Get started with Consensus MCP

Consensus MCP lets AI assistants search 400+ million peer-reviewed research papers. Connect your preferred client below. You’ll be searching in under 2 minutes

What you can build with the Consensus MCP

MCP is the fastest way to give an assistant or agent paper search. Owkin plugged Consensus MCP into its agentic AI scientist and went from curated PubMed abstracts to 25x the paper coverage in days. Browse the use cases.

Server URL

https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp

Claude

Add Consensus from the Claude connectors directory.

ChatGPT

Add Consensus from the ChatGPT app directory.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Add Consensus for Copilot from the Microsoft Marketplace.

Connect Your Client

Claude Desktop

One-click: open Consensus in the Claude directory and click Connect. Or connect manually:

Open Settings

Open claude.ai or the Claude desktop app and go to Settings.

Browse connectors

Select Connectors, then Browse connectors.

Find Consensus

Search for Consensus and click Connect.

Approve the sign-in with your Consensus account, or continue without one at reduced limits.

Start searching

Ask a research question in any chat. Consensus appears in the tools menu.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http consensus https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp

OAuth will open in your browser automatically on first use. You can also trigger it manually with the /mcp command inside Claude Code.

ChatGPT

One-click: open Consensus in the ChatGPT app directory and click Connect. Or connect manually:

Open ChatGPT

Open chatgpt.com and sign in.

Find Consensus

Open Apps from the sidebar, search for Consensus, and click Connect.

Start searching

Ask a research question, or call it by name: “Use Consensus to find RCTs on…”

Search results display in an interactive widget showing top papers with citations and direct links.

Consensus also works with ChatGPT Deep Research. See Using Consensus with ChatGPT Deep Research below.

Codex

codex mcp add consensus --url https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp
codex mcp login consensus

Or add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.consensus]
url = "https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp"

Cursor

One-click: Install in Cursor. Or add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "consensus": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote@latest", "https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Add to your MCP configuration:

{
  "servers": {
    "consensus": {
      "url": "https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to your MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "consensus": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Gemini Spark

Add Consensus as a custom app for Gemini Spark:

Open Connected Apps

Go to gemini.google.com and sign in with a personal Google Account, then click Settings & help → Connected Apps.

Add a custom app

Under Custom apps for Spark, click Add a custom app and paste the server URL:

https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp

Approve the connection

Click Next and follow the prompts to finish OAuth. If your client doesn’t support Dynamic Client Registration, expand Advanced features and enter your credentials.

Start searching

Ask Gemini Spark a research question and it can call Consensus tools.

Requires access to Gemini Spark, a personal Google Account, Keep Activity turned on, and is currently available in the US. Workspace and school accounts are not supported yet.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

In Microsoft 365 Copilot, Consensus is a connector your admin sets up for the tenant. Once it’s there, connect it yourself under Sources.

Open Copilot Chat settings

In Microsoft 365 Copilot, select the gear icon at the bottom of the left sidebar, then Settings, then Sources.

Connect Consensus

Find Consensus for Copilot and select Connect, then sign in with your Consensus account.

Ask a research question

Type a research question like ‘What does the research say about creatine and cognitive function?’ and Copilot will call Consensus to find relevant papers.

Don’t see Consensus under Sources? Your admin needs to add it first. Send them the Microsoft 365 Copilot admin guide. A Consensus account is required and free to create.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Studio

This allows you to add Consensus as a custom tool in Copilot studio so it can be used with agents or other automations you have have. This type of authentication will

Open custom tools

Go to Copilot studio and find the ‘tools’ tab on the left hand side.

Create 'Create new tool'

Click ‘new tool’ to add a custom tool

Click 'Model context protocol'

You can also use the API to do this. But to use the MCP, click ‘model context protocol’.

Fill in the connector information

Server nameConsensusServer DescriptionConsensus is the go-to MCP for academic research. Search 400M+ peer-reviewed papers from PubMed, Semantic Scholar, and ArXiv — filter by study type (RCTs, meta-analyses, systematic reviews), journal quality, sample size, and more. Get structured results with citations, study takeaways, and direct links, or run pre-built workflows for literature reviews, grant research, and evidence synthesis.Server URLhttps://mcp.consensus.app/mcpAuthenticationOAuth 2.0TypeDynamic Discovery

Save and use!

Thats it! This custom tool can now be used and shared with other team members. Each team member will be able to connect to their own Consensus account when they use the tool.

A Consensus account is required. It is free to create.

API key (Bearer token)

Use an API key for clients without OAuth, headless agents, and server-side automations. Send it in the Authorization header on every request to https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Create a key from your profile icon under API & MCP Dashboard → Keys and clients → New key. The key gets its owner’s plan limits and draws from the same monthly pool as the API. See MCP plans and access.JSON config (Cursor, VS Code, and most clients that accept headers):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "consensus": {
      "url": "https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http consensus https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer $CONSENSUS_API_KEY"

An invalid or revoked key doesn’t return an error. The server falls back to no-account limits (3 papers per search), so if you only get 3 results, check your key.

Keep the key server-side. Don’t paste it into prompts or commit it to a repo.

Other MCP clients

Any client that supports remote MCP servers (Streamable HTTP) works. Point it at https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp. If your client supports OAuth, authentication is handled automatically.

Pick your client for step-by-step setup.

Watch: connect Consensus and run your first search

Using Consensus with ChatGPT Deep Research

Consensus also works with ChatGPT Deep Research. When Deep Research uses the Consensus app, it can search Consensus for relevant papers and retrieve full paper details for cited results.

Connect the Consensus app

Connect the Consensus app in ChatGPT using the steps above.

Start a Deep Research request

Start a Deep Research request in ChatGPT.

Ask ChatGPT to use Consensus

Ask ChatGPT to use Consensus for peer-reviewed research, for example:

Use Consensus to research the evidence on exercise for depression. Prioritize systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and randomized controlled trials.

Deep Research may run multiple Consensus searches, refine filters, retrieve paper details, and return a cited synthesis with direct links to papers on Consensus.

Verify Your Connection

Try one of these in your connected client. Each link opens the question pre-filled:

Ask	Try it
”What does the research say about creatine and cognitive function?”	Claude · ChatGPT
”Find meta-analyses on mindfulness for anxiety published since 2020”	Claude · ChatGPT
”Are there RCTs on intermittent fasting with more than 500 participants?”	Claude · ChatGPT
”What is the strongest evidence for and against remote work productivity?”	Claude · ChatGPT

You should see results citing specific papers with titles, journals, years, citation counts, and direct links.

Plans and Access

Your Consensus plan, not your AI subscription, sets how many papers each search returns, your monthly calls, and whether results include DOIs and full-text excerpts. No account is needed to try it.

Plans and access

Limits for every plan, how calls are counted, additional usage, and API key access.

Search Tool

The search tool searches Consensus for peer-reviewed research papers. ChatGPT Deep Research may call this tool multiple times with different queries and filters while building a research report.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	string	Yes	The research question or topic to search for. Use specific academic terminology for best results.
year_min	integer	No	Exclude papers published before this year.
year_max	integer	No	Exclude papers published after this year.
study_types	string array	No	Filter by study design. Values: rct, meta-analysis, systematic review, literature review, case report, non-rct experimental, non-rct observational study, non-rct in vitro, animal.
sjr_max	integer	No	Filter by journal quality (SCImago Journal Rank quartile). 1 is Q1 (highest), 2 is Q2, 3 is Q3, 4 is Q4.
sjr_min	integer	No	Minimum journal ranking quartile. 1 is Q1 (highest), 4 is Q4. Excludes better (lower-number) quartiles; for example, set to 2 to keep Q2–Q4.
human	boolean	No	Set to true to include only studies involving human subjects.
controlled	boolean	No	Set to true to include only controlled studies.
sample_size_min	integer	No	Exclude studies with sample sizes smaller than this number.
citation_min	integer	No	Exclude papers with fewer citations than this number.
medical_mode	boolean	No	Set to true for clinical, medical, or evidence-based medicine questions. Prioritizes top medical journals and clinical guidelines.
exclude_preprints	boolean	No	Set to true to exclude preprints and return peer-reviewed papers only.
open_access	boolean	No	Set to true to include only open-access papers.
duration_min	integer	No	Minimum study duration in days. Useful for longitudinal or long-term studies.
duration_max	integer	No	Maximum study duration in days.
country	string	No	Comma-separated ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes (for example `us`, `gb`) to limit to those countries of study. Unknown codes are ignored.
month_min	integer	No	Minimum publication month (1–12). Use with `year_min`.
month_max	integer	No	Maximum publication month (1–12). Use with `year_max`.
publisher_name	string	No	Comma-separated publisher names, for example `Elsevier`.
journal_name	string	No	Preferred journal, for example `Nature`. Boosts matching papers without excluding others.
domain	string	No	Comma-separated academic field codes, for example `med` or `bio,cs`.
page	integer	No	Zero-indexed result page. Pages after the first need a paid plan.
page_size	integer	No	Results per page. Defaults to 20, capped by your plan.
include_full_text_chunks	boolean	No	Set to true to include query-relevant full-text excerpts. Paid plans only.

Response

The search tool returns a text payload containing ranked papers (title, link, authors, year, citation count, journal, and abstract), citation instructions, and any instructions for best rendering practices — everything an agent needs to answer with cited, linked sources.

Found 20 papers, showing top 20.

[1] [Caffeine and endurance performance: a meta-analysis](https://consensus.app/papers/details/3f1c.../?utm_source=claude_code) (Smith et al., 2021, 154 citations, Sports Medicine, DOI: 10.1007/s40279-021-01470-1)
  Abstract text...

[2] ...

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS: When discussing these findings, you MUST cite papers inline using their numbered references, e.g. [1], [2]. ...

Paid plans also get DOIs and, with include_full_text_chunks, full-text excerpts. In ChatGPT, results appear in the Consensus widget.

Need structured JSON? Use the Consensus API, which shares your monthly allowance with MCP.

Example Prompts

“What does the research say about the effectiveness of remote work on productivity?”
“Find RCTs and meta-analyses since 2020 on cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety”
“Search for high quality human studies on gut microbiome and mental health with at least 100 participants”
“Recent research on large language model hallucination from top tier journals”
“Use Consensus Deep Research to compare evidence for different treatments for insomnia”

Troubleshooting

Authentication successful but server reconnection failed (Claude Code)

Fully quit and restart Claude Code. Do not just use the reconnect option. Your credentials are saved and will work after restart.

Tools stop working after a few hours (401 errors)

Your OAuth token has expired. Re-authenticate:

Claude Code: Type /mcp, select Consensus, choose Clear authentication, re-authenticate, then restart Claude Code
Codex: Run codex mcp logout consensus then codex mcp login consensus
Cursor: Disconnect and reconnect the server in Settings then Tools and MCP
Claude Desktop: Disconnect and reconnect the connector in Settings then Connectors
ChatGPT: Disconnect and reconnect the Consensus app from ChatGPT Apps

Server shows failed or no tools appear

Verify the URL includes /mcp at the end
Remove and re-add the server using the commands above
Restart your client completely

Consensus search has not been loaded yet (Claude Code)

This is normal. Claude loads tool definitions on demand when many tools are present. Retry the query and it will work on the second attempt.

ChatGPT Deep Research is not using Consensus

Confirm the Consensus app is connected in ChatGPT Apps, then ask Deep Research to use Consensus explicitly. For example:

Use Consensus to find peer-reviewed papers on this question and cite the strongest evidence.

Deep Research decides when to call connected tools, so it may not call Consensus for questions that are not research-focused.

No results found

Try broadening your search query or removing filters. Use specific academic terminology rather than casual language.

Monthly call limit reached

Paid plans can continue making calls past the included monthly limit when the account has an active metered API subscription and additional usage is enabled; extra usage is billed at $0.05 per call, with each call covering up to 100 papers. Free plans must wait for the next monthly reset or upgrade.

Rate limit exceeded (429 error)

Rate limits are per user for authenticated MCP clients. A 429 that says you’re sending requests too quickly is a per-minute rate limit; wait a few moments and add backoff between requests. A 429 that mentions monthly call credits is a usage limit, not a rate limit.

Security

Endpoint: Only connect to the official URL: https://mcp.consensus.app/mcp
API keys: Store securely using environment variables. Never share keys in prompts or public conversations. Rotate if compromised.
Data handling: Search queries are sent to the Consensus API over HTTPS/TLS. Results contain publicly available academic paper metadata. No personal data is stored from MCP requests.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Auth	Status
Claude Desktop	OAuth	Supported
ChatGPT	OAuth	Supported
ChatGPT Deep Research	OAuth	Supported
Claude Code	OAuth	Supported
Codex	OAuth	Supported
Cursor	OAuth	Supported
VS Code (GitHub Copilot)	Config	Supported
Windsurf	Config	Supported
Gemini Spark	OAuth	Supported
Other MCP Clients	Bearer token	Supported

Additional Resources

Consensus Website

Explore the Consensus research platform.

API Documentation

Structured JSON results for pipelines and integrations.

MCP Specification

Learn more about the Model Context Protocol.

MCP server on GitHub

View the source, report issues, and star the Consensus MCP server.

Introduction

Connect your client

Get started with Consensus MCP

What you can build with the Consensus MCP

Claude

ChatGPT

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Connect Your Client

Using Consensus with ChatGPT Deep Research

Verify Your Connection

Plans and Access

Plans and access

Search Tool

Parameters

Response

Example Prompts

Troubleshooting

Security

Supported Platforms

Additional Resources

Consensus Website

API Documentation

MCP Specification

MCP server on GitHub

What you can build with the Consensus MCP

Claude

ChatGPT

Microsoft 365 Copilot

​Connect Your Client

​Using Consensus with ChatGPT Deep Research

​Verify Your Connection

​Plans and Access

Plans and access

​Search Tool

​Parameters

​Response

​Example Prompts

​Troubleshooting

​Security

​Supported Platforms

​Additional Resources

Consensus Website

API Documentation

MCP Specification

MCP server on GitHub

Connect Your Client

Using Consensus with ChatGPT Deep Research

Verify Your Connection

Plans and Access

Search Tool

Parameters

Response

Example Prompts

Troubleshooting

Security

Supported Platforms

Additional Resources