MCP for AI assistants

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a way to give an AI assistant our data. Connect the datool.ru server, and the assistant will find a channel, look at its statistics and posts and answer a question like “how did @rbc grow in October”.

Address and key

• Server address: https://api.datool.ru/v1/mcp/ (MCP over HTTP, “Streamable HTTP”).
• The key is the same as for the API: the Authorization: Bearer dtk_your_key header. Keys are created on the “API keys” page in your account.

Claude Code

# add the datool server to Claude Code; the key is from the "API keys" page in your account
claude mcp add --transport http datool https://api.datool.ru/v1/mcp/ \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer dtk_your_key"

Cursor and other clients

Add the server to the MCP settings (in Cursor — the .cursor/mcp.json file):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "datool": {
      "url": "https://api.datool.ru/v1/mcp/",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer dtk_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop and other clients that can only run a local program, use the mcp-remote adapter (Node.js is required). In Claude Desktop the setting is the claude_desktop_config.json file (Settings → Developer → Edit Config). The key goes through an environment variable: a space inside an argument breaks the setting on Windows.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "datool": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://api.datool.ru/v1/mcp/",
               "--header", "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"],
      "env": { "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer dtk_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

Tools

The tools are the API methods that read data, with the same names and parameters as in the method reference:

Nothing can be changed via MCP — for example, webhooks are managed only via the API with a “read and write” key.

How it works inside

You can write your own MCP client without ready-made tools: the server accepts JSON-RPC 2.0 in a POST request and responds with JSON.

# the list of tools (free)
curl -X POST https://api.datool.ru/v1/mcp/ \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer dtk_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/list"}'

# call a tool: the @citynews channel card (costs as the API method — 1 unit)
curl -X POST https://api.datool.ru/v1/mcp/ \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer dtk_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 2, "method": "tools/call", "params": {"name": "max_channels_retrieve", "arguments": {"channel": "citynews"}}}'

A tool call response is the API method response as text (content) and as an object (structuredContent):

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 2,
  "result": {
    "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "{\"id\": 4821, \"title\": \"Городские новости\", …}"}],
    "structuredContent": {"id": 4821, "title": "Городские новости", "subscribers": 128450},
    "isError": false
  }
}

There are no sessions and no event stream: each request stands alone, GET on the server address returns 405.

If the assistant reports an error

A method error reaches the assistant as text with a code, for example 403 tariff_required — posts are closed on “API.Max Test”, or 429 quota_exceeded — the requests for the period have run out. Codes are on the “Errors” page.