Run audits via API or MCP

Base URL

Every endpoint lives under one host. All requests and responses are JSON unless noted.

https://api.citepulse.ai

Authentication

Two access modes, depending on what you call.

Free audit engine (no key)

The audit endpoints need no API key. They do require a valid, deliverable email and acceptance of the Terms and Privacy Policy in the request body, and they draw from a shared daily pool. One free audit runs per email and domain; a repeat for the same site returns a paid upsell. This is the anti-abuse gate on a run that costs real money.

Agency API (Bearer key)

The /api/v1 endpoints authenticate with an agency API key issued from your agency dashboard, available on the Scale plan. Send it as a bearer token.

Authorization: Bearer <your-agency-api-key>

REST API

Start an AI-visibility audit for a domain. Returns 202 with an audit_id to poll, or 200 with the result inline when a fresh result is already cached (under 24 hours). The PDF report is also emailed to the address you pass.

curl -X POST https://api.citepulse.ai/api/audit \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "domain": "example.com",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "accept_terms": true,
    "industry": "b2b saas"
  }'

# 202 Accepted (a fresh run, poll for the result)
{ "audit_id": "3f2c..." }

# 200 OK (cache hit under 24h)
{ "audit_id": "3f2c...", "result": { "score": 34, "layers": { ... }, "citations": [ ... ] } }

Error codes you should handle: 400 (missing domain or email, or terms not accepted), 409 audit_limit (a free audit already ran for this email and domain), 429 quota_exhausted (the daily free pool is spent, refreshes at midnight UTC).

Poll a running audit.

curl https://api.citepulse.ai/api/audit/3f2c...

# while running
{ "status": "running", "progress": 45, "message": "Querying Perplexity..." }
# when finished
{ "status": "done", "result": { ... } }

The same progress as Server-Sent Events (SSE), if you prefer a stream to polling.

How many free audits are left in today's shared pool.

{ "limit": 30, "used": 12, "left": 18, "resets_at": "..." }

Agency API (Bearer)

Read your monitored clients and their results. Requires an agency API key (Scale plan).

curl https://api.citepulse.ai/api/v1/clients \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-agency-api-key>"

# /source-presence
{ "score": 62, "present": ["g2.com", "reddit.com"], "missing": ["wikipedia.org"], "last_checked": "..." }

MCP servers

Two read-only Model Context Protocol servers let an AI agent (Claude, Cursor, and similar) pull CitePulse data directly as a tool. Both are authless and read-only. Discovery manifest:

Directory server: /mcp

JSON-RPC 2.0 over Streamable HTTP (protocol 2025-06-18). Read-only tools over verified brand records and AI Trust Scores.

Tool	Arguments	Returns
get_brand_record	domain	Canonical record: name, description, services, profiles, AI Trust Score, verification status
search_brands	query, min_trust_score?	Matching verified brands with domain, name, Trust Score, description

curl -X POST https://api.citepulse.ai/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call",
       "params":{"name":"get_brand_record","arguments":{"domain":"example.com"}}}'

To wire it into an MCP client, point it at the URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "citepulse": { "url": "https://api.citepulse.ai/mcp" }
  }
}

Per-brand server: /mcp/:domain

A per-brand endpoint that serves that brand's approved facts, with Ed25519-signed responses.

Tool	Returns
get_facts	Approved brand facts (signed)
get_pricing	Machine-readable pricing
get_policies	Policies (refund, shipping where relevant)
get_products	Product records

Limits & pricing

Free audits draw from a shared daily pool and are limited to one per email and domain. There is no per-call charge and, today, no usage-based API billing. For instant or deeper results, and for programmatic use at volume, the paid paths are:

• Full Audit, a one-time $39 deep audit (adds Claude, per-area competitor breakdown, no pool cap).
• Monitoring plans, from $89/mo, for ongoing checks.
• Scale, $349/mo, which bundles the agency API key, white-label and up to 10 client domains.