> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.zinc.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Zinc MCP Server

> Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any MCP client to your Zinc account and shop through interactive cards.

The **Zinc MCP server** is a hosted [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) endpoint that connects an AI assistant to your Zinc account. Once connected, the assistant can search products, review and place orders, follow shipments, and manage the wallet that pays for them — and every step renders as an **interactive card** inside the chat rather than as a wall of JSON.

Connect to it at:

```
https://mcp.zinc.com/mcp
```

There is no API key to paste and no code to write. You sign in with your Zinc account over OAuth, approve what the assistant may do, and the connection uses your own credentials from then on.

<Info>
  The MCP server talks to the same [Zinc API v2](/docs/v2/api-reference/introduction/authentication) documented here, so orders placed through it are ordinary Zinc orders — visible in the [dashboard](https://app.zinc.com), on `GET /orders`, and over [webhooks](/docs/v2/api-reference/introduction/webhooks).
</Info>

## Tools

| Tool                 | What it does                                                                                              | Spends money                  |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- |
| `search-products`    | Finds products across Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and more. Each result carries an orderable URL.  | Billed per search — see below |
| `prepare-order`      | Renders an order for you to review: items, destination, price ceiling, and whether your wallet covers it. | No                            |
| `place-order`        | Places the order you reviewed. Only your click can trigger it.                                            | Yes                           |
| `list-orders`        | Lists or searches your orders as a scrollable card list; each card expands to show live tracking.         | No                            |
| `get-order`          | One order in detail: line items, retailer price breakdown, ship-to, shipment timeline.                    | No                            |
| `get-order-tracking` | Just the carrier checkpoints for an order.                                                                | No                            |
| `get-wallet-balance` | Balance, your per-order fee, and saved payment methods.                                                   | No                            |
| `prepare-topup`      | Renders a deposit for you to review: amount, processing fee, total charged.                               | No                            |
| `add-funds`          | Charges the deposit you reviewed. Only your click can trigger it.                                         | Yes                           |

## Spending money always takes two steps

The assistant can only ever perform the *first* step of anything that moves money. `prepare-order` and `prepare-topup` draw a card; `place-order` and `add-funds` require a confirmation token that the MCP runtime hands to the **card** and withholds from the model. Only a human clicking the button inside that card can produce it.

This is what makes the confirmation card real rather than decorative. Without it, a model could call the spending tool on its own — and a prompt injection hidden in any web page it happened to read could become a purchase.

<Info>
  Each confirmation is bound to the exact order and account it was issued for, expires after 10 minutes, and carries an idempotency key. Clicking twice, reloading the card, or a client retrying a request that already succeeded cannot produce a second order or a second charge.
</Info>

<Warning>
  Confirming an order spends real money from your Zinc wallet, and confirming a top-up charges your saved payment method. Everything else — searching aside — only reads.
</Warning>

## What search costs

`search-products` is the one tool whose *use* is billed: Zinc meters cross-retailer search against your wallet at the standard data-call fee of **\$0.01 per search**. Two consequences:

* It is deliberately **not** marked read-only, so clients that auto-run safe tools will still ask you first.
* If your balance can't cover a search, the tool says so and offers a top-up instead of retrying — a retry loop on a metered endpoint bills every attempt.

All the other read tools (`list-orders`, `get-order`, `get-order-tracking`, `get-wallet-balance`) are free.

## MCP server or Agent Skill?

Both let an agent shop through Zinc. They suit different setups:

|              | **MCP server**                         | **[Universal Checkout Skill](/docs/v2/agent-skills/overview)**         |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Setup        | Paste one URL, sign in with OAuth      | Install a `SKILL.md`, set `ZINC_API_KEY` or an MPP payment method |
| Credentials  | Your Zinc login, scoped by consent     | An API key you manage, or pay-per-request via MPP                 |
| Interface    | Interactive cards you click to confirm | Natural language; the agent asks before spending                  |
| Zinc account | Required                               | Not required on the MPP rail                                      |
| Best for     | Chat clients — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor | Coding agents and headless automation                             |

If you're in a chat client and have a Zinc account, start with the MCP server. If you want an agent to buy with no Zinc account at all, use the skill on [MPP](/docs/v2/mpp).

## Prerequisites

* A **Zinc account** ([sign up at app.zinc.com](https://app.zinc.com)) with funds in your [wallet](/docs/v2/wallet).
* An **MCP client that supports remote servers with OAuth** — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code, and others.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Connect a client" icon="wrench" href="/docs/v2/mcp/connect">
    Add the server in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or VS Code.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Usage guide" icon="cart-shopping" href="/docs/v2/mcp/usage">
    Search, order, track, and top up through conversation.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>