Try the CitationBench MCP server in demo mode (no API key required)
Connect Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client to mcp.citationbench.com without an API key. Six research tools return canned data immediately; four production tools prompt you to log in.
The hosted CitationBench MCP server at https://mcp.citationbench.com/mcp accepts unauthenticated connections so you can try it from any MCP client without provisioning an API key first. The six research tools return canned demo data right away. The four production tools return a login prompt that points you here.
How it works
| Connection | Free tools (6) | Production tools (4) |
|---|---|---|
No Authorization header | Mock response (_mock: true) | 🔒 Login prompt |
Authorization: Bearer <key> | Mock response | Mock response |
Every tool response in demo mode is tagged with _mock: true and a _disclaimer field so it's obvious you're not hitting real APIs.
Free tools (no auth required)
Read-only research and inspection tools. Safe to call without an account.
| Tool | What it would return in production |
|---|---|
research_keywords | Discover, dedupe, and 2D-label keywords from a seed or domain |
research_serp | Fetch and parse a SERP (Google/Bing) including AI Overview citations |
research_ai_citations | Track citations of a brand across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini |
jobs_list | List recent agent invocations (jobs) |
jobs_get | Fetch a single job's status, result summary, and event-stream link |
workspaces_list | List workspaces this API key can access |
Production tools (require authentication)
Anything that would generate content, mutate external state (Google Search Console), or run a multi-step billable agent. When called without authentication, these return an error message asking you to log in.
| Tool | What it would do in production |
|---|---|
produce_landing_page | Generate a full landing page through the 4-step pipeline (brief → draft → refine → publish-ready) |
produce_content | Generate long-form blog content from a keyword + outline |
distribute_gsc_index | Submit URLs to Google Search Console for indexing |
agents_bootstrap_brand | Run the 20-minute full brand kickoff: ICP, keyword library, competitor map, and content plan |
When a production tool is called without auth, the response is:
🔒 Please log in to continue using this MCP.
The `produce.landing_page` tool is part of the production tier and requires
an authenticated CitationBench workspace before it can run real work.
To continue:
1. Visit https://mcp.citationbench.com/login?response_type=code&client_id=citationbench-mcp-demo
to provision a workspace.
2. Once you have your API key (format: `sk_live_*`), reconnect this MCP
server with the header:
Authorization: Bearer <your_key>
In the meantime, the read-only research tools still work without authentication.Claude Code and Claude Desktop read this and surface the message to you in the chat reply — naming the URL and the next step.
Connect in demo mode
claude mcp add --transport http citationbench https://mcp.citationbench.com/mcp
claude mcp listShould show citationbench with status connected. No headers required.
Upgrade to authenticated mode
Re-add the connection with any Bearer token. In the live demo any non-empty Bearer is accepted (this is a demo — production will validate against your real sk_live_* key):
claude mcp remove citationbench
claude mcp add --transport http citationbench https://mcp.citationbench.com/mcp \
--header "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_demo"Now the four production tools work too.
Try the login flow end-to-end
- Install in demo mode (above).
- Ask Claude: "Use the citationbench MCP to generate a landing page for 'jira alternative'."
- Claude calls
produce_landing_page, gets the 🔒 message, and tells you to log in. - Visit the URL → land on
/loginwith a banner reading "MCP client requesting access". - Reconnect with the Bearer header. The same prompt now succeeds.
What's next
Catalog
Authoritative inventory of CitationBench MCP tools, namespaced by pillar — research, produce, distribute, memory, agents, jobs, workspaces. Every REST endpoint is also exposed as an MCP tool.
Claude Code
Connect the hosted CitationBench MCP server to Claude Code in 60 seconds with one claude mcp add command, then run agentic keyword research, content, and link-building tools.