IPable MCP Server

Connect your AI assistant to a patent knowledge graph with 11M+ patents.

Ask patent questions directly inside Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, or any AI tool that supports MCP.

What Can You Do With This?

Once set up, you can ask your AI things like:

• "Who are the top patent holders in AI?"
• "Give me Samsung's patent portfolio overview"
• "What's the FTO risk for semiconductors?"
• "Find patents similar to US-12448682-B2"
• "Which companies bridge biotech and AI research?"

The AI will query the IPable patent database and return real data.

Prerequisites

You need Node.js installed on your computer.

• Check if you have it: Open a terminal and type node --version. If you see a version number (like v20.x.x), you're good.
• If not installed: Download it from nodejs.org — pick the LTS version, install it, done.

That's the only prerequisite. The MCP server downloads automatically the first time you use it.

Setup (2 steps)

Step 1: Get Your API Key

1. Go to app.ipable.ai
2. Create an account (or sign in with Google)
3. Click your avatar → opens your Profile page
4. Scroll to API Keys → click "+ Create API Key"
5. Type a name like "Claude" and press Enter
6. Copy the key now — it starts with ipable_ and won't be shown again

Step 2: Add to Your AI Tool

Pick your tool below. Replace YOUR_KEY with the key you copied in Step 1.

Claude Desktop (Mac/Windows app)

1. Open this file:

   • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Paste this (replace YOUR_KEY):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ipable": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ipable/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "IPABLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Quit Claude Desktop completely (Cmd+Q on Mac) and reopen it

4. Look for the 🔨 hammer icon at the bottom of the chat — click it to see IPable tools

5. Try: "Use IPable to show me the patent database stats"

Claude Code (Terminal / VS Code)

1. Open ~/.claude/settings.json (create it if it doesn't exist)

2. Paste this (replace YOUR_KEY):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ipable": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ipable/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "IPABLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Code

Cursor

1. Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project folder

2. Paste this (replace YOUR_KEY):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ipable": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ipable/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "IPABLE_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Cursor

Windsurf

1. Open ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

2. Paste the same config as above (replace YOUR_KEY)

3. Restart Windsurf

Available Tools

| When you ask about... | Tool used | What you get | |---|---|---| | Top companies in a tech area | ipable_market_concentration | Ranked list with patent counts and market share | | A company's patent portfolio | ipable_company_overview | Total patents, families, R&D intensity | | What tech a company focuses on | ipable_company_tech_portfolio | IPC class breakdown | | Similar patents | ipable_find_similar_patents | Patents sharing the most citations | | How crowded a patent space is | ipable_fto_risk | Risk level + blocking patents | | R&D-heavy companies | ipable_research_intensity | Companies ranked by citations per patent | | Companies bridging two fields | ipable_cross_domain | Cross-domain convergence | | Database size | ipable_graph_stats | Total patents, articles, inventors | | Patent distribution | ipable_ipc_distribution | Patents per IPC class | | Anything else | ipable_chat | Free-form AI query |

Example Conversations

You: "Who dominates the wireless patent space?" → AI returns Samsung, Huawei, Qualcomm with patent counts and market share

You: "Give me Apple's patent portfolio" → AI returns 6,961 patents, 24 tech areas, research intensity 0.8

You: "Is it risky to file patents in AI?" → AI returns LOW risk, 30K+ assignees, 2.7 patents per company

Your Queries Sync to IPable

Every MCP query automatically appears in your IPable web app at app.ipable.ai under "External Queries". You can view, move, duplicate, or share results from there.

Troubleshooting

Tools not showing up:

• Make sure Node.js is installed (node --version in terminal)
• Quit and fully relaunch your AI tool (Cmd+Q, not just close)
• Check your JSON config for syntax errors at jsonlint.com
• First launch takes 10-20 seconds as npm downloads the package

Invalid API key:

• Create a new key at app.ipable.ai → Profile → API Keys
• Make sure no extra spaces around the key

No results:

• Try rephrasing the question
• Use company names as they appear in patents (e.g., "SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD")

How It Works

You ask a question in your AI tool
  ↓
AI calls the IPable MCP server (runs locally on your machine)
  ↓
MCP server sends the request to the IPable API (over internet)
  ↓
API queries a Neo4j graph with 11M+ patents
  ↓
Results come back to your AI

Nothing is stored on your machine. Your queries sync to your IPable web account.

Links

• Website: ipable.ai
• App: app.ipable.ai
• GitHub: github.com/PatentMuse/ipable-ukp

MIT License — IPable