Unlike generic search APIs, Opedd returns content with a verifiable license key — with the rights cleared and a record you can show your legal team.
Quick start
npx opedd-mcp
Then add it to your MCP host (see Claude Desktop / Cursor / Windsurf setup below). Discovery + verification tools work with no configuration; purchasing and content retrieval use optional API keys from opedd.com.
Hosted endpoint — no install (mcp.opedd.com)
Prefer zero-install? The same 20 tools are served hosted at https://mcp.opedd.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP). Auth is an Authorization: Bearer header with any Opedd key — public discovery tools need no auth at all.
Claude Messages API (production agents):
{
"mcp_servers": [{
"type": "url",
"url": "https://mcp.opedd.com/mcp",
"name": "opedd",
"authorization_token": "opedd_buyer_live_..."
}]
}
OpenAI Responses API:
{
"tools": [{
"type": "mcp",
"server_label": "opedd",
"server_url": "https://mcp.opedd.com/mcp",
"authorization": "opedd_buyer_live_..."
}]
}
claude.ai / Claude Desktop custom connector (all plans): Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → URL https://mcp.opedd.com/mcp; add a Authorization: Bearer <your key> request header for the credentialed tools.
Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"opedd": {
"url": "https://mcp.opedd.com/mcp",
"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:OPEDD_KEY}" }
}
}
}
Key routing: opedd_sk_* (legacy opedd_pub_*) → publisher tools · opedd_buyer_* → content retrieval · ent_* → bulk feeds · buyer-portal JWT → audit/compliance/EU-AI-Act tools. Your key is forwarded per request and never stored by the gateway.
What it does
Exposes up to 20 tools to any AI assistant (some are conditional on env vars):
Every tool carries a title and MCP annotations (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint) so an assistant can tell which tools only read and which spend money or write (v0.12.0).
Always available — discovery + per-article purchase + onboarding + rights signaling
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
search_content | Free discovery. Full-text search across everything licensable (v0.8.0) — ranked matches with publisher, prices, word count and a description snippet; quotes for phrases, -word to exclude. Returns no article text — use search_passages to actually read |
search_passages | Paid per answer, or included in a monthly subscription. Ask a question, get licensed passages that answer it, with citations. Per-question licences: charged once per publisher per question at that publisher's own price, capped at 300 words or 25% of the article, counted cumulatively. Monthly AI answers subscriptions (v0.12.0): included, not capped, from the subscription's start. Narrow with publishers, published_after, published_before, max_results (1–25). Needs a buyer key with the search scope. Re-asking within 24h is free |
lookup_content | Look up an article by URL — returns title, publisher, pricing |
purchase_license | Buy a Human republication licence for one article via Stripe — returns OP-XXXX-XXXX key. Requires terms_accepted: true (genuine buyer assent to opedd.com/terms; recorded with the licence) |
verify_license | Verify a license key — returns validity, article, publisher, public-record proof |
browse_registry | Browse the public Opedd registry — lists issued LICENSES (use publisher_directory to browse publishers themselves) |
publisher_directory | Browse the public Opedd publisher catalog — paginated publishers with article counts + pricing + sample articles (primary buyer-discovery surface for AI labs) |
place_licence_order | Place a licence order for one or more publishers: AI answers (monthly full text, or metered pay-per-request snippets ≤300 words / 25%), Full catalogue (archive, one_time: everything published up to the order date, kept permanently, no AI training), AI training (one_time, back catalogue), client display (monthly × end clients). Optional include_archive: true on a monthly AI answers order adds each publisher's Full catalogue for complete access. Each publisher is its own Schedule at its own price; returns the order, lines, unavailable publishers and hosted_invoice_url. Needs OPEDD_BUYER_JWT and terms_accepted: true |
rsl_get | Fetch a publisher's RSL Standard manifest — public discovery surface; jsonld: true returns CDSM Article 4(3) signed receipt (Phase 12 W1.1) |
detect_platform | Detect the content platform behind a URL — returns suggested onboarding workflow for Substack / Beehiiv / Ghost / Medium / Brevo / custom (Phase 12 W3.1) |
Requires OPEDD_BUYER_TOKEN (opedd_buyer_live_*) — one key covers search, articles and the feed (v0.12.0)
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
get_content | Retrieve a licensed article under any order your account holds — full text for AI answers monthly and client display orders; pay-per-request licences read through search_passages (403 SEARCH_ONLY_LICENCE); includes 7 RAG metadata fields (author, language, word_count, content_hash, image_urls, canonical_url, tags) |
Feed tools — OPEDD_BUYER_TOKEN + order_id, or an order's OPEDD_ACCESS_KEY (ent_*)
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
list_feed | List the articles a licence order covers, with since delta-feed support. AI training and Full catalogue orders carry full content_body (content_access: "included"); monthly orders are discovery-only (content_access: "retrieval_per_article", fetch text via get_content); per-request orders are "search_only". With a buyer key, pass order_id (optional when the account holds one active order) |
stream_feed_ndjson | Bulk-export up to 1000 articles per call via NDJSON wire format. Same content contract and credentials as list_feed |
Requires OPEDD_BUYER_JWT (Supabase JWT) — buyer account + audit + compliance + attestation surfaces
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
get_buyer_account | Fetch buyer profile + masked API key list — buyer-dashboard mental model |
list_licence_orders | The buyer's licence orders and lines; with order_id, each line's Schedule document and its SHA-256 (the fingerprint recorded on Tempo). Also works with an audit-scoped OPEDD_BUYER_TOKEN |
get_audit_events | Per-event audit ledger with public-record (Tempo) inclusion proofs inline (Phase 9.x + 10 M5) |
get_compliance_dossier | Procurement-defense compliance dossier mapping retrievals to license terms (Phase 11 M4) |
article_53_attestation | Signed compliance attestation (JWT) for a license — the artifact a buyer hands to legal/procurement (Phase 12 W1.4) |
Requires OPEDD_PUB_BEARER (opedd_sk_; legacy opedd_pub_ still works) — publisher-side
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
list_publisher_content | List your own articles with pricing and stats |
push_content | Push your articles to Opedd so AI buyers can license them — 1–100 per call (title/url/html_body required, everything else optional). Onboard your back-catalogue or new posts with no code, straight from your AI assistant. |
Compliance artifacts (publisher-side vs buyer-side — never conflated)
Per Opedd's platform invariants (W1.6 amendment):
rsl_get(publisher_id, jsonld=true)→ publisher-side CDSM Article 4(3) opt-out declaration (signed JSON-LD receipt over the reservation state).article_53_attestation(license_id)→ buyer-side signed compliance attestation (HS256 JWT scoped to one license).get_compliance_dossier(from, to)→ comprehensive procurement-defense dossier covering BOTH sides (publisher CDSM reservation honored + buyer attestation evidence chain).
These serve different audit-defensibility modes and never share wire format. Tool descriptions cite the W1.6 invariant inline.
Install
npm install -g opedd-mcp
Or run directly with npx:
npx opedd-mcp
Configuration
Set environment variables to pre-configure the server:
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
OPEDD_BUYER_EMAIL | Recommended | Your email — used as default for all purchases |
OPEDD_PAYMENT_METHOD_ID | Recommended | Stripe pm_... ID — used for autonomous per-article purchasing |
OPEDD_BUYER_TOKEN | Optional | Buyer API key (opedd_buyer_live_*; opedd_buyer_test_* for sandbox) — enables search_passages (with the search scope), get_content, list_feed + stream_feed_ndjson (with order_id) |
OPEDD_ACCESS_KEY | Optional | An order's enterprise access key (ent_*) — alternative credential for list_feed + stream_feed_ndjson |
OPEDD_BUYER_JWT | Optional | Supabase session JWT from the buyer portal — enables place_licence_order + list_licence_orders + get_buyer_account + get_audit_events + get_compliance_dossier + article_53_attestation |
OPEDD_PUB_BEARER | Optional | Publisher API key (opedd_sk_<32-hex>, canonical since 2026-08-27; older opedd_pub_<32-hex> keys keep working) — from the Opedd dashboard, Settings → Developers. Enables list_publisher_content (+ include_body) and push_content. |
OPEDD_API_KEY | Deprecated | Legacy Publisher API key (op_...) — fallback during the transition window; will stop working when opedd-backend Phase C deploys. Migrate to OPEDD_PUB_BEARER. |
OPEDD_API_URL | Optional | Override the API base URL (default: Opedd production) |
OPEDD_MCP_TELEMETRY | Optional | Set to 0 to disable anonymous usage telemetry (see below) |
Getting a Stripe payment method ID: Save a card in your Stripe account and retrieve the
pm_...ID via the Stripe API.
Anonymous usage telemetry
To understand how AI assistants use this server, opedd-mcp sends anonymous
telemetry for each tool call: only the tool name, its duration, whether it
succeeded, and the server version — plus a random per-process id. It never
sends tool parameters, responses, your email, API keys, tokens, content, or
your IP. Data goes to Opedd's PostHog (EU region).
To opt out, set either environment variable before starting the server:
OPEDD_MCP_TELEMETRY=0
# or the cross-tool standard:
DO_NOT_TRACK=1
When opted out, no telemetry client is created and nothing is sent.
Claude Desktop setup
Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"opedd": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["opedd-mcp"],
"env": {
"OPEDD_BUYER_EMAIL": "[email protected]",
"OPEDD_PAYMENT_METHOD_ID": "pm_..."
}
}
}
}
Cursor / Windsurf setup
Add to your MCP settings:
{
"opedd": {
"command": "npx opedd-mcp",
"env": {
"OPEDD_BUYER_EMAIL": "[email protected]",
"OPEDD_PAYMENT_METHOD_ID": "pm_..."
}
}
}
Example usage
Once configured, you can ask your AI assistant:
"Look up the licensing options for this article: https://theinformation.com/articles/..."
"Purchase a human republication license for that article on my behalf."
"Verify license key OP-XXXX-XXXX and tell me what it covers."
"Browse the latest licenses from The Information publisher."
Phase 12 Wave 1 + 3 surfaces (v0.3.0)
"What does publisher 8268c353-ffa3-4db3-bbb2-90ddbbb43e41 license? Pull the RSL manifest." — uses
rsl_get
"Get me a CDSM Article 4(3) signed receipt for that publisher's reservation state — set
jsonld: true." — usesrsl_getwith content negotiation
"Generate a signed compliance attestation for our license
11111111-...covering the last 90 days. I need the artifact for our procurement audit committee." — usesarticle_53_attestation(requiresOPEDD_BUYER_JWT)
"This publisher just signed up:
https://noahpinion.substack.com. Which onboarding workflow should we use?" — usesdetect_platform
"Browse the finance category in the Opedd catalog — show me publishers with at least 50 articles." — uses
publisher_directory
"What's in my buyer account? Show me my active API keys." — uses
get_buyer_account(requiresOPEDD_BUYER_JWT)
The assistant will call the appropriate Opedd tools, show you the results, and—if you've pre-configured a payment method—can complete a purchase autonomously.
Payment methods
Purchases use Stripe by default (via pm_... payment method IDs). USDC on Tempo is also supported by the Opedd API — pass payment: { method: 'usdc', tx_hash: '0x...' } directly to agent-purchase if building a custom integration.
Development
git clone https://github.com/Opedd/opedd-mcp
cd opedd-mcp
npm install
npm run dev # runs with tsx (no build step)
npm run build # compiles to dist/
How Opedd compares to search APIs
| Opedd | Generic search APIs | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Licensed content + license key + public-record proof — all in one API call | Scraped web content, no rights |
| Content delivery | Full article text via API (JSON) — bulk on flat-fee licenses, per-call (metered) on filtered licenses; real-time feed via webhooks | Scraped snippets or full-page dumps |
| Content quality | Curated publisher content (niche B2B newsletters, expert analysis) | Whatever's on the open web |
| Rights | Verifiable license key per article, publisher-authorized | No rights clearance |
| Proof | Public record (Tempo) — independently verifiable | None |
| Compliance | Signed attestation + full provenance chain | No provenance |
| Pricing | Publisher sets their own price per article | Platform decides |
| Delivery modes | Per-article API, bulk feed (JSON firehose), buyer webhooks (push) | Query-response only |
| Protocol | REST + MCP native | REST only |
Opedd is the licensed content delivery layer for AI — not just a licensing wrapper. Publishers upload content, you retrieve it via API with a license attached. One integration gives your pipeline both the content and the legal right to use it.
Learn more
- Opedd for AI Agents — full documentation, code examples, endpoint reference
- API Docs — OpenAPI spec with agent endpoints
- Verify a licence — check any licence key in the public record
License
MIT