# AX Check: vrpc.io
Checked 2026-10-17.

VRPC's quickstart works, but llms.txt and a Markdown homepage are missing
Getting-started guide gives a complete ten-minute install-to-run tutorial. No llms.txt (404) or Markdown homepage exists to help agents navigate docs.

## End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated

## Coding sessions
All three independent sessions completed and agreed VRPC itself is free under its MIT license, with no pricing page found. Each flagged that real cost comes from the MQTT broker: the shared public broker is fine for testing but insecure, so production use requires self-hosting or a paid managed broker.

### DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
[View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/6690c78a-ebd9-4239-9208-a31753e942fc) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/vrpc.io/sessions/deepseek.json)
VRPC MIT/free; Heisenware €125/mo and €450/mo billed annually, €29,900 full-service, custom Enterprise, 30-day trial; free public broker assumed (seq 36, seq 29, seq 96)
#### End-to-end onboarding
- **End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated**: VRPC's SDK needs no account or API key: it's MIT-licensed and connects to a public, open MQTT broker (broker.hivemq.com) by default. The agent ran npm install, wrote a demo script, and got a real agent+client round trip (create instance, call methods, receive events) against that public hosted broker. That's a genuine SDK operation, but there was no credential-issuance step at all (no signup, API key, or token obtained), so the 'obtain credentials then use them' bar isn't met. The paid Heisenware platform was never signed up for, only its pricing page was read.
  Event 80:

  ```text
  agent 'counters' serving under domain 'tutorial-vrpc-ckzr6t'
  static describe -> A counter that tells everybody when it changes
  event: count is 10
  ```
  Event 65:

  ```text
  TLS connected, authorized: true
  ```

#### Hallucinated URLs
- **Guessed vrpc.io sub-pages returned Not Found**: The agent guessed several plausible but nonexistent VRPC doc/marketing URLs (vrpc.io/technology, vrpc.io/pricing, vrpc.io/docs/implementations/javascript) before falling back to search and the working docs tree. These look like reasonable guesses rather than links copied from documentation, and the agent simply moved on to other sources, so this is flagged as a mild guessing pattern rather than a confirmed hallucination that blocked progress.
  Event 23:

  ```text
  ===== https://vrpc.io/technology =====
   Page Not Found | VRPC
  ```
  Event 23:

  ```text
  ===== https://vrpc.io/pricing =====
   Page Not Found | VRPC
  ```
  Event 28:

  ```text
  ===== https://vrpc.io/docs/implementations/javascript =====
   Page Not Found | VRPC
  ```

#### Blockers
None identified in this transcript.

#### Suggested Changes
- **Fix or remove the broken vrpc.io/technology link**: Requesting https://vrpc.io/technology returned a 'Page Not Found' page referencing a broken inbound link. If this URL is referenced anywhere in VRPC's own docs or marketing, update it to point at current content (likely vrpc.io or vrpc.io/docs); verify by curling the URL and confirming a 200 response instead of the Not Found template.
  Event 23:

  ```text
  ===== https://vrpc.io/technology =====
   Page Not Found | VRPC 
  ```
- **Add a direct pricing link from vrpc.io to heisenware.com/pricing**: The agent guessed vrpc.io/pricing (404) and had to search externally to learn that commercial pricing lives on heisenware.com/pricing, since VRPC itself is a free MIT library. Add a clear link on vrpc.io pointing to the Heisenware pricing page so developers do not need to search externally; verify by confirming vrpc.io includes a working link to heisenware.com/pricing.
  Event 23:

  ```text
  ===== https://vrpc.io/pricing =====
   Page Not Found | VRPC
  ```
  Event 36:

  ```text
  ===== https://heisenware.com/pricing =====
  http:200 url:https://heisenware.com/pricing
   Plans & Pricing | Heisenware 
  ```

### Kimi K3
[View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/d9c11a9c-2f0a-47d1-943b-9086b7314218) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/vrpc.io/sessions/kimi.json)
Said VRPC costs nothing (MIT license; /pricing returns 404). Named the assumption behind that: the only cost is the broker. The free public broker is for testing only; production means self-hosting Mosquitto or paying a hosted provider. (seq 17, seq 8, seq 62)
#### End-to-end onboarding
- **End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated**: VRPC is an open-source MIT-licensed library, not a hosted SaaS product with accounts or API keys. No credential acquisition occurred because none is required. The agent did connect to the real public broker.hivemq.com MQTT broker and exchanged live messages (agent registered a class, client called it and got real-time events back), but this is anonymous, unauthenticated use of a public test broker, not an authenticated operation using self-service-obtained product credentials.
  Event 60:

  ```text
  Domain : tutorial-pi-demo-7f3a9c
  Agent  : counters
  Broker : mqtts://broker.hivemq.com:8883
  Connecting to MQTT server...
  --- running client ---
  A counter that tells everybody when it changes
  count is 10
  count is 11
  count is 16
  client exit: 0
  
  ```
  Event 62:

  ```text
  There is none. **VRPC is free, MIT-licensed open source** — no accounts, API keys, tiers, or pricing page (vrpc.io/pricing is a 404).
  ```

#### Hallucinated URLs
None identified in this transcript.

#### Blockers
None identified in this transcript.

#### Suggested Changes
- **Add a real pricing or hosting-options page instead of a dead /pricing link**: curl against https://vrpc.io/pricing returned a 404 page while vrpc.io itself resolves fine (seq 14, seq 17). Since VRPC is open source with no built-in pricing, consider either removing any implied /pricing path from site navigation/sitemap or adding a short page clarifying there is no product pricing and broker hosting costs are the user's own choice. Check by curling vrpc.io/pricing and confirming it 200s with real content or is no longer linked anywhere.
  Event 14:

  ```text
  curl -sL --max-time 15 https://vrpc.io/pricing 2>&1 | head -c 1000; echo; curl -sI --max-time 15 https://vrpc.io | head -5
  ```
  Event 17:

  ```text
  title data-rh="true">Page Not Found | VRPC
  ```

### Qwen 3.8 Max
[View public run](https://agents.withgauge.com/p/runs/78631907-ffbc-4bd2-a488-1c02165019e5) · [Read transcript](https://www.ax-check.com/vrpc.io/sessions/qwen.json)
Said VRPC is free (MIT), with no pricing page found. Named the assumption that cost comes from the MQTT broker: the public one is free but insecure, self-hosted is free, managed brokers are paid. (seq 28, seq 36, seq 106)
#### End-to-end onboarding
- **End-to-end onboarding not demonstrated**: No product account, API key, or token was ever obtained or used. VRPC is an open-source MIT library with no signup/auth step; the agent connected to the public HiveMQ MQTT broker (broker.hivemq.com) anonymously and ran a local Node.js agent+client pair. This demonstrates the SDK working against a third-party public broker, not an authenticated operation against a product the owner controls, so there's no credential acquisition or authenticated resource creation to verify.
  Event 99:

  ```text
  Agent "counters" serving class "Counter" on domain "pi-demo-1792213049"
  event -> count: 10
  static describe(): A counter that tells everybody when it changes
  ```
  Event 106:

  ```text
  There is no pricing page and no paid hosted tier in the current product — the site is docs/blog only.
  ```

#### Hallucinated URLs
None identified in this transcript.

#### Blockers
- **Quickstart code samples had two API mismatches**: The tutorial/README examples used `callStatic({..., method: 'describe'})` and `client.delete({agent, className, instance})`, but the installed vrpc 3.16.1 library expected `functionName` instead of `method`, and `delete(instanceName, {agent, className})` as a positional-plus-options signature. Both caused runtime timeouts/errors until the agent inspected the library source and corrected the calls. This is a product documentation/example drift issue, not an environment or credential problem.
  Event 65:

  ```text
  Error: Function call "Counter::undefined()" on agent "counters" timed out (> 12000 ms)
  ```
  Event 81:

  ```text
  Error: Could not find instance: [object Object] (> 12000 ms)
  ```
  Event 86:

  ```text
  async delete (instance, options = {}) {
  ```
- **Intermittent timeout on public broker before agent came online**: One run failed with a connection timeout likely because the client tried to connect before the agent had finished subscribing on the shared public broker; a longer warm-up wait resolved it on retry. This is an artifact of using the shared public demo broker's latency, not a hard product defect.
  Event 94:

  ```text
  Error: Connection to class "Counter" on agent "counters" and domain "pi-demo-1792213024" timed out (> 12000 ms)
  ```

#### Suggested Changes
- **Fix the callStatic and delete examples in the getting-started docs**: The getting-started tutorial and README quick-start code use `client.callStatic({..., method: 'describe'})` and `client.delete({agent, className, instance})`, but the shipped vrpc 3.16.1 client requires `functionName` instead of `method` and a positional `delete(instanceName, {agent, className})` call. Update the sample on the vrpc.io getting-started page and npm README quick-start section, then confirm by running the exact copy-pasted snippet end-to-end without edits.
  Event 65:

  ```text
  Error: Function call "Counter::undefined()" on agent "counters" timed out (> 12000 ms)
  ```
  Event 86:

  ```text
  async delete (instance, options = {}) {
  ```
- **Add a pricing or hosting-cost explainer page**: Hitting /pricing on vrpc.io returned a 404/Page Not Found, leaving no documented answer about broker hosting costs. Add a short page (e.g. vrpc.io/pricing or a section in the production guide) clarifying that VRPC itself is free/MIT and that broker choice (self-hosted vs. managed HiveMQ Cloud/EMQX/AWS IoT Core) is the only cost driver. Verify by confirming the URL resolves and lists broker cost guidance.
  Event 28:

  ```text
  === /pricing ===
  <!doctype html>
  <html lang="en" dir="ltr" class="plugin-native plugin-id-default" data-has-hydrated="false">
  <head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="generator" content="Docusaurus v3.10.2">
  <title data-rh="true">Page Not Found | VRPC</title>
  ```

### Task given to each agent
Help me build a simple example using VRPC. Tell me how pricing works, and briefly tell me whether this product will be easy for you to manage. Let me know if you get blocked. If this product has no developer workflow you can act on, say so plainly and stop. Stay light: use the hosted product through its SDK or API. Do not start local service stacks or wait for long-running commands; if the quickstart requires either, say so plainly and stop.

No product credentials were supplied and no purchases were authorized.

## Score: C · 56/100 (provisional)
Grades come from completed site checks. Coding sessions and skipped checks do not affect the score.

### Clarity
- **Failed** — Homepage answers Markdown requests

  ```text
  Homepage returned text/html for a Markdown Accept header; no Markdown representation offered.
  ```

- **Failed** — llms.txt provides an actionable documentation index

  ```text
  https://vrpc.io/llms.txt returns 404, so no documentation index exists.
  ```

- **Skipped** — llms.txt provides navigation guidance

  ```text
  No llms.txt body exists (404), so navigation guidance cannot be assessed.
  ```

- **Skipped** — llms.txt mentions offered API, MCP, and skills

  ```text
  No llms.txt body exists (404), so API/MCP/skills mentions cannot be assessed.
  ```

- **Skipped** — A compact guide representation exists

  ```text
  No site-published Markdown guide; homepage Markdown unsupported and docs served as HTML only.
  ```

- **Pass** — A focused guide is directly retrievable

  ```text
  Getting-started page gives a concrete ten-minute tutorial with install, agent and client steps.
  ```

- **Pass** — Equivalent instructions fit a token budget

  ```text
  Getting-started guide is about 2009 tokens, well under the 8000-token budget.
  ```

- **Skipped** — Product-docs links survive format changes

  ```text
  Homepage Markdown unsupported, so link preservation across formats cannot be measured.
  ```

- **Pass** — The compact guide is independently actionable

  ```text
  Getting-started guide gives concrete steps: install vrpc, write class, run agent and client.
  ```

- **Pass** — Install and next-step links resolve

  ```text
  Homepage Get started and API links resolve; getting-started and reference pages fetched successfully.
  ```


### Onboarding
- **Pass** — Docs lead to a relevant quickstart

  ```text
  Getting started page is a concrete ten-minute quickstart: install vrpc, write class, run agent and client.
  ```

- **Pass** — Installation commands are extractable

  ```text
  Install commands shown: mkdir, npm init -y, npm install vrpc, then node agent.js and node client.js.
  ```

- **Pass** — Code examples are available without interaction

  ```text
  Full code examples for Counter.js, agent.js and client.js are inline, no interaction required.
  ```

- **Pass** — Prerequisites and auth boundaries are explicit

  ```text
  Requires Node.js 18+; warns default public broker broker.hivemq.com is readable, use own broker for real.
  ```


### Pricing
- **Skipped** — Pricing is readable without interaction

  ```text
  Not applicable: the relevant product is free. No pricing page fetched; VRPC is MIT-licensed open source with no paid plans.
  ```

- **Skipped** — Prices are stated, not gated

  ```text
  Not applicable: the relevant product is free. No pricing page fetched; VRPC is MIT-licensed open source with no paid plans.
  ```

- **Skipped** — Pricing units and limits are explicit

  ```text
  Not applicable: the relevant product is free. No pricing page fetched; VRPC is MIT-licensed open source with no paid plans.
  ```

- **Skipped** — Agents identify pricing and its assumptions

  ```text
  Not applicable: the relevant product is free. No pricing page fetched; VRPC is MIT-licensed open source with no paid plans.
  ```


### Activation
- **Pass** — An API reference or OpenAPI spec is reachable

  ```text
  API reference page lists VrpcClient, VrpcAgent, VrpcAdapter, VrpcPersistor, VrpcNative classes.
  ```

- **Skipped** — An MCP server is documented and well-formed

  ```text
  No MCP server documentation found in fetched VRPC pages.
  ```

- **Pass** — A CLI install path is documented

  ```text
  Getting started documents npm install vrpc and node agent.js/client.js CLI usage.
  ```

- **Pass** — SDK packages resolve on their registries

  ```text
  npm registry lookup for vrpc returned HTTP 200.
  ```

- **Skipped** — Agent skills are published

  ```text
  No agent skills published or documented in fetched VRPC pages.
  ```



[Full report data](https://www.ax-check.com/vrpc.io/report.json)