Connect - Cited Docs

The Cited MCP is a remote Streamable HTTP server. There are two ways to connect, and which you use depends on your client:

	Endpoint	Auth	Best for
A — Sign-in (OAuth)	`https://api.getcited.in/mcp-oauth`	Sign in with your Cited account — no key	Claude Desktop (paste one URL)
B — API key	`https://api.getcited.in/mcp`	A `cited_sk_…` key (header or in the URL)	Claude Code · Cursor · VS Code · Gemini CLI · ChatGPT

If you’re on Claude Desktop, use Option A — it’s the fastest (no key to manage). Everything else uses Option B.

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

Add the connector

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Name it Cited, and in the URL field paste:

https://api.getcited.in/mcp-oauth

Leave the OAuth Client ID / Secret fields blank → Add.

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.

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.

Option B — API key (all other clients)

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.

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=….

claude mcp add --transport http cited https://api.getcited.in/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer cited_sk_YOUR_KEY"

Confirm with claude mcp list (shows cited … ✔ Connected), then ask “use Cited — whoami”.

Requires a paid ChatGPT plan (Plus/Pro/Team/Enterprise); Free does not support custom connectors.

Settings → Connectors → Advanced → toggle Developer mode on.
Settings → Connectors → Create. Name it Cited, set Authentication = No authentication, and paste the URL (replace YOUR_KEY):
https://api.getcited.in/mcp/?key=cited_sk_YOUR_KEY
Create it, enable the Cited connector in a chat, and ask “whoami”.

Edit ~/.gemini/settings.json (replace YOUR_KEY):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cited": {
      "httpUrl": "https://api.getcited.in/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer cited_sk_YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Restart Gemini CLI, then run /mcp to confirm cited is connected.

Create .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global), replace YOUR_KEY:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cited": {
      "url": "https://api.getcited.in/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer cited_sk_YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Cursor → Settings → MCP → confirm cited shows a green dot.

Create .vscode/mcp.json (replace YOUR_KEY):

{
  "servers": {
    "cited": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.getcited.in/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer cited_sk_YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Reload the window, then open Copilot Chat → Tools → enable cited.

Prefer Option A (sign-in) above. If you’d rather use a key, Claude Desktop’s dialog has no header field, so put the key in the URL:

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
Name it Cited. In the URL field, paste (replace YOUR_KEY):
https://api.getcited.in/mcp/?key=cited_sk_YOUR_KEY
Leave the OAuth fields blank → Add → “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_…).

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.

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.

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

​Option B — API key (all other clients)

​1. Get a key

​2. Connect your client

​Verify

​Troubleshooting

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

Option B — API key (all other clients)

1. Get a key

2. Connect your client

Verify

Troubleshooting