Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, VS Code or Cursor to AuditAE (MCP)

Steps

1. Copy the server URL

AuditAE ships a remote MCP endpoint (Streamable HTTP, stateless) at https://auditae.app/api/mcp. There's no AuditAE package to install: every client connects to that URL. Claude and VS Code also install from a link in Client setup.

2. Choose OAuth or an API key

Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex and VS Code sign in (OAuth): add the server and sign in with your AuditAE account when the client asks. No key to copy; the connection uses your personal workspace and its balance.

Cursor, Windsurf, team workspaces and most other clients use an API key: the same ae_live_… Bearer key as the REST API. Sign-in always connects your personal workspace, so a team workspace connects with a key, from Claude Code, Codex, VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf or Claude Desktop's config file. Create one at API keys: click Create key and copy the key from the banner straight away. It's shown once; lose it and you'll need to Rotate it.

An agent with no AuditAE account: connect to https://auditae.app/api/mcp/pay with no credentials. The free tools run straight away, and add_site creates a workspace and returns its key. See Agents without an account.

3. Add the server to your client

Use the button, command or config block for your client from Client setup below. Clients that sign in open your browser the first time they connect. Config-file clients may need a reload after you save, and Claude Desktop a restart.

4. Try a first prompt

Ask: "List my AuditAE sites, read the latest audit for my site, then get a fix plan for it." The agent calls list_sites (free) for site ids and the latest audit, get_audit (free) for who got cited on each prompt and engine, then get_fix_plan ($0.50) for the exact edits. See Apply a fix plan and check it worked for the rest of the loop.

Client setup

Every client gets the same server and the same tools. Pick yours:

Claude

Opens Claude's Add custom connector dialog with AuditAE filled in. Confirm, then sign in to AuditAE or create a free account in the same step. The connector works in Claude on the web, in Claude Desktop and in Cowork.

Add AuditAE to Claude. Team or Enterprise Owner? Add it for your organization.

Server URL

https://auditae.app/api/mcp

• Claude Free allows one custom connector.
• On Team and Enterprise plans only Owners add custom connectors, from Organization settings → Connectors. Members then connect it from Customize → Connectors.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT adds custom MCP servers as plugins. Four steps; the last one signs you in.

1. Open chatgpt.com/plugins, select +, then Add custom MCP server. If you don't see that option, turn on developer mode in ChatGPT's settings (on Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces an admin does this).
2. Name it AuditAE, paste https://auditae.app/api/mcp as the server URL and choose OAuth for authentication.
3. Select I understand and want to continue, then Create as a plugin.
4. Install the plugin and sign in to AuditAE when ChatGPT asks.

Server URL

https://auditae.app/api/mcp

• Needs a plan that allows custom MCP servers. Check your plan and workspace settings.
• When AuditAE adds tools, open AuditAE at chatgpt.com/plugins and select Refresh.

Claude Code

Run this once in your terminal; --scope user adds AuditAE to every project. Then run /mcp in Claude Code, pick auditae and choose Authenticate to sign in.

Terminal

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user auditae "https://auditae.app/api/mcp"

Team workspace? Sign-in connects your personal workspace. To connect a team workspace, switch to the team in AuditAE and follow this client's key setup under API keys.

Codex

One command for the Codex CLI. It detects AuditAE's sign-in and opens your browser; if it doesn't, run codex mcp login auditae. The Codex IDE extension and the ChatGPT desktop app read the same ~/.codex/config.toml: you can paste the block instead, then run codex mcp login auditae (or sign in from the app's MCP settings).

Terminal

codex mcp add auditae --url "https://auditae.app/api/mcp"

~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.auditae]
url = "https://auditae.app/api/mcp"
tool_timeout_sec = 300

Team workspace? Sign-in connects your personal workspace. To connect a team workspace, switch to the team in AuditAE and follow this client's key setup under API keys.

• tool_timeout_sec = 300 gives long citation runs room to finish; Codex's default is 60 seconds.

VS Code

Opens VS Code's install prompt for AuditAE, for GitHub Copilot agent mode. Select Install, then sign in when VS Code asks. Or run MCP: Open User Configuration and add the block below.

Install in VS Code or VS Code Insiders.

mcp.json (user configuration)

{
  "servers": {
    "auditae": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://auditae.app/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Team workspace? Sign-in connects your personal workspace. To connect a team workspace, switch to the team in AuditAE and follow this client's key setup under API keys.

• VS Code caps the tools one request can use (128 at last check), counting its built-in tools and your other servers. If it warns, turn off tools you don't need in the tool picker.

Cursor

Cursor connects with an API key for now. Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, your user config, so the key never sits in a project folder, and replace ae_live_… with your key.

Create a key at API keys (a free account is enough).

~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "auditae": {
      "url": "https://auditae.app/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ae_live_…"
      }
    }
  }
}

• Sign-in and a one-click install for Cursor aren't available yet, so it needs a key.
• If the tools don't show up, reload Cursor after saving the file.

Windsurf

Windsurf (Devin Desktop) connects with an API key. Add this to ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json (%APPDATA%\devin\mcp_config.json on Windows; older Windsurf builds read ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json) and replace ae_live_… with your key.

Create a key at API keys (a free account is enough).

mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "auditae": {
      "serverUrl": "https://auditae.app/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ae_live_…"
      }
    }
  }
}

• Cascade allows 100 tools across all your MCP servers, and AuditAE's full set uses most of them. Turn off servers you aren't using.
• The config path has moved between versions; check your version's MCP settings if neither file is read.

Other clients

Most other clients that speak remote MCP over Streamable HTTP, such as Zed, Cline, Continue, Kiro, Goose or JetBrains, connect to the URL. Clients that support OAuth client metadata documents sign in; the rest send an API key in the Authorization header.

Create a key at API keys (a free account is enough).

Server URL

https://auditae.app/api/mcp

URL and key header

URL:    https://auditae.app/api/mcp
Header: Authorization: Bearer ae_live_…

• Clients that only launch local (stdio) servers bridge to the hosted endpoint with mcp-remote: see Claude Desktop for the config.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop uses the Claude connector from your Claude account, so you don't need this if you added it there. To connect a team workspace with a key instead, bridge to the hosted endpoint with mcp-remote (Desktop's config file only launches local stdio servers): add this to claude_desktop_config.json, replace ae_live_… with your key, and restart the app.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "auditae": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y", "mcp-remote", "https://auditae.app/api/mcp",
        "--header", "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"
      ],
      "env": { "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer ae_live_…" }
    }
  }
}

OAuth or API key

• OAuth (Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex, VS Code and other clients that support OAuth client metadata documents) signs you in as a person and always uses your personal workspace and its balance. Team workspaces use an API key instead.
• API keys (ae_live_…) belong to a workspace, personal or team, and work for the MCP server and the REST API. Cursor and Windsurf connect with a key for now. Create, rotate and revoke keys at API keys.
• Keys stay out of commands and projects: the key setup on API keys reads $AUDITAE_API_KEY from a hidden prompt, so the key never lands in your shell history. Keep config files that hold a key in your user folder, not a project folder you might commit.
• Rate limits: 60 requests a minute per key, and 30 failed sign-ins a minute per IP address.
• New tools: clients load the tool list when they connect. If a tool you expect is missing, disconnect and reconnect the server.

What the tools do

Every client gets the same server: 72 tools across eight families:

• Citation & mentions (14): check_brand_citation (one prompt across N engines), get_share_of_voice (full matrix with domain-level cite counts), explore_llm_mentions (historical AI-citation corpus), explore_web_mentions (open-web brand mentions with sentiment, $0.25), mine_competitor_prompts (prompts where a competitor earned the citation — one competitor, or all of them in one run), find_content_gap, extract_competitors_from_text (analyze AI output you already have — bundled), and get_audit (an existing audit's per-prompt × engine results — who got cited, which URLs — free), get_fix_plan (the exact edits that get you cited, written for the site's platform, checked against the live site so fixes already in place come back marked already_done and copy the site doesn't back up comes back as a draft to confirm — $0.50), plus schedule_recheck, get_recheck and cancel_recheck (re-ask a plan's prompts N days after you publish and compare citations before vs after — free to schedule, each check billed when it runs), monitor_citations (re-ask a site's questions every week or month and email the owner when a citation is gained or lost — free to set up, each run billed per check) and get_changes (what gained or lost a citation since the previous run, who's cited instead, and tracked keywords that moved in Google — free).
• Technical & site health (9): run_technical_audit (homepage crawl + Core Web Vitals, answers within ~25s — free), crawl_site (multi-page crawl, $0.01/page), get_latest_crawl (cached result — free), detect_tech_stack (CMS / platform detection — free), check_agent_readiness (can AI agents reach, read and buy from the site — free), get_backlink_summary (off-page authority for the site or a competitor — free), submit_urls (ping IndexNow — Bing, Yandex and others — with changed URLs from AuditAE's server — free), check_ai_crawlers (which AI crawlers robots.txt and the firewall let in, with robots.txt fixes — free) and check_llms_txt (validates /llms.txt — free).
• WordPress (26): read/write tools that pair with the free AuditAE WordPress plugin — wp_list_sites, wp_site_status, wp_list_posts, wp_get_post, wp_create_post, wp_update_post, Yoast/Rank Math meta (wp_get_post_seo, wp_set_post_seo, wp_get_seo_settings, wp_set_seo_settings), FAQ, post-level, and organization-level JSON-LD CRUD, schema probe, llms.txt curation (wp_get_llms_txt, wp_set_llms_txt, wp_reset_llms_txt), and the Page Composer (wp_read_page_blocks, free; wp_design_page at 25¢). Standard WP mutations cost 5¢ each, billed per write; reads are free. Every wp_* tool takes either the wp_list_sites id or the site's list_sites site_id, and schema writes are validated before they reach the site. What each tool needs from the plugin: WordPress permissions.
• Account (9): list_sites (every site with its site_id, competitor domains, latest audit and whether Search Console and GA4 are connected — call it first), add_site (add a website from the chat; on a workspace's first site it also starts the starter audit, paid from the signup credit), get_site_brief and update_site_brief (the site's brief — brand, customers, competitors, keywords, strategy — shared with AEBOT and every connected AI client, so the next session starts from it; see Memory), get_balance, create_top_up_link, and on the remote server pay_with_shared_payment_token — see Top-ups for agents, plus get_client_portal and update_client_portal to share a site's read-only client page and get its link. Free.
• Google data (3): query_search_console (clicks, impressions, CTR and position by query, page, country, device or date) and query_google_analytics (any GA4 dimensions and metrics) and get_ai_referral_traffic (visits from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, with the change against the previous period and their landing pages). They use the Google connection and the GA4 property / Search Console site picked in each site's Settings, so there's no Google Cloud project to set up. Free. See Connect Google.
• Keyword research & rank tracking (4): keyword_research (related keywords for a seed term with volume, CPC and difficulty, in the chosen country — $0.25 per run), track_keywords (up to 20 keywords per call: a live Google check now — position, ranking URL, AI Overview presence and citation, search volume — then a weekly re-check, $0.05 per keyword per check), list_tracked_keywords (latest positions and changes — free) and untrack_keyword (stops the weekly checks — free). query_search_console suggests queries worth tracking: the ones already ranking 4–20 that the site doesn't track yet.
• SEO data for any keyword or domain (4): get_serp (live Google top 10–30 with AI Overview sources, featured snippet and People Also Ask — $0.05), get_domain_keywords (the keywords any domain ranks for, by traffic, with its totals — $0.10), get_competing_domains (its organic competitors and shared keywords — $0.10) and get_keyword_metrics (volume, 12-month trend, CPC, difficulty and intent for up to 60 keywords — $0.10). Per call, no subscription; the same call within 24h is free, and on the no-account endpoint one data call a day is a free sample.
• Schema (3): discover_brand_entities (Wikidata-backed identifier lookup), generate_schema, validate_schema — the same schema-autopilot tools AEBOT uses (see Using AEBOT).

Any website, not just WordPress

get_fix_plan detects what the site is built on and returns each fix with steps for that platform plus paste-ready JSON-LD and meta tags. On a paired WordPress site the agent applies it with the wp_* tools; on a code-built site (Next.js, Astro, …) a coding agent like Claude Code or Cursor edits the repo; on Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace or Framer it walks you through the editor.

Prices

MCP calls spend the same credit balance as the dashboard: 5–12¢ per check depending on the engine (Perplexity 5¢, ChatGPT 7¢, Google AI Overviews 9¢, Gemini 12¢). Each tool's description includes its price (a Billing: line), so your agent can quote it before calling. When the balance hits zero, in-flight audits return partial: true with the cells that did run. Full list, top-ups and limits: Credits, prices and top-ups.

Agents without an account

A separate endpoint, https://auditae.app/api/mcp/pay, serves agents that have no AuditAE account. It takes no OAuth; an ae_live_… key is optional.

• Free with no credentials: extract_competitors_from_text, discover_brand_entities, validate_schema, generate_schema, run_technical_audit, check_agent_readiness, check_ai_crawlers, check_llms_txt, check_citation_free. Limited to 30 free calls per IP address a day, with a site-wide daily ceiling.
• One free citation check a day: check_citation_free asks one buyer question of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews and returns who's cited, with a shareable report — the same check as the free one on the website, one fresh run per IP address a day.
• Paid tools need a funded workspace. Pay-per-call isn't switched on yet. Call add_site (free) to get a workspace API key, then create_top_up_link (free) and have a person pay the link ($5 minimum), then retry with the key as a Bearer token. Or sign up and use https://auditae.app/api/mcp with OAuth or a key.
• With a workspace: list_sites shows its sites, get_audit reads results for free, submit_urls pings IndexNow for free, get_changes says what moved since the last run for free, and schedule_recheck and monitor_citations (need a funded workspace) re-ask questions later or every week.
• WordPress tools need an account and a paired plugin: Pair the AuditAE WordPress plugin.

Machine-readable discovery

• MCP server card: /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json, with every tool, its price and the no-account endpoint.
• /llms.txt: a summary of AuditAE for language models.
• /openapi.json: the REST API as OpenAPI 3.1. See REST API and API keys.

More guides

• AuditAE MCP server guide: what an MCP server is, connecting each client, and what a real run returns.
• WordPress MCP: editing WordPress from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor.
• Google Analytics MCP: asking your GA4 and Search Console data questions from chat.