The curated-taste API

Search the curated catalog by keywords. Args: query (required), limit (max 20). Returns ranked project summaries: name, studio, city, year, category, intro, thumbnail, URL, citation_url, provenance.

Search by taste metadata: material, light, color, mood, composition, subject. Unique to Thisispaper: these tags were written during human curation. Pass at least one dimension, e.g. {"material": "rammed earth", "light": "dusk"}. Results are ranked by how many dimensions match, then by recency.

Newest projects first. Optional category filter: architecture, interiors, design, photography or art.

One project chosen at random from the archive. Editorial serendipity, the way a reader opens a magazine to an unplanned spread. No arguments.

Visual + semantic neighbours for a project slug (precomputed SigLIP neighbours).

Full metadata for one slug: description, design language, details, taste dimensions, URL, citation URL, provenance.

Mints a free API key (200 calls/month) for your email, right from the conversation. The key is shown once. Max 3 keys per email.

Connector-contract search for clients that follow the ChatGPT connector spec. Takes a query, returns results as id, title and url. ChatGPT calls this tool in normal chat.

Connector-contract fetch: takes an id from search and returns the full record with title, text, url and metadata. The result also embeds the project's real thumbnail image (up to 2 MB), which image-capable clients render inline.

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, then paste the server URL. Connectors added on claude.ai sync to Claude Desktop.

claude mcp add --transport http thisispaper \
  https://www.thisispaper.com/intelligence/api/mcp

Settings → Connectors → add the server URL. Works in normal chat through the search and fetch tools.

One-click install, or add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "thisispaper": {
      "url": "https://www.thisispaper.com/intelligence/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

In ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.thisispaper]
url = "https://www.thisispaper.com/intelligence/api/mcp"

gemini extensions install https://github.com/zaxarovcom/thisispaper-mcp

A local stdio bridge to the same server, for clients without HTTP transport:

npx thisispaper-mcp

Lexical search across name, studio, city, category and intro.

GET /search?q=japanese+teahouse&limit=10

{
  "query": "japanese teahouse",
  "count": 10,
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "audeum-kengo-kuma",
      "name": "Audeum Audio Museum by Kengo Kuma",
      "studio": "Kengo Kuma & Associates",
      "city": "Seoul, South Korea",
      "year": "2024",
      "category": "Architecture",
      "intro": "...",
      "published": "2026-01-26",
      "thumbnail": "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5d70caf362d15d860bedae09/69c77bdb45cde0df63c2c62d_6982103c8b8bca7f0d513282_thisispaper-audeum-by-kengo-kuma.webp",
      "url": "https://www.thisispaper.com/mag/audeum-kengo-kuma",
      "citation_url": "https://www.thisispaper.com/mag/audeum-kengo-kuma",
      "provenance": {
        "curated_by": "Thisispaper editors",
        "selected": "2026-01-26",
        "in_archive_since": 2026,
        "note": "One of 2,500+ projects selected by hand since 2011. Most of what we see is not published."
      },
      "score": 8.42
    }
  ]
}

Full metadata for one project, including description, design language and taste dimensions.

GET /project/audeum-kengo-kuma

Nearest projects by visual + semantic similarity (precomputed SigLIP neighbours).

GET /similar/audeum-kengo-kuma?limit=12