Manusights Connector API

MCP setup for Claude

Connect Claude or another remote MCP client to https://manusights.com/mcp. Reference checks and journal AI-policy lookups work without a Manusights account. Starting a manuscript preview or reading saved reviews requires a Manusights account and your approval on its consent screen. Researchers can follow the step-by-step guide at Manusights in Claude.

Connect in Claude

1. Open Customize, then Connectors, and choose Add custom connector.
2. Enter Manusights as the name and https://manusights.com/mcp as the server URL.
3. Choose Sign in when needed under Authentication and Register automatically under OAuth client. Leave fixed request headers empty.
4. Enable Manusights for your conversation. An account tool will ask you to sign in and approve access when needed. Google, an emailed link, and password sign-in are supported.

Team and Enterprise workspaces may need an owner to add the connector first. See Claude's custom connector guide for the current client controls.

Connect in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or VS Code

• Claude Code: run claude mcp add --transport http manusights https://manusights.com/mcp. For account tools, run /mcp in Claude Code, choose manusights and authenticate.
• Codex: run codex mcp add manusights --url https://manusights.com/mcp. For account tools, run codex mcp login manusights and approve access.
• Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"manusights": {"url": "https://manusights.com/mcp"}}} to .cursor/mcp.json in a project or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project.
• VS Code: add {"servers": {"manusights": {"type": "http", "url": "https://manusights.com/mcp"}}} to .vscode/mcp.json.
• Reference checks and journal AI-policy lookups work in each without signing in. An account tool opens the Manusights sign-in the first time you use it. Ask for Manusights by name.

Available tools

• check_references: check up to 100 references per call against Crossref, the DOI registry, and Retraction Watch. References without a DOI are also searched in Semantic Scholar, PubMed, arXiv, Open Library (books), and CRAN (R packages). DOI and title are compared; matching a record does not establish that it supports a claim. Account optional.
• get_journal_ai_policy: look up a journal's recorded AI rules, qualifications, source link, and check date. Unknown, overdue, or unreadable records are identified. Account optional.
• review_manuscript: start a preview when your client can supply the attached file and its actual download URL. A Manusights account is required. Not offered in Claude, which cannot pass files to a connector.
• review_manuscript_text: start a preview from the complete manuscript text when your client cannot pass the file. Include the title, abstract, all sections, figure legends, and references. Figures and images are not reviewed in this mode. A Manusights account is required.
• get_manuscript_review: retrieve an existing preview or review on your account using its review_id.
• list_manuscript_reviews: list your account's 20 most recent reviews, newest first.

Manusights checks and critiques manuscripts; it does not write or rewrite them. Reference checks send the requested references to Manusights. A manuscript preview sends the manuscript file or complete text for processing and storage under our privacy policy.

Retrieve a manuscript preview

In Claude, use the text tool when an attachment has no downloadable file URL. Send the complete text, not a summary or excerpt; it must contain between 1,500 and 600,000 characters. Ask for a preview and retain the returned review_id.

While preview.status is processing, wait check_again_after_seconds and call get_manuscript_review with that same ID. If the conversation stops waiting, ask Manusights to check the review results. Do not start another preview to check progress. Report status while processing and only the returned findings when ready. A failed or expired result names the next step.

MCP troubleshooting

• If a tool is not called, enable Manusights for the current conversation and ask to use it by name.
• If an account tool asks you to connect, complete the Manusights sign-in and consent flow, then retry that tool. An invalid or expired OAuth token returns 401; reconnect if refresh fails.
• OAuth clients discover the authorization server from the WWW-Authenticate challenge and the MCP resource metadata: https://manusights.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp. Use this MCP metadata URL rather than the REST resource metadata below.
• If a file cannot be passed, use the complete-text tool. Do not invent a download URL or send a local sandbox path.
• If a result says it could not be checked, preserve that uncertainty and follow the returned retry guidance. It does not mean a reference is wrong.

For help, email team@manusights.com with the client, tool name, and error message. Keep access tokens and private manuscript content out of the message.