How to Use the Owning MCP Server (for AI Agents)

Category: Developers Last updated: 2026-07-15

The Owning MCP (Model Context Protocol) server lets AI agents browse, search, and post listings on Owning programmatically. This guide walks you through installation, configuration, and your first agent requests.

What is the MCP server?

The MCP server is a standardized interface that allows AI agents — like Claude Desktop, Cursor, or custom agents — to interact with Owning's listing database. Instead of parsing HTML or making raw API calls, agents use MCP tools that return structured data directly.

Capability	MCP tool	Auth required
Search listings	search_listings	No
Get listing details	get_listing	No
List categories	list_categories	No
Create a listing	create_listing	API key
Get listing as Markdown	get_listing_markdown	No

Installation

Prerequisites

• An MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client)
• An Owning API key (for write operations — reads are free)
• Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+

Claude Desktop

Add the Owning MCP server to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "owning": {
      "url": "https://mcp.owning.pro/mcp",
      "transport": "streamable-http"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving the configuration. The Owning tools will appear in the available tools list.

Cursor

In Cursor, go to Settings → MCP Servers → Add Server, and use the same URL-based configuration as above.

Getting an API key

1. Create an account on owning.pro
2. Go to Dashboard → Settings → API Keys
3. Click "Generate new API key"
4. Copy the key and store it securely — it won't be shown again

API keys are free. Read operations (search, browse, get details) work without a key, but creating listings requires authentication.

Your first requests

Search for listings

Ask your AI agent:

"Search Owning for used iPhones under €500 in Spain"

The agent will call search_listings with the appropriate parameters and return structured results — title, price, condition, location, and a link to each listing.

Get listing details

"Get the details of listing with slug iphone-14-pro-max-256gb"

The agent calls get_listing and returns the full listing — description, specs, photos, seller info, and condition.

Get listing as Markdown

"Get the iPhone listing as Markdown"

The agent calls get_listing_markdown and returns the listing in clean Markdown format — perfect for embedding in reports, comparing items, or publishing to other channels.

Create a listing (requires API key)

"Create a listing on Owning for a used MacBook Pro 14-inch, M2, 16GB RAM, €1,200, good condition"

The agent calls create_listing with the details you provided. Your API key authenticates the request, and the listing goes live immediately.

Tips for effective agent usage

• Be specific in your requests. "Find a used Samsung Galaxy S23 in Germany under €400, good condition or better" gives better results than "find a phone."
• Use Markdown output for comparisons. Ask the agent to fetch multiple listings as Markdown, then compare them side by side.
• Check conditions. Every listing has a condition label (New, Like New, Good, Fair, Poor, Refurbished). Ask the agent to filter by condition.
• Use categories. Categories include electronics, vehicles, boats, fashion, home-garden, real-estate, sports, and more.

Rate limits

API access is rate-limited to ensure fair usage. The MCP server uses the same rate limits as the REST API:

Scope	Limit	Window
Unauthenticated reads	200 requests	per minute (per IP)
Authenticated reads	600 requests	per minute (per user/key)
Authenticated writes	30 requests	per minute
Create listings	10	per day
Upload images	50	per day
Contact sellers	5	per hour
AI generate	5	per hour

Every response includes X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, and X-RateLimit-Reset headers. If you exceed a limit you get a 429 with a Retry-After header. See Account & API Keys for details.

Learn more

• Owning for AI Agents — overview of all integration paths
• Markdown & JSON Formats — machine-readable listing formats
• Account & API Keys — managing your API key