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The Cited MCP is a remote Streamable HTTP server. There are two ways to connect, and which you use depends on your client: If you’re on Claude Desktop, use Option A — it’s the fastest (no key to manage). Everything else uses Option B.

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Option A — Claude Desktop, sign-in (no key)

Claude Desktop connects over OAuth: you paste one URL, then sign in — Claude registers itself and gets a token automatically.
1

Add the connector

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Name it Cited, and in the URL field paste:
Leave the OAuth Client ID / Secret fields blank → Add.
2

Connect + sign in

Click Connect. You’ll be taken to the Cited sign-in page — sign in with Google using the account whose email is on your Cited brand. Approve access, and the connector flips to Connected.
3

Use it

In a chat: “use Cited — whoami”. It returns your account + the brands you can access.
Sign in with the email that’s on your Cited brand(s). Your identity (and which brands you see) is resolved from that verified email — a super-admin sees every brand; a brand user sees theirs. Signing in with an email that isn’t on any Cited brand returns no brands.

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Option B — API key (all other clients)

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1. Get a key

Create a key in the Cited dashboard under Settings → API & MCP → Create key: name it, pick the brand(s) it can access, and copy the cited_sk_… value at the copy-once reveal — it’s shown only once. Store it like a password.
A key can grant one brand (in-house) or several (agency). Any brand admin of a granted brand can see and revoke it.

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2. Connect your client

The endpoint is https://api.getcited.in/mcp (both with and without a trailing slash work). Two auth styles, depending on the client:
  • Header — clients that let you set an Authorization: Bearer header (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI).
  • Key-in-URL — clients whose connector UI has no header field (ChatGPT, or Claude Desktop if you prefer a key over sign-in): put the key in the URL as ?key=….
Confirm with claude mcp list (shows cited … ✔ Connected), then ask “use Cited — whoami”.
If your client isn’t listed, check its MCP docs for remote / hosted HTTP MCP server support. If it has a header field, use the Authorization: Bearer cited_sk_… header; if not, use the key-in-URL form (…/mcp/?key=cited_sk_…).

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Verify

Ask your assistant: “use Cited — whoami, and list my brands.” It should return your brands (id + role). Then try the recursive metrics primitive, e.g. “use Cited — cube_slice for <brand>, metric citation_share, broken down by platform”, and head to Recipes.

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Troubleshooting

Sign-in (Option A)
  • “Authorization failed” / no brands after signing in — you signed in with an email that isn’t on a Cited brand. Sign in with the Google account whose email is on your brand (Settings → Manage Users shows brand members).
  • Connector won’t connect — remove and re-add it (URL only, OAuth fields blank), then Connect again.
API key (Option B)
  • “Missing API key” — the key isn’t reaching the server. Re-check the header value / the ?key= in the URL, and make sure you copied the whole cited_sk_….
  • “Invalid API key” — the key is wrong, expired, or revoked. Create a fresh one in Settings → API & MCP.
  • “API key not granted this brand” — the brand_id you passed isn’t on your key. Call list_brands to see what it can access.
Both
  • Connected but tool calls fail — a connection only lists tools (no auth needed); the first tool call is where auth is checked. If that fails, the credential/identity isn’t attached — recheck your connect step.