patent-search-mcp-server
MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for the AI Patent Search Generator — patent dossiers, prosecution history, Office Action AI analysis, citation/family/CPC lookups, plus a legal-intelligence layer (PTAB validity challenges, district-court litigation, company-litigation lookup, legal status, chain of title, term) and a one-shot AI risk profile. All from USPTO public data. Works in Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT-with-MCP, and any other MCP-compatible client.
26 tools available.
- Patent data:
dossier, claims, claim_chart, prosecution, prosecution_timeline, oa_analyze, examiner, attorney, entity_status, term, assignments, legal_status, pregrant_pub, query, search, similar, citations, family, cpc, cpc_suggest, balance.
- Legal intelligence (new):
challenges (PTAB validity challenges — who attacked the patent and did it survive), litigation (US district-court infringement suits — who sued whom), company_litigation (reverse lookup: all patent suits involving a company).
Prerequisites
- Install the AI Patent Search Generator Chrome extension and sign in.
- Generate an API key from the extension's Admin tab.
- Node.js 18+ (only required for local installs;
npx-style configs don't need a local install).
Add to your MCP config (~/.claude/mcp.json or project-scoped .mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"patent-search": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "patent-search-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY": "psg_live_..."
}
}
}
}
Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):
{
"mcpServers": {
"patent-search": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "patent-search-mcp-server"],
"env": { "PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY": "psg_live_..." }
}
}
}
Settings → MCP → Add Server. Same JSON shape as Claude Code.
balance
Return current credit balance + subscription status. Free. No arguments.
dossier
Full patent intelligence: bibliographic, claims, citations, family, classifications, similar documents, examiner stats — all bundled. 3 credits on fresh fetch; free on 24h cache hit.
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }
prosecution
USPTO file-wrapper documents (Office Actions, responses, amendments, etc.) for a US patent. Free.
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" } OR { "applicationNumber": "15912345" }
oa_analyze
AI analysis of a USPTO Office Action — rejection grounds, cited prior art, suggested response arguments. First 5 analyses per application are free; subsequent analyses cost 1 credit each.
Two forms:
- Auto-pick most recent OA:
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }
- Explicit doc:
{ "applicationNumber": "15912345", "documentId": "..." }
examiner
Examiner name, art unit, total applications, allowance rate, average pendency. Free.
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }
query
Single optimized Boolean query string for manual paste into Google Patents. Does NOT execute. 1 credit.
{ "description": "foldable display with ultrasonic fingerprint sensor" }
search
Executes a multi-query patent search against Google Patents server-side and returns ranked, deduplicated hits. 1 credit.
{
"description": "foldable display with ultrasonic fingerprint sensor",
"strategy": "telescoping",
"limit": 20
}
Strategies: telescoping (3 queries, broad/moderate/narrow), onion-ring (layered), faceted (concept pairs).
similar
Google Patents' similar-documents ranking for a given patent. Free.
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2", "limit": 20 }
citations
Backward + forward citations for a patent. Each citation flags whether it was examiner-cited. Free.
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2", "direction": "both" }
direction: backward | forward | both (default).
family
Patent family — continuations, divisionals, foreign counterparts. Free.
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }
cpc
CPC classification code lookup. Free. v1.0 covers all sections + ~80 common subclasses; subgroup descriptions land in v1.2.
{ "code": "H01M10/0525" }
claims (new in v0.2.0)
Just the claims of a patent — much cheaper than dossier when you only need claim text. Free when the dossier is cached; 1 credit cold.
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2" }
claim_chart (new in v0.2.0)
Per-claim element chart: decomposes each independent claim into discrete elements and maps each to examiner-cited prior art from cached Office Action analyses. Free when dossier is cached; 3 credits cold. Call oa_analyze first if you want fresh OA data included.
{ "patentNumber": "US10867416B2", "oaDocumentIds": ["optional-filter"] }
cpc_suggest (new in v0.2.0)
Description → suggested CPC codes via AI. Returns 3–5 candidates ranked by confidence with reasoning. 1 credit; cached by description hash for 30 days. Curated dataset (~80 subclasses) — niche chemistry/biotech may miss.
{ "description": "lithium-ion battery thermal management with phase change materials" }
Environment variables
| Var | Required | Description |
|---|
PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY | yes | API key minted from the extension's Admin tab. Format: psg_live_... or psg_test_... |
PATENT_SEARCH_API_BASE | no | Override the API base URL. Default: https://us-central1-solicitation-matcher-extension.cloudfunctions.net/ai/v1 |
Local development
git clone https://github.com/smythmyke/patent-search-mcp-server.git
cd patent-search-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build
{
"command": "node",
"args": ["/absolute/path/to/patent-search-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
"env": { "PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY": "psg_test_..." }
}
Security
- Never commit
PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY to source control.
- Revoke a leaked key from the extension's Admin tab.
- Keys are SHA-256 hashed on the server; the raw key is shown only once at creation.
Errors
Invalid or missing PATENT_SEARCH_API_KEY — mint or rotate the key.Out of credits — purchase a credit pack from the extension's Tools tab.Rate limit exceeded — wait briefly and retry.
License
MIT