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If you already use ChatGPT, Claude, or Microsoft 365 Copilot, connect Consensus to it. Your assistant can then search over 400 million scholarly articles, including 350 million peer-reviewed research papers, apply academic filters, hand research questions to the Consensus research agent, and cite real research instead of answering from memory.

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Connect in one click

Pick your assistant and add Consensus from its app directory.
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ChatGPT

Add Consensus from the ChatGPT app directory.
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Claude

Add Consensus from the Claude connectors directory.
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Microsoft 365 Copilot

Add Consensus for Copilot from the Microsoft Marketplace.
Sign in with your Consensus account the first time you connect. Your results depend on your Consensus plan, not your ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot subscription.

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Connect another tool

Using a different assistant or tool, such as Cursor, VS Code, or Claude Code? Connect it to the Consensus MCP server directly. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a standard way for AI assistants to use outside tools. The server is hosted, so there’s nothing to install:

Set up your client

Step-by-step connection guides for Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Gemini Spark, Copilot Studio, and any other MCP client.

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What your assistant can do

Search. The search tool returns ranked papers with title, authors, journal, publication year, citation count, study type, a key takeaway, and a link to the paper on Consensus. On paid plans it can also return query-relevant full-text excerpts, so your assistant can quote the passage behind each claim. Your assistant can pass the same filters Research Agent uses:
  • Year range, study type, and journal quartile (SJR)
  • Human and controlled studies, minimum sample size, minimum citations
  • Medical mode, open access only, exclude preprints
  • Study duration and country
Threads. With a signed-in account, your assistant can also run Research Agent as a Thread. create_thread starts the agent on a research question, get_thread returns the cited answer when it’s ready, add_to_thread asks a follow-up, and find_threads finds earlier Threads. The agent can search your Library collections and save papers to them, and deep mode runs a longer literature review on paid plans.

Quick start: Search & Threads

When to use each, with a reference page for every tool.

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Supported clients

Claude (web, desktop, and Claude Code), ChatGPT and ChatGPT Deep Research, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Gemini Spark, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio, and any client that supports remote MCP servers.
Open Settings › Connectors, search for Consensus, and click +. Then switch it on from the + menu in any chat under Connectors.
The Claude Connectors dialog with Consensus found by search and the add button highlighted
The Claude chat + menu with the Consensus connector toggled on
You can use the MCP server without an account at reduced limits.

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Pre-built workflows

Consensus publishes prompt templates (“skills”) for common research jobs you can run through MCP:
  • Literature review helper — reconnaissance, PICO/SPIDER decomposition, systematic searching, and synthesis.
  • Curriculum development — parse a syllabus into a reading list with discussion questions.
  • Grant research — position your idea, map it to NIH institutes and mechanisms, and find funded overlap.
See Skills, or browse the full gallery in Use cases.

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Use the API

Building your own tool, agent, or workflow? The Consensus API gives you the same paper search over REST, and can run Research Agent as a Thread. Send a query, get back ranked peer-reviewed papers with metadata, and skip running each search by hand. It’s self-serve and open to everyone.
  • The top 20 most relevant papers per query by default; raise page_size for more, up to your plan’s maximum
  • Metadata on every paper: title, authors, journal, year, DOI, citation count, and a link
  • On paid plans: study design, journal rank, key takeaways, and query-relevant full-text excerpts
  • The same filters as the web app: publication date, study type, sample size, citations, journal quality, field, country, and open access
To get a key, click your profile icon in Consensus, choose API & MCP Dashboard, open Keys and Clients, and click New key.

Get started with the API

Authentication, your first request, and the full parameter reference.

Run Research Agent from code

Start a Thread, wait for the cited answer, and ask follow-ups.

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Plans and limits

API and MCP calls share one monthly pool.
  • A call covers up to 100 papers: 1–100 papers is 1 call, 101–200 is 2, and so on. Requests default to 20 papers.
  • Paid plans can enable additional usage at $0.05 per call, up to 1,000 calls per month (10,000 on Deep). It’s off by default.
  • Usage resets on the 1st of each month.
See MCP plans and access for the full breakdown. Track usage, connected clients, and billing from your profile icon under API & MCP Dashboard.
The API & MCP Dashboard's Keys and clients tab listing Claude and ChatGPT as connected MCP clients

Connected MCP clients appear under Keys and clients, alongside your API keys.

Clients without OAuth can pass any Consensus API key as a Bearer token. The key gets its owner’s plan limits. See MCP plans and access. For custom Enterprise limits, contact [email protected].

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Security

Only connect to the official URL above. Queries travel over HTTPS, results contain publicly available paper metadata, and no personal data is stored from MCP requests.

Get started with MCP

Connect your client in under 2 minutes.

API

The same search over REST.