MCP connector · Beta

Give your AI assistant your real library, not its memory.

Ask a general assistant about your field and it answers from training-data memory — sometimes inventing a plausible paper with a plausible DOI. Folio’s MCP connector gives Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP client a read-only key to your saved sources, so it searches and cites what you actually have.

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fYour AI assistantConnected

What does my library say about retrieval practice?

search_library· 2 of your sources

Retrieval practice and long-term retention

Roediger & Karpicke · 2006 · APA 7

Spacing effects in classroom settings

Dunlosky et al. · 2013 · APA 7

Retracted — flagged to the assistant

Read-only. Your library, nobody else’s.

Two tools, nothing else

search_library searches your saved sources by meaning, and get_citation returns a formatted reference — APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 17, IEEE, Harvard or Vancouver — with the DOI attached. No write, no delete, no reach into your documents, drafts or certificates. Read the setup guide →

Yours only

A key resolves to exactly one account. Another researcher’s source id is indistinguishable from one that does not exist, so there is no cross-library leakage to find — verified under real attack testing before this shipped.

Retraction-aware

Every result carries its retraction status through to the assistant. A cited-but-retracted source gets flagged in the answer instead of being quietly repeated back to you.

Off by default

Opt-in, free, and nothing exists until you create a key. Revoke it any time from Account → Account — it stops working immediately, and your other keys carry on.

How it works

01

Create a key

Open Account → Account, choose New key under “Connect an AI assistant”, and copy it. Folio stores a hash, not the key, so it is shown once.

02

Paste it into your client

Add Folio as a remote MCP server in Claude, ChatGPT or any compliant client. The full JSON snippet and a curl check live in the setup guide.

03

Ask about your field

Your assistant searches your real library instead of guessing — and quotes citations Folio formatted for it, retraction flags and all.

What you get

Read-only search_library and get_citation tools
Semantic search across your saved sources
APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 17, IEEE, Harvard & Vancouver
DOI and open-access status on every result
Retraction flags passed through to the assistant
One key = one account, no cross-library access
Standard MCP over Streamable HTTP — any client works
A separate key per assistant, revocable one at a time
Free, opt-in, and off until you create a key
Beta: version 1 is read-only, your library only

Questions, answered

What can the assistant actually do?

Exactly two things: search your saved sources by meaning, and return a formatted citation for one of them. It cannot write, edit, delete or add anything, and it cannot see your documents, drafts, certificates or account.

Can it reach anyone else’s library?

No. A key resolves to exactly one account, and a source id belonging to another researcher is indistinguishable from one that does not exist. There is no public or cross-library search in this version — that is deliberate, not an oversight.

What does “beta” mean here?

The connector works and is safe to use, but it is version 1: read-only, your library only, and still settling. Expect the surface to grow — write tools and broader search are not part of it yet.

What happens if I cite something retracted?

Retraction status travels with every result, so the assistant is told when a source has been retracted rather than quietly repeating it.

What does it cost, and how do I turn it off?

Nothing, and it is off until you create a key. Revoke any key from Account → Account and it stops working immediately; your other keys keep working, which is why a separate key per assistant is worth it.

Which assistants work?

Any MCP-compatible client. Folio runs a standard MCP server over Streamable HTTP, so Claude, ChatGPT and anything else that speaks the protocol connect the same way — a URL and a bearer key.

Your sources, in the assistant you already use.

Free, opt-in and in beta — create a key whenever you want one, revoke it just as easily.

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