# thequant.space auth.md

Agent registration and authentication guide for the thequant.space research corpus API and MCP server.

## Audience

This document is for AI agents, MCP clients and scripts that want to read the scored
quantitative-finance research corpus at https://thequant.space programmatically.

## Registration

None. There is nothing to register and no account to create.

- The JSON API under `https://thequant.space/api/` (described by https://thequant.space/openapi.json) is public.
- The MCP server at `https://thequant.space/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, stateless) is public.
- The data files under `https://thequant.space/data/` and the `/llms.txt` site map are public.

## Supported methods

- `anonymous` — call any endpoint directly. No key, no token, no OAuth flow.

No other method is offered. There is no authorization server, so
`/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource` lists an empty `authorization_servers` array
and `/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server` does not exist.

## Credential use

No credentials are issued. Do not send credentials from other services to this host.
Requests carrying an `Authorization` header are answered exactly like anonymous ones.

Please identify your client with a descriptive `User-Agent` so that usage can be attributed
in the server-side logs; this is informational only and nothing is gated on it.

## Limits and terms

- Rate limit: 20 requests per 10 seconds per IP on `/api/*` and `/mcp`; excess requests get HTTP 429.
- Responses are cached at the edge for up to an hour; the corpus updates daily.
- Data is free for personal and research use with attribution to thequant.space. Terms: https://thequant.space/agents/

## Endpoints that create state

The only endpoints that create records are human-facing and must not be called by an
agent without the explicit, informed consent of the person concerned:

- `POST /api/subscribe` — newsletter signup (sends email to the address given).
- `POST /api/comments` — posts a public comment on a paper page.

Neither issues credentials.

## Discovery

- API catalog (RFC 9727): https://thequant.space/.well-known/api-catalog
- OpenAPI 3.1: https://thequant.space/openapi.json
- Protected Resource Metadata (RFC 9728): https://thequant.space/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource
- Human-readable documentation: https://thequant.space/agents/

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## Premium endpoints (paid per call with x402)

Everything described above stays as it is: the free JSON API, the free MCP tools and the data files are anonymous, with no key, token or account.
The statement above that no other method is offered refers to those free interfaces.

The premium endpoints and premium MCP tools listed below are separate: no accounts, no API keys and no tokens are issued by this site for them.
A request is authorized only by an x402 payment made for that one call:

- A call without payment is answered with a payment requirement (HTTP 402 with a `PAYMENT-REQUIRED` header; for MCP, a payment-required tool result) that states the price, the USDC asset, the network and the recipient address.
- The client signs the payment and repeats the same call with the `PAYMENT-SIGNATURE` header (MCP: `_meta["x402/payment"]`). The signature authorizes exactly that amount to that recipient and nothing else.
- Nothing is stored for you as an account; a platform receipt for a paid call is returned with the response.

Status: Live. The premium endpoints accept x402 payments in USDC on Solana. Free endpoints and tools are unchanged.

Network: Solana (`solana:5eykt4UsFv8P8NJdTREpY1vzqKqZKvdp`), USDC.

Solana addresses are case-sensitive: use the pay-to address and the asset exactly as the payment requirement states them.

| Endpoint | MCP tool | Price per call (USDC) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `POST /api/v1/premium/compare-papers` | `compare_quant_research` | $0.10 |
| `POST /api/v1/premium/literature-review` | `generate_quant_literature_review` | $0.25 |
| `POST /api/v1/premium/graph-query` | `explore_quant_knowledge_graph` | $0.02 |

Machine-readable description: https://thequant.space/openapi.json (premium operations) and https://thequant.space/api/v1/premium/products (live prices and availability).
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