 403, 422, 500), with a schema only for the 403 body (10 of 15). Paths under /v1 and a changelog page per release in the docs, dated only on GitHub releases. The spec's own version has stayed 1.0.0 (13 of 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.

## 4. Reliability, 67 out of 100, up to 6.6 more on the total

Why it scored 67: Read with the local-software lines, because an agent calls the developer API on an instance the owner runs, on the desktop or in Docker. AnythingLLM Cloud exists, and isn't what's graded here. Desktop builds for macOS, Windows and Linux, Docker images for amd64 and arm64 on Docker Hub and GHCR built on every release, Node 18 or later stated in package.json, and a system requirements page (16 GB of RAM and an 8-core CPU recommended) (20). 77 test files under server and collector, but the test workflow runs only on pull requests that touch server or collector code, on Node 18, never on master, and the runs we loaded showed approval waits and durations, not results (12 of 25). 297 open issues and 21 open pull requests for a project with 206 commits since 5 July. Bug reports from 29 September were fixed in v1.17.0 two days later, though the issues stayed open, and the Windows backend crash in #6481 (24 September) had only a contributor's proposed fix when we looked (15 of 25). Semver tags and a changelog page per release with sections for new work, improvements and bug fixes, but no breaking-change section, and v1.14.1, a patch release, removed the DPAIS and Hugging Face providers (5 of 15). Version 1.17.0 (15).

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.

## 5. Payments & pricing, 60 out of 100, up to 5 more on the total

Why it scored 60: Read with the self-hosted rule, since the agent calls an instance the owner runs. No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The desktop app and Docker server are free with no account or card, so 20, 20 and 20 on the last three lines. AnythingLLM Cloud costs $50 or $99 a month with a card and no trial, and would score lower if it were the surface graded.

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.

## 6. Transparency & trust, 63 out of 100, up to 3.2 more on the total

Made of editorial 58, provenance 67.

Why it scored 63: The repository is MIT, but the desktop app ships under terms of use that call its source code a trade secret and forbid reverse engineering, while the docs call both versions open source (22 of 30). TERMS_SELF_HOSTED.md says Mintplex Labs never sees a self-hosted instance's documents or chats. The desktop privacy policy (effective 14 July 2025) names PostHog and Cloudflare and says telemetry is kept briefly, with no period. The Cloud privacy policy deletes an instance's data at cancellation. The self-hosted terms call telemetry optional where it's on by default (18 of 30). No deprecation policy. Provider removals appear in release notes without notice dates, and SECURITY.md supports only the current major and its two newest minors (5 of 20). Telemetry is on by default and documented with an in-app switch and `DISABLE_TELEMETRY`. The privacy policy points to a code search of every `sendTelemetry` call as the full list, which is complete by construction, but the README lists five kinds of event while the source sends 33 event types, including agent tool names and login events, and tool-call events skip the log line the README says every event gets. We counted that here rather than as a deduction, since the code search is disclosed and the events carry no content (13 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):

- Domain age: anythingllm.com, registered 2023-06-08 (3 years) (7 of 15)
- Status page: not found (0 of 10)
- security.txt: not found (0 of 10)

## 7. Maintenance & community, 78 out of 100, up to 1.9 more on the total

Why it scored 78: v1.17.0 published on 1 October 2026 (30). v1.16.0 (13 August), v1.16.1 (27 August), v1.16.2 (tagged 22 September) and v1.17.0 in the last 90 days (20). 297 open issues and 21 open pull requests, with recent bug reports fixed within days but left open, and no maintainer reply on the issue we sampled (15 of 25). No MCP server or official SDK. Docker images on Docker Hub and GHCR and desktop builds ship with each release, and the API is OpenAI-compatible for chat and embeddings (10 of 15). The Docker image installs Node 18.x, which reached end of life in April 2025, the test workflow still uses actions/checkout@v2, there's no Dependabot configuration, and tests and lint run only on pull requests (3 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.

- 2026-04-15 to 2026-05-21. Ten advisories published in the last year, all fixed, among them CVE-2026-48116 (GHSA-6hrp-7mw6-8v59, CVSS 7.5), code execution through a `--pre` argument passed to ripgrep by the filesystem-search-files agent skill in 1.12.1 and earlier, fixed on 20 May 2026 (commit 94ed62d3) and published on 21 May, and GHSA-4q6m-qh3w-9gf5 (15 April 2026), a DOM XSS in chart rendering that prompt injection could trigger. Fixed and published inside six months, so a small deduction, -3. https://github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm/security/advisories/GHSA-6hrp-7mw6-8v59; https://github.com/Mintplex-Labs/anything-llm/security/advisories

## 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.

- unchecked: whether the backend tests pass today. The Actions page we loaded showed run names, approval waits and durations, not results, and tests never run on master.
- unchecked: who answers issues and how fast. GitHub's API isn't open to our reader, and the one issue we read (#6481) had only a contributor's reply.
- unchecked: whether the advisories page lists more than the ten we saw, which ran from 13 March to 15 July 2026.
- GHSA-6hrp-7mw6-8v59 lists no patched version, while commit 94ed62d3 (20 May 2026) fixes it and v1.13.0 was tagged on 26 May.
- The desktop terms of use call the app's source code a trade secret, while the repository is MIT and the docs call the desktop app open source. Which licence covers the desktop binary isn't stated in one place.
- unchecked: the first release date of AnythingLLM.

## Weaknesses

- One kind of API key, admin-equivalent across every endpoint, with no scopes or expiry, stored in plain text
- Ten security advisories between March and July 2026, one a high-severity code execution in an agent skill
- Telemetry on by default, and the source sends 33 event types where the README lists five kinds
- Request bodies in the OpenAPI file are examples, not typed schemas, and there's no llms.txt
- Backend tests run only on pull requests, on Node 18, which reached end of life in April 2025

## 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.

- Call http://localhost:3001/api/v1 with `Authorization: Bearer` and a key the owner created in the UI
- Send `mode: query` to `/v1/workspace/{slug}/chat` to answer only from the workspace's documents
- Treat the key as admin. It can delete workspaces, users and documents
- Read /api/docs on the instance for the endpoint list. Request bodies there are examples, not schemas
- Pass a `sessionId` with each chat to keep your conversation apart from other API callers

## What the review panel asked for

- dated deprecation notices
- CI on master
- scoped read-only keys
- confirmation for MCP tools

## 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.