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Give an AI agent the context and tools it needs to search scientific literature, inspect citation evidence, and build with the Scite API. This page covers the three ways to make Scite available to an agent: machine-readable documentation, the hosted MCP server, and direct REST API access.

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AI-accessible documentation

Scite publishes its documentation in formats that agents can read directly.

llms.txt

A compact index that helps an agent discover the right guide or API area.

llms-full.txt

The complete documentation in one file for tasks that need broad context.

OpenAPI specification

Exact REST endpoints, parameters, request bodies, and response schemas.

Copy a page

Use Copy page on any guide when an agent only needs that page.

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Add Scite context to your agent

Add a short instruction like this to AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, or another context file your agent reads:
Scite does not currently publish a separate installable skills package. The documentation and OpenAPI specification provide the agent context, while MCP or the REST API provides access to Scite data.

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Choose an integration

Use Scite with MCP

Give an interactive agent ready-made tools for literature search, paper retrieval, Smart Citations, and Collections.

Build with the REST API

Control requests, responses, retries, and persistent workflow logic in your own application.

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MCP

Connect an MCP-compatible client to Scite’s hosted server:
ChatGPT, Claude, and most interactive MCP clients open Scite in a browser for authentication. Sign in and approve the connection; you do not need to create an API key. Once connected, ask the agent naturally:
  • “Find recent papers on CRISPR delivery and compare the approaches.”
  • “Check whether later studies support or contradict this DOI.”
  • “Save these papers to a collection for my review.”

Install Scite in ChatGPT

Install Scite, sign in, and use @Scite in a prompt.

Connect Scite to Claude

Add the Scite connector and sign in when Claude prompts you.
For Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and other clients, see the MCP setup guide. For authentication details and programmatic MCP requests, see Scite MCP.

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REST API

Choose the REST API when your application owns its requests, response handling, retries, and workflow state. Send requests to:
Start with the Quickstart to make a public request and then an authenticated request. Use the API Reference tab for exact parameters and schemas. Use an API key when an agent calls the REST API directly or when a programmatic MCP client cannot complete browser sign-in. Create and manage keys in the API Console. Grant only the scopes the integration needs, and see Authentication for credential and plan requirements. Keep API keys out of source code, prompts, context files, command history, and logs. Store keys in a secret manager or environment variable and send them as bearer tokens.

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What agents can do with Scite

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Before you ship

  • Treat 401 as a credential problem and 403 as an access or scope problem.
  • Retry 429 and transient 5xx responses with exponential backoff and jitter.
  • Read returned rate-limit headers instead of hard-coding a request rate.
  • Use the response schema in the API Reference tab instead of inferring fields from examples.
  • Confirm that your plan and agreement cover the intended use. See Pricing and plans.
See Errors and rate limits for retry behavior, asynchronous polling, and production guidance.