Patent References

Retrieve patent documents and non-patent literature cited by one or more patents for prior-art, citation, and technology. Available via REST API or MCP.

CostRecent 10 credits / call

Try online

POST · https://api.nexscope.ai/zy/patentForwardCitationMCP · nexscope_patent_references

What this API does

Retrieve patent documents and non-patent literature cited by one or more patents for prior-art, citation, and technology. The request accepts patentId, patentNumber. Its documented result includes patentId, pn, citedPatents, citedOthers.

Patent References API use cases

Investigate a product IP question

To investigate a product ip question, a compliance analyst submits patentId and patentNumber to Patent References. The returned patentId, pn, citedPatents help identify records relevant to the proposed product.

Collect records for an IP review

A compliance analyst uses Patent References with patentId and patentNumber to collect records for an ip review. The returned patentId, pn, citedPatents help collect bibliographic evidence for a specialist review.

Document evidence for specialist assessment

For this workflow, a compliance analyst calls Patent References with patentId and patentNumber to document evidence for specialist assessment. The result helps document the records supporting an IP research question.

Patent References API FAQ

What does the Patent References API return?

Retrieve patent documents and non-patent literature cited by one or more patents for prior-art, citation, and technology. The documented output includes patentId, pn, citedPatents, citedOthers. It corresponds to the supplied patentId, patentNumber. Optional fields can be absent; a missing value should not be interpreted as a measured zero. Example values illustrate the response shape, rather than live account results.

How many credits does the Patent References API cost?

The current documented cost is Recent 10 credits / call. This is the same cost shown at the top of this page. If a range or estimate is displayed, the final charge depends on the request. Review your available credits and the pricing page before calling the API, and check API usage records for the actual charge.

How do I call the Patent References API from my app or an MCP client?

Send a POST request to https://api.nexscope.ai/zy/patentForwardCitation with your API key as a Bearer token and the JSON inputs shown in API integration. In a compatible MCP client such as Claude or Cursor, connect Nexscope and call nexscope_patent_references. Use the MCP arguments shown in the MCP guide, or switch Online test to MCP to review its request before adding it to your app.

View plans and credits Connect this API with MCP

Try this API

Endpoint

https://api.nexscope.ai/zy/patentForwardCitation

MCP method

nexscope_patent_references

Step 1 of 3 · Authenticate

Authentication

All run endpoints require a user API key. Send it as a bearer token in the Authorization header.

Authorization: Bearer nk-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Missing or invalid API keys return an authentication error. Manage keys from .

Step 2 of 3 · Send a request

POSThttps://api.nexscope.ai/zy/patentForwardCitation

Run an API

Send a JSON request body using the parameters described below.

Example request

Replace YOUR_API_KEY, then run this command in your terminal.

curl -X POST 'https://api.nexscope.ai/zy/patentForwardCitation' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "patentNumber": "US10000000B2"
}'

Code example

{
  "patentNumber": "US10000000B2"
}

Step 3 of 3 · Inspect the result

Check the response

Read code for the request status and data for the result. Open the parameter and response reference for the full field definitions.

HTTP status codes

Code	Description
200	Default HTTP response for both success and many business errors. Only outer JSON code 0 indicates success or asynchronous acceptance; inspect data for the result.
429	Execution admission rate limit; honor Retry-After when present.
503	Execution admission is temporarily unavailable; honor Retry-After when present.
Opt-in	X-Nexscope-Http-Status: semantic maps controller-handled business errors to HTTP status on run and task routes. Pre-authentication failures, such as a missing API key (code 11209), may still return HTTP 200 before this mapping. Always check the outer JSON code; malformed requests and infrastructure failures may also return non-200 HTTP responses.

View parameters & response Try online

All categories/ Patent Intelligence ZY

POSThttps://api.nexscope.ai/zy/patentForwardCitation

Run this API

Send a JSON request to execute this API and receive the documented response payload.

Open tester

Endpoint

Method	`POST`
Path	`https://api.nexscope.ai/zy/patentForwardCitation`
Auth	`Bearer API key`
Content-Type	`application/json`

Request parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`patentId`	`string`	optional	Patent IDs, multiples separated by English commas, the upper limit is 100, and the maximum length is 60,000 characters.
`patentNumber`	`string`	optional	Public announcement numbers, multiple ones separated by English commas, the upper limit is 100, and the maximum length is 60,000 characters.

Response example

Platform response envelope. code 0 indicates success or acceptance; data contains the business result.

No response example is published for this API. Refer to the response fields below.

Response fields

Response field reference (9 fields)

Name	Type	Required	Description
`total`	`integer`	optional	Number of records.
`data`	`array`	optional	List of patents with citation details for each element.
`columns`	`array`	optional	Rendered column definitions.
`costToken`	`integer`	optional	Consume token.
`type`	`string`	optional	Rendering style.
`patentId`	`string`	optional	Query the patent ID of a patent.
`pn`	`string`	optional	Check the patent’s publication (announcement) number.
`citedPatents`	`array`	optional	List of cited patents.
`citedOthers`	`array`	optional	List of cited non-patent documents.

Responses

Code	Description
200	Default HTTP response for both success and many business errors. Only outer JSON code 0 indicates success or asynchronous acceptance; inspect data for the result.
429	Execution admission rate limit; honor Retry-After when present.
503	Execution admission is temporarily unavailable; honor Retry-After when present.
Opt-in	X-Nexscope-Http-Status: semantic maps controller-handled business errors to HTTP status on run and task routes. Pre-authentication failures, such as a missing API key (code 11209), may still return HTTP 200 before this mapping. Always check the outer JSON code; malformed requests and infrastructure failures may also return non-200 HTTP responses.

Data source, freshness, and limitations

Source, freshness, coverage, rate limits, and estimation notes are not specified in this API definition unless they appear in the request or response field documentation above. Do not assume official marketplace data or real-time freshness when it is not explicitly documented.

Step 1 of 2 · Connect your MCP client

MCP

V2 recommended

Connect remote agents through the standard MCP 2025-11-25 Streamable HTTP endpoint. Use OAuth 2.1 Authorization Code with PKCE, or an API key for compatibility.

POST https://api.nexscope.ai/mcp
MCP-Protocol-Version: 2025-11-25
Content-Type: application/json

Authentication

OAuth clients request the mcp:tools scope. The endpoint's 401 response advertises protected-resource metadata for authorization discovery.

Step 2 of 2 · Call the tool

Call a tool

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": "tool-call-1",
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "nexscope_patent_references",
    "arguments": {
      "patentNumber": "US10123456B2"
    }
  }
}

Legacy MCP v1

Existing API-key clients can continue using the compatibility endpoint. New integrations should use MCP v2.

GET / POST /mcp/legacy

Online test

Execute the current API with your API key and JSON payload. Online tests use this site's configured API environment; the Endpoint and copyable examples use the public integration address.

10 credits / callAPI usage records

Try it

Send a real request with the same contract shown in the reference.

Endpoint

/zy/patentForwardCitation

MCP method

nexscope_patent_references

API key*

JSON payload*

cURL

curl -X POST \
  https://api.nexscope.ai/zy/patentForwardCitation \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nk-..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "patentNumber": "US10000000B2" }'

Response

No response yet. Run the request to see the response here.

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