Citation Checker

Built at The GEO Lab — where we measure what AI systems actually cite, not what SEO tools predict.

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for checking if domains are cited by AI platforms including Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Google AI Overview.

Installation

Via npm

npm install -g mcp-citation-checker

From source

git clone https://github.com/arturseo-geo/mcp-citation-checker.git
cd mcp-citation-checker
npm install

Configuration

The server requires API credentials for three platforms. Set the following environment variables:

Perplexity API

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="your_perplexity_api_key"

OpenAI (ChatGPT)

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_api_key"

DataForSEO (Google AI Overview)

export DATAFORSEO_LOGIN="your_dataforseo_username"
export DATAFORSEO_PASSWORD="your_dataforseo_password"

Usage

Starting the server

mcp-citation-checker

Or if running from source:

npm start

Available Tools

1. check_citation

Check if a single domain is cited by AI platforms.

Input:

{
  "domain": "example.com"
}

Output:

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "platforms": [
    {
      "platform": "perplexity",
      "domain": "example.com",
      "cited": true,
      "citationCount": 5,
      "citations": ["citation1", "citation2", ...]
    },
    {
      "platform": "chatgpt",
      "domain": "example.com",
      "cited": true
    },
    {
      "platform": "google_aio",
      "domain": "example.com",
      "cited": true,
      "resultCount": 3
    }
  ],
  "citedBy": ["perplexity", "chatgpt", "google_aio"],
  "citationRate": 1.0,
  "timestamp": "2026-03-26T10:30:00.000Z"
}

2. batch_check

Check multiple domains for citations across all platforms.

Input:

{
  "domains": ["example.com", "another.com", "thirdsite.org"]
}

Output:

{
  "totalDomains": 3,
  "results": [
    {
      "domain": "example.com",
      "platforms": [...],
      "citedBy": ["perplexity", "chatgpt"],
      "citationRate": 0.67
    },
    ...
  ],
  "timestamp": "2026-03-26T10:30:00.000Z"
}

3. citation_rate

Get aggregated citation metrics for multiple domains.

Input:

{
  "domains": ["example.com", "another.com", "thirdsite.org"]
}

Output:

{
  "totalDomains": 3,
  "perplexityCitations": 2,
  "chatgptCitations": 3,
  "googleAIOCitations": 1,
  "averageCitationRate": 0.67,
  "timestamp": "2026-03-26T10:30:00.000Z"
}

API Integration Details

Perplexity

• Endpoint: https://api.perplexity.ai/chat/completions
• Model: sonar
• Features: Returns array of citations, domain matching performed locally

ChatGPT

• Endpoint: https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions
• Model: gpt-4o-mini
• Features: Uses web_search_preview tool for real-time search results

Google AI Overview

• Endpoint: https://api.dataforseo.com/v3/serp/google/organic/live/advanced
• Authentication: Basic Auth (Base64 encoded username:password)
• Features: Searches for domain mentions in Google SERP results

Error Handling

Each platform check includes error handling:

• Missing API credentials return an error object with cited: false and error message
• API failures return error details without throwing exceptions
• Network errors are caught and returned as error responses

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18.0.0
• Active API keys for Perplexity, OpenAI, and DataForSEO
• Network access to all three API endpoints

License

MIT License — see LICENSE file for details

Author

Artur Ferreira [email protected]

---

Built by Artur Ferreira | X | LinkedIn