MCP overview
The Trace MCP server lets AI agents and assistants — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT, and any other Model Context Protocol client — query Trace’s technographic and vendor intelligence as tools. Instead of calling the REST API by hand, your agent connects once and can look up a company’s tech stack, find who uses a given technology, explore partnership graphs, generate lookalike target lists, and build saved company lists — all in natural language.
Connection essentials
Section titled “Connection essentials”| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Server URL | https://mcp.tracedata.ai/mcp |
| Transport | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth 2.1 + PKCE with Dynamic Client Registration (DCR), via Auth0 |
Most MCP clients handle the OAuth handshake for you: you point the client at the server URL, it discovers the authorization server, registers itself dynamically, and opens a browser window for you to sign in. After you approve, the client stores the access token and attaches it on every request.
You need a Trace account
Section titled “You need a Trace account”This is the important difference from the REST API’s “try it” console, where you can paste an API key. There is no anonymous access and no API-key field. You connect with your own Trace user account through OAuth, the same login you use for the web app. Two hard requirements:
- A signed-in Trace user. The server only accepts a real Trace account signed in through OAuth. There is no shared key, no token to paste.
- A verified email. Tokens for users whose email isn’t verified are rejected at the door (you’ll get a 401), so confirm your email before connecting.
Plan requirement
Section titled “Plan requirement”MCP is a paid surface. The whole server requires your organization to be on the
Starter plan or higher — a free-tier organization is refused before any
tool runs, with an upgrade_required error.
Some tools need more. These are gated to the Pro plan or higher:
batch_lookup_companies(multi-domain lookup)list_company_jobs(hiring signal)find_partnerships(partnership graph)generate_target_list(lookalike / target-list generation)
A Starter-plan organization can use every other tool but will get an
upgrade_required error from the Pro-gated ones. The error names the tier you
need. See the tool reference for the per-tool gating.
Usage is metered
Section titled “Usage is metered”Tools that return company records draw credits on the mcp channel — a flat
1 credit per net-new company record returned. A company you’ve already
unlocked stays free on re-access for 30 days, so paging through the same results
or re-querying a recent company costs nothing extra. When your balance can’t
cover a request, the tool returns a credit_exhausted error instead of the
data. See Credits for how the credit system works.
How to connect
Section titled “How to connect”Pick your client and follow its guide. Each one walks through the OAuth sign-in and where to put the server URL:
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Tool reference — every tool, its arguments, what it returns, and its tier gating.
- Authentication — how Trace accounts and credentials work.
- Credits — the credit and metering model.