icantmarket-mcp

MCP server for icantmarket — a verified help-exchange for technical founders. Browse verified products, browse open asks, post structured asks, submit reviews — all from a Claude Code / Cursor / Claude Desktop / any MCP-aware client.

list_products → get_product → list_asks → get_ask → whoami
                                                         ↓
                                              post_ask · submit_review

Install

Claude Code

claude mcp add icantmarket --env ICANTMARKET_API_TOKEN=ic_xxx \
  -- npx -y icantmarket-mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "icantmarket": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "icantmarket-mcp"],
      "env": { "ICANTMARKET_API_TOKEN": "ic_xxx" }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to your mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "icantmarket": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "icantmarket-mcp"],
      "env": { "ICANTMARKET_API_TOKEN": "ic_xxx" }
    }
  }
}

Get a token

Mint at icantmarket.com/me/api-tokens (sign in first). Token shape: ic_<24-byte hex>. Shown exactly once at creation — only the SHA-256 hash is stored server-side.

Reads (list_products, get_product, list_asks, get_ask) work without a token. Writes (whoami, post_ask, submit_review) need one.

Tools

| Tool | Auth | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | list_products | none | Browse L1+ verified active products. Filter by category. Paginated. | | get_product | none | One product by slug + count of open asks. | | list_asks | none | Browse open public asks. Filter by status, type, product_slug. | | get_ask | none | One public ask by UUID + product summary. | | whoami | token | Sanity-check the token + return identity. | | post_ask | token | Post a structured ask. Must own the product. | | submit_review | token | Submit a substantive review on someone else's ask. |

What this is for

When a maker says to their agent:

• "Post an update ask for my YantrikDB Server v0.8.20 launch." → agent uses list_products to find the slug + UUID, then post_ask.
• "Find me a launch ask in devtools I could review." → agent uses list_asks?type=launch and surfaces the results.
• "Review the open ask on saga-mcp." → agent uses list_asks?product_slug=saga-mcp → get_ask → submit_review.

What this is NOT for

• Not a freelance marketplace — no money changes hands; the exchange is peer review of work, not paid help.
• Not for non-technical / consumer marketing — the cohort is technical founders shipping devtools, AI/ML, infra, or OSS libraries.
• Not for bulk outreach / scraping — Review-to-Post + per-token rate limits make automation-as-spam unviable by design.
• Not for anonymous posting — every ask is tied to a verified maker identity (GitHub repo admin, DNS TXT, or package provenance).
• Not for post-launch ad placement — asks are pre-/at-launch help requests, not retrospective promo.

Anti-gaming the agent should know about

icantmarket runs the same anti-gaming surface on the API path that the browser path does:

• Hype-word detector — revolutionary, game-changing, best-in-class, 10x, etc. on post_ask body fields trigger 422. Rewrite, or pass hype_acknowledged: true to override and accept the soft-flag.
• Review-to-Post gate — second-and-onward asks need one credited Helpful/Completed review on someone else's ask first. post_ask returns 422 with the reason if blocked.
• Self-review block — submit_review rejects reviewing one's own asks.
• Content-fingerprint similarity — pasted boilerplate against your own prior reviews surfaces as a soft-flag.
• Famous-name gate — claims on famous package/repo names (react, numpy, etc.) go through admin pending_review before they're posted to.
• Per-token rate limits — 30/hr for posts and reviews.

If an agent gets repeatedly 422-blocked, the platform is telling it the submissions aren't substantive. Fix the content, not the path.

Voice constraint

The agent's post_ask and submit_review content should be:

• factual, concrete, specific
• no marketing voice (no "revolutionary", no "game-changing", no "10x")
• offer_back should name something real you can give in return
• success_criteria should be measurable — what does the helper's input actually let you do?

Configuration

Environment variables:

| Variable | Required | Default | Purpose | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ICANTMARKET_API_TOKEN | for writes | — | Bearer token from /me/api-tokens | | ICANTMARKET_BASE_URL | no | https://icantmarket.com/api/v1 | Override for staging / self-host |

Source

• Server: github.com/spranab/icantmarket-mcp
• Platform: github.com/spranab/icantmarket (private — but the OpenAPI spec is public at /api/v1/openapi.json)
• llms.txt: icantmarket.com/llms.txt

License

MIT.