PatentRef runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 372 installs a week from pypi.
PatentsView-compatible US patent API: claim trees, patent briefs and search, grants 1976 to now.
Nothing serious here today
Today is the operative word: we check PatentRef every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.
Connect this server
This server runs on your own machine — install it with the package manager and the client starts it for you. Package name taken from the official registry entry.
claude mcp add patentref-mcp -e 'PATENTREF_API_KEY=<PATENTREF_API_KEY>' -- uvx patentref-mcp{
"mcpServers": {
"patentref-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"patentref-mcp"
],
"env": {
"PATENTREF_API_KEY": "<PATENTREF_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}[mcp_servers.patentref-mcp]
command = "uvx"
args = ["patentref-mcp"]
env = { PATENTREF_API_KEY = "<PATENTREF_API_KEY>" }{
"mcpServers": {
"patentref-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"patentref-mcp"
],
"env": {
"PATENTREF_API_KEY": "<PATENTREF_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}{
"servers": {
"patentref-mcp": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"patentref-mcp"
],
"env": {
"PATENTREF_API_KEY": "<PATENTREF_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Put your own value in place of
<PATENTREF_API_KEY> (A PatentRef API key (a free key at https://patentref.io/api/v1/meta/signup/)).
The author’s registry entry marks it as required.
Optional settings from the registry entry, left out of the block above:
PATENTREF_BASE (The API's scheme and host (default https://patentref.io)).
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PatentRef — questions
Answers built from our own checks of this server.