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unlob
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unlob for Claude Desktop

The same eleven tools, available in ordinary conversation. Useful for research work where you want corroboration and authority checks without writing anything.

Config lives in claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.jsonjson
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unlob": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@unlob/mcp"],
      "env": { "UNLOB_API_KEY": "ulb_your_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

Setup

  1. Get an API key

    10,000 free requests a month, no card required.

  2. Open the config

    Settings → Developer → Edit Config opens claude_desktop_config.json. Add the block above, merging with any servers already there.

  3. Restart Claude Desktop

    The config is read at startup. After restarting, the tool icon shows the unlob tools.

  4. Try a corroboration check

    Ask about a recent claim and request that it be checked against independent sources — that routes through corroborate rather than a plain search.

Worth knowing

  • Config file locations differ by platform; the Edit Config menu item opens the right one.
  • JSON syntax errors cause the server to silently fail to appear. If the tools do not show up, validate the file first.

What Claude Desktop gets

All 11 tools, from one config block.

web_search

Searches the agent-first web index and returns metadata-only hits — url, host, snippet, score — never the page body.

get_document

Fetches the full cleaned text of one passage by id — the lazy read path.

similar

More-like-this: given a passage id, returns its semantic neighbours.

browse

Browses without a query: the most recent, or highest-ranked, passages — optionally within one vertical.

why_not

Explains why a URL is or is not in the index: present, removed with a reason, or never admitted.

related

Returns the connected neighbourhood of a passage from the coverage graph — the edges are what to read next.

corroborate

Reports how many distinct hosts independently carry a story — the anti-hallucination check.

authorities

Returns the top passages on a topic ranked by graph centrality — trust-triage a field without reading junk into context.

dossier

Builds a one-hop brief on an entity: mentions, the hosts covering it, and the entities co-mentioned with it.

path

Finds the shortest chain of edges linking two passages — reasoning-path retrieval, or connect-the-dots.

assemble_context

GraphRAG as a service: returns a ready-to-read context pack — corroborated, story-deduplicated, trust-ranked and packed to a token budget, each passage carrying the reason it was included.

Frequently asked questions

Why are the unlob tools not appearing?

Almost always a JSON syntax error in the config, or a missed restart. Validate the file, confirm the mcpServers key merged correctly with any existing entries, and restart.

Get a key and connect it

10,000 requests a month, no card. The config above works unchanged once you have a key.

Get your API keyMCP server docs