Connection guide

ChatGPT (Plus, Pro, Team, Enterprise)

1. Open Settings and enable Developer mode (under the security/apps settings) if custom apps aren't already enabled.
2. Go to Apps (formerly Connectors) and choose Create / Add app.
3. Server URL: https://mcp.ipauthor.com/mcp. Authentication: OAuth.
4. Sign in with your work email and the one-time passcode we send, then approve access.
5. In a new chat, enable the IP Author app and ask a patent question.

Claude (claude.ai and Claude Desktop)

1. Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
2. Name: IP Author. URL: https://mcp.ipauthor.com/mcp.
3. Complete the OAuth sign-in (email + one-time passcode).
4. Enable the connector in a new chat and ask away.

Claude Code (terminal)

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user ipauthor https://mcp.ipauthor.com/mcp

Then run /mcp inside Claude Code and authenticate when prompted. With an issued access token instead:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user ipauthor \
  https://mcp.ipauthor.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Cursor and other GUI MCP clients

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ipauthor": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.ipauthor.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${IPAUTHOR_TOKEN}" }
    }
  }
}

Restart the client; the IP Author tools appear in its tool list. Clients that support OAuth for remote servers can omit the header and sign in instead.

Your first 15 minutes

1. A question you can verify: "How many patent families does [a company you know] hold in [a technology you know]? Break it down by year and top classifications."
2. One document, deep: "Pull the full prosecution history for [a patent you know] and summarize each office action and how the applicant overcame it."
3. One heavy deliverable: "Build a competitive landscape for [your space]." It runs about 10 minutes and returns an interactive report link.

Then raid the tested prompt library below.

Prompts that work (tested on production)

Ask in plain English; your assistant picks the tools. Everything below has been run and checked against the live server. Long jobs return a job id; ask "check on my report" anytime, even in a later chat.

Search & analytics

• "How many patent families does [Mobileye] hold in [driver assistance]? Break it down by year and top technology areas."
• "Who are the top filers in [solid-state battery separators] since 2020, and is filing accelerating?"
• "Show me [Tesla]'s most-cited patent in [battery thermal management], then its full family across countries."
• "Search claims, not abstracts: find families whose CLAIMS cover [per-module coolant injection triggered by strain sensing]."

Prosecution & office actions

• "Summarize the last office action on [17/069,188] and list every reference the examiner cited."
• "Show me exactly how claim 1 changed at every amendment round from filing to allowance, and where estoppel risk was created."
• "Which arguments have actually worked with this examiner: interviews, amendments, or arguing alone?"
• "Look up [samsung] in the prosecution corpus: who are they and how many office actions are pending?"
• "List our pending office actions, most urgent first." (large dockets take a minute or two; totals are exact)

Prior art, FTO, licensing

• "Find the strongest prior art against [patent]. Include scholarly literature." (interactive: answer its questions, or say "use your best judgment")
• "Run a freedom-to-operate screen for [product description]: which patents survive triage, and what are the open questions, ranked?"
• "Build an evidence-of-use claim chart for [patent] against [product]. Find and rank the documentation yourself."

People & drafting

• "Profile inventor [name] at [company]: expertise areas, best patents, co-inventor network, career arc."
• "Draft a provisional from this disclosure. Include figures." (editable .docx comes back)
• "Now review the draft like a skeptical partner and list the weaknesses."

Workflows (chain the prompts)

Troubleshooting

Billing and cancellation

Manage everything yourself at /manage: verify your email with a one-time code, then view your plan, update your payment method, download invoices, or cancel. Cancelling takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for — during the free trial that means no charge at all — and you can undo it any time before it takes effect.

Still stuck? Email support@ipauthor.com with the approximate time of the failing call; every request is traceable.