Developer API & MCP

Carver exposes a public REST API and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server so AI agents, AI chat tools, or your own code can tap our Hong Kong pain-point data directly — search pain points, generate research briefs, and ask the AI business consultant.

Get an API Key

Sign in with a Pro account → Account → “API Access (MCP)” → Create a key (shown once). Read tools are open to any valid key; the AI tools (research brief, consultant) require Pro and count against your monthly quota.

Authentication

Add to every request header:

Authorization: Bearer if_live_…

MCP Server

POST JSON-RPC 2.0 (Streamable HTTP) to the endpoint below. Supports initialize, tools/list, tools/call.

POST https://carverhk.com/api/mcp

Available Tools

search_painpoints	Search pain points (safe summaries; public lagged surface).
get_painpoint	Get one pain point by slug + available market analysis.
list_top_painpoints	Highest-composite-score pain points.
generate_research_brief	Full research brief for a pain point (Pro; quota).
ask_consultant	Ask the AI business consultant one question (Pro; quota).

REST API

GET /api/v1/painpoints?q=&domain=&limit=&sort=	Search / list pain points.
GET /api/v1/painpoints/{slug}	Single pain point.
POST /api/v1/research-brief	Generate a research brief (Pro). Body: { slug, input?, locale? }
POST /api/v1/consultant	Ask the consultant (Pro). Body: { message, locale? }

Example (list tools)

curl -X POST https://carverhk.com/api/mcp \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer if_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}'

Access & Quota

Read endpoints return the public-safe surface (freshness lag, curated columns) identical to the anonymous web feed — no source-traceable fields. AI tools require Pro and count against your monthly research-brief / chat quota.

Each key has a daily request limit (exceeding it returns 429).

Need the full database, zero lag, or bulk access? See the Custom / API plan →

Machine-readable

OpenAPI spec and MCP manifest: