SynthBoard MCP help center

1. 1
   Create an API key

   Go to Settings → API Keys and click Create MCP key. The key is shown exactly once — copy it somewhere safe.
2. 2
   Paste into your client config

   Pick your client below. Each has a dedicated config file — paste the snippet and replace sb_live_... with your real key.
3. 3
   Restart the client

   Quit fully and reopen. The SynthBoard tools + prompts should appear in the client's tool menu.
4. 4
   Try a prompt

   Type /synthboard-boardroom in the client and ask a real strategic question. Watch five synths debate and synthesize a recommendation.

Ask a real strategic question — something you'd use a team of advisors for. The client calls synthboard.session.start with a mode matched to your question and a set of synths picked to cover it.

// Claude fires this automatically when you ask:
// "Should we build X or Y next quarter?"

{
  "name": "synthboard.session.start",
  "arguments": {
    "question": "Should we build X or Y next quarter?",
    "mode": "decision",
    "synth_count": 5,
    "rounds": 2
  }
}

What you'll see

• Within 2s: session_id, task_id, and a link to watch live on synthboard.ai.
• Progress narration: "Round 1/2: 3 of 5 synths complete…"
• On completion: full synthesis with recommendation, rationale, counter-arguments, action plan.

Sessions can't auto-start from a bare question. That protects users and their credit balance from runaway agent loops. You have two paths:

Bare calls (question only, no plan_id and no explicit setup) return validation_error with actionable guidance.

Every paid tier gets the full feature surface — no lockouts. Credits self-price richness.

Rate limits are per-user (or per-OAuth-client). Concurrent-session caps are atomically enforced via a database lock — there's no way to race past them.

Hit a limit? The error response tells you exactly which cap and when you can retry (retry_after_s). Watch your live headroom on the usage dashboard.

• One key per client. Separate keys for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and automation scripts — revocation stays surgical.
• Rotate quarterly. Click Rotate on a key to create a replacement with the same scopes. Old key works for 24 hours while you update clients.
• Set a cap for automation. For n8n, Zapier, cron, anywhere you can't watch — a daily credit cap prevents runaway loops.
• Never commit keys. Keep them out of git. If exposed, revoke instantly — it takes effect in real time.
• Scope down. A read-only automation doesn't need session:write. Create keys with just the scopes you need.

Most MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, scripts) authenticate with a Bearer API key — simplest, fastest. Browser-based clients like Claude.ai web don't accept raw keys; they use OAuth 2.1 for user-mediated consent. SynthBoard exposes a native, spec-compliant Authorization Server at the standard discovery endpoints.

Discovery metadata

• GET /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server — RFC 8414 AS metadata
• GET /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource — RFC 9728 protected-resource metadata
• GET /.well-known/jwks.json — public JWKS for token verification

Flow

1. Dynamic client registration (RFC 7591): POST /api/oauth/register with your client metadata. https-only redirect URIs required.
2. Authorize: send user to /api/oauth/authorize with response_type=code, code_challenge (S256), resource (your MCP URL), scopes.
3. Consent page: user sees plain-English scope descriptions and approves. CSRF-protected.
4. Token exchange: POST /api/oauth/token with the code + PKCE verifier. Receive a 10-minute access token and 7-day rotating refresh token.
5. Use on /api/mcp — JWT in Authorization: Bearer. Server validates signature, audience (aud must match resource URL, RFC 8707), expiry, and revocation status on every call.
6. Refresh: rotate the refresh token before the access expires. Reused old refreshes trigger grant-chain revocation.

MCP sessions take 30 seconds to 5 minutes. Instead of polling, have SynthBoard notify your server the moment a task flips to complete, failed, or cancelled. Zero extra charge, zero polling cost.

Setup

1. Create an API key. In the key form, set Webhook URL (https-only).
2. On key creation you're shown a webhook signing secret once. Copy and store it.
3. Any session started with that key fires a POST to your URL on completion.
4. Retry policy: exponential backoff at 1m, 5m, 15m, 60m, 240m (5 attempts). Non-2xx = retry.

Request headers

• X-Mcp-Signature: sha256=<hex> — HMAC-SHA256 of the raw body with your secret
• X-Mcp-Timestamp — RFC 3339 timestamp; reject events > 5 min old
• X-Mcp-Delivery-Id — idempotency key; dedupe by this

Payload shape

{
  "event_type": "session.complete",
  "task_id": "task_01HG...",
  "session_id": "sess_01HG...",
  "user_id": "5272...",
  "status": "complete",
  "credits_charged": 172,
  "credits_refunded": 13,
  "correlation_id": "cor_01HG...",
  "timestamp": "2026-04-19T14:32:15Z",
  "synthesis": {
    "narrative_markdown": "Both synths converged on...",
    "strategy": "consensus",
    "model_used": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "structured_data": { ... }
  }
}

Verification (Node.js)

import { createHmac, timingSafeEqual } from "node:crypto";

function verifyMcpWebhook(
  rawBody: string,
  signatureHeader: string,
  secret: string
): boolean {
  const expected = "sha256=" +
    createHmac("sha256", secret).update(rawBody).digest("hex");
  const a = Buffer.from(signatureHeader);
  const b = Buffer.from(expected);
  if (a.length !== b.length) return false;
  return timingSafeEqual(a, b);
}

15 Tools

• synthboard.session.startLaunch a new session
• synthboard.session.getFetch state (optional wait)
• synthboard.session.continueAdd a follow-up round
• synthboard.session.updateAdd/remove synths, change mode, tune DNA
• synthboard.session.cancelCancel + archive
• synthboard.session.forkClone with altered context
• synthboard.session.shareCreate share link
• synthboard.session.outcomesAction plan / report / memo
• synthboard.session.live_summaryLive consensus snapshot
• synthboard.session.cross_roundCross-round trend summary
• synthboard.synth.chat1-on-1 with a specific synth
• synthboard.assistant.askAsk the Session Assistant
• synthboard.bookmark.createSave a moment
• synthboard.decision.captureRecord a formal decision
• synthboard.catalog.searchBrowse synths/modes/templates

13 Resources

• synthboard://session/{id}Full session
• …/synthesisSynthesis blocks
• …/outcomesDecisions + action plan
• …/transcriptAgent transcript
• …/bookmarksSaved moments
• …/citationsWeb search citations
• …/canvasCanvas state
• synthboard://synth/{id}Synth profile
• synthboard://catalog/synthsFull library
• synthboard://catalog/modes10 session modes
• synthboard://catalog/templatesDecision templates
• synthboard://catalog/synthesis_strategies5 strategies
• synthboard://recentYour recent sessions
• synthboard://accountCredits + tier + stats

10 Slash-prompts

MCP Resources are the "GET" side of SynthBoard. Subscribe to one and your client receives notifications/resources/updated events as the underlying data changes — ideal for live session tracking.

All session-scoped resources enforce ownership — cross-tenant reads return not_found, never a leak. Catalog resources are public read-only.