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Scend MCP server

Getting started

Introduction

Scend's MCP server gives Claude Code, Codex and other MCP clients access to your Scend workspace: sourcing companies, building buyer lists, running market research and looking up companies and people. It is a hosted server at https://api.scend.ai/mcp/ over streamable HTTP. There is nothing to install.

Your organization needs to be on the Enterprise plan.
Add the server to your client and sign in with your Scend account.
Then just ask. Long jobs run on our side and the client checks back until they finish.

Server

https://api.scend.ai/mcp/

Getting started

Connect to Claude Code

Claude Code talks to the server over HTTP and opens the Scend sign-in in your browser the first time you use it.

01Add the server

Run this once. With --scope user the server is available in every project, not just the current one.

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user scend https://api.scend.ai/mcp/

02Sign in

Open Claude Code and run /mcp. Pick scend and finish signing in in the browser. The same command shows the connection status later on.

/mcp

03Try it

Ask something that needs Scend. You should get back your account and organization.

Which Scend account am I connected with?

Getting started

Connect to Codex

Codex keeps the server in ~/.codex/config.toml, so you only set it up once.

01Add the server

Codex sees that the server uses OAuth and opens the Scend sign-in in your browser straight away.

codex mcp add scend --url https://api.scend.ai/mcp/

02Sign in

If the browser did not open, or you need to sign in again later, run this.

codex mcp login scend

03Check the connection

The Auth column should show you as logged in. Then ask Codex something that needs Scend.

codex mcp list

Getting started

Authentication

By default you sign in with your Scend account. The client finds the OAuth flow on its own and opens the Scend login page in your browser. Everything you do through MCP runs as you, inside your organization.

Your organization has to be on the Enterprise plan.
If your user is deactivated, access ends when the current token expires.
To sign in again, run /mcp in Claude Code or codex mcp login scend in Codex.
For scripts and shared machines, use an organization API key instead. See API keys.

Advanced

API keys

For CI, shared machines or a setup checked into a repository, use an organization API key instead of signing in. Keys start with scend_sk_ and are created by an organization owner in the API Keys tab of the Organization page. The API docs cover keys in more detail.

Send the key as Authorization: Bearer scend_sk_.... MCP clients put credentials in the Authorization header, so the REST API's x-api-key header does not apply here.
Each tool below lists the key action it needs. A key without that action is refused for that tool and nothing else. originations:enrich only exists for the MCP enrichment tools.
Put the key in SCEND_API_KEY before starting the client. Do not commit it.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http scend https://api.scend.ai/mcp/ \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $SCEND_API_KEY"

Claude Code, per repository

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scend": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.scend.ai/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${SCEND_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex

[mcp_servers.scend]
url = "https://api.scend.ai/mcp/"
bearer_token_env_var = "SCEND_API_KEY"

Check the key

curl -s https://api.scend.ai/mcp/ \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCEND_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}'

Tools

Companies

Search Scend's global directory of investment firms, operating companies and deal advisors. Filters combine with AND, values inside a list filter with OR.

Tool	Key action	Description
`search_companies`	`companies:read`	Search the company directory by name, type, investor type, industry, geography, AUM, check size or headcount. Returns a page plus the total match count.
`get_company`	`companies:read`	Full profile of one company by id, as returned by search_companies.

Example

Find US healthcare PE firms with more than $1B AUM and show their check size ranges.

Tools

People

Search finance and industry professionals with their role history, or list the people at a company found with search_companies.

Tool	Key action	Description
`search_people`	`people:read`	Search the people directory by name, title, company, industry or geography. Returns a page plus the total match count.
`get_person`	`people:read`	Full profile of one person by id, including role history.

Example

Who are the managing directors at Blackstone focused on healthcare?

Tools

Originations

Source companies that match a thesis. start_origination is a long job capped at 500 rows; search_origination answers immediately from already-sourced data.

Tool	Key action	Description
`search_origination`	`originations:read`	Quick lookup over companies Scend has already sourced, across all originations. Billed per returned row.
`start_origination`	`originations:write`	Long job: create an origination and start sourcing companies for a thesis. Can take enrichment columns to fill once sourcing is done.
`get_origination_status`	`originations:read`	Progress of sourcing or enrichment. Holds the call open for up to wait_seconds (max 45) and returns when something changes.
`stop_origination`	`originations:write`	Stop sourcing new companies and keep what was already sourced.
`get_origination_results`	`originations:read`	Sourced company rows with offset/limit paging, including filled enrichment values.
`list_originations`	`originations:read`	Your originations, newest first, with offset/limit paging.

Example

Source up to 200 founder-owned commercial HVAC companies in the Midwest and tell me when it is done.

Tools

Enrichment

Add research columns to a finished origination and fill them for every row. Filled cells consume credits, so confirm the row and column count first.

Tool	Key action	Description
`list_enrichers`	`originations:read`	Predefined enrichers: ownership details, revenue, EBITDA, funding, founder and executive contacts, role-based contacts and software vendors.
`list_origination_enrichment_columns`	`originations:read`	Enrichment columns defined on an origination: name, prompt, response type and enricher.
`add_origination_enrichment_columns`	`originations:enrich`	Add free-form prompt columns or predefined enricher columns. Adding a column does not fill it; follow up with enrich_origination.
`enrich_origination`	`originations:enrich`	Long job: fill the named columns, or every column, for all rows of an origination. Poll with get_origination_status.

Example

Add revenue, EBITDA and CFO contact columns to my latest origination and fill them.

Tools

Buyer lists

Find and score financial investors, and optionally strategic buyers, for a company. Each returned buyer consumes credits, so set a result size when a bounded list is enough.

Tool	Key action	Description
`start_buyer_search`	`buyer_lists:write`	Long job: create a buyer search from the company description, industries, markets, revenue and EBITDA, then launch scoring.
`get_buyer_search_status`	`buyer_lists:read`	Progress and result count. Waits server-side like the other status tools.
`get_buyer_search_results`	`buyer_lists:read`	Scored buyers, best fit first, with fit rationale, prior transactions, target ranges and contacts.
`list_buyer_searches`	`buyer_lists:read`	Your buyer searches, newest first, with offset/limit paging.

Example

Build a list of 50 private equity buyers for a $12M EBITDA veterinary clinic group in Texas.

Tools

Market research

Generate a market report: landscape, segmentation (the market map) and per-section deep research. Every section consumes credits, so write the prompt carefully.

Tool	Key action	Description
`start_market_research`	`market_research:write`	Long job: propose report sections from the prompt, build the market map and schedule the research run.
`get_market_research_status`	`market_research:read`	Progress, whether the market map is ready, and the report link once the run completes.
`get_market_research_report`	`market_research:read`	Temporary download link to the finished HTML report, plus its outline. Only available once the status is success.
`get_market_map`	`market_research:read`	Categories and subsegments with the companies placed in them. Usually ready well before the report.
`list_market_researches`	`market_research:read`	Your market research projects, newest first, with offset/limit paging.

Example

Map the U.S. outpatient physical therapy market and recommend the segments worth pursuing.

Tools

Account

Check which user and organization the client is connected as.

Tool	Key action	Description
`whoami`	`any key`	The signed-in user email, or the API key label, and the organization.

Example

Which Scend account am I connected with?

Reference

Example prompts

Say what you want in plain words. The client picks the tools, asks before spending credits and waits for the job to finish.

Source 150 founder-owned commercial HVAC companies in the Midwest, then add revenue and ownership columns.
Find private equity buyers for a $40M revenue specialty logistics company in the Southeast and show the top 20 with rationale.
Map the U.S. veterinary clinic market and list the subsegments you recommend for a roll-up.
Which PE firms in our directory invest in business services with $25M to $100M checks?
Check on my latest origination and summarize how many companies have been sourced so far.

Reference

Credits and limits

MCP uses the same credit balance as the app and the REST API. start_origination is capped at 500 rows; bigger searches are refused with a link to the app. Each user or key gets 60 requests a minute. Above that you get 429 with a Retry-After header.

Item	Cost
Origination row	1 credit per sourced company, the same rate as the app and the REST API.
Origination search	Per returned row.
Enrichment cell	Priced per cell by enricher. Check the row and column count before filling.
Buyer list row	Per returned buyer. A search without a result size is pre-flighted at the maximum.
Market research	Per generated report section.

Reference

FAQ

Problem	What to do
The client reports 401 when connecting	If you signed in, sign in again from the client. If you use an API key, check that it is still active and sent as a Bearer token.
"MCP access requires an active enterprise plan"	You signed in from an organization that is not on the Enterprise plan, or its contract is blocked. Ask your Scend account owner.
A tool call is denied for an API key	The key is missing the action that tool needs. Create a new key with that action and revoke the old one.
Results look incomplete	The job is still running. Numbers before is_complete are provisional, so keep calling the status tool until it says the job is done.
The client cannot find the server	Use the trailing slash: https://api.scend.ai/mcp/. The server only speaks streamable HTTP; there is no SSE endpoint.

https://api.scend.ai/mcp/

HOW IT WORKS

01 Add the server02 Sign in03 Ask04 Wait for the job

Scend MCP server

Introduction

Connect to Claude Code

.css-rxaebp{font-family:ui-monospace,SFMono-Regular,Menlo,Monaco,Consolas,"Liberation Mono",monospace;color:#AA947D;}01Add the server

02Sign in

03Try it

Connect to Codex

01Add the server

02Sign in

03Check the connection

Authentication

API keys

Companies

People

Originations

Enrichment

Buyer lists

Market research

Account

Example prompts

Credits and limits

FAQ

01Add the server