
Contribution Exchange
Contribution Exchange MCP: domain discovery, policies, preflight, proposals, and signals.
What it can do
What data it sees
Do you need an account
No: the server works without sign-in
Contribution Exchange MCP: domain discovery, policies, preflight, proposals, and signals.
How to connect
How to connect Contribution Exchange to Claude
The server address to paste into Claude settings:
https://signalaf.com/api/exchange/mcp
- Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
- Go to Settings → Connectors.
- Click Add custom connector.
- Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
- In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.
Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.
Authorization
After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.
How to connect Contribution Exchange to ChatGPT
The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:
https://signalaf.com/api/exchange/mcp
- Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
- Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
- Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
- Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
- Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
- In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.
OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.
Authorization
On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.
How to connect Contribution Exchange to Cursor
The server address to paste into Cursor settings:
https://signalaf.com/api/exchange/mcp
Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.
Manually:
- In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
- Paste the JSON copied below into
~/.cursor/mcp.json(per project:.cursor/mcp.jsonin the repo root). - Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.
Authorization
If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.
Server tool list (6)
Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.
| exchange_discover_domain | Determine whether a domain publishes a Contribution Exchange profile. Returns the canonical Exchange manifest, policy URLs, signal URLs, and whether the domain is self-hosted or delegated to a Steward. Read-only — does not propose, commit, or authorize anything. Enforces HTTPS, redirect limits, timeouts, and SSRF protections (blocks loopback, link-local, private-network, and metadata-service targets). |
| exchange_get_policy | Fetch the canonical Contribution Exchange policy for a domain or its delegated Steward. Returns authority ceilings, consideration limits, human-review requirements, and supported behavior. Read-only — does not mutate state or perform preflight evaluation. Distinguishes a missing policy from an unavailable service. |
| exchange_preflight | Evaluate a proposed contribution against the same policy logic used by the real proposal flow. Returns whether the proposal is likely to be auto-engaged, accepted for review, escalated to a human, or rejected as invalid. READ-ONLY: performs no proposal insertion, notification, event creation, or state transition. The result is advisory and time-bound — a favorable preflight does NOT guarantee engagement, Commitment, authorization, payment, or execution. Uses the same evaluateProposal function as the canonical proposal route. |
| exchange_list_signals | List domain-published Exchange Signals (problems, requests, challenges, bounties, verification tasks, discoveries, experiments). Read-only. Returns canonical URLs, signal revision, revision hash, and status. Signal status is DISTINCT from exchange status — a signal does not create a Commitment or authorize execution. Supports the same filters and pagination as the HTTP API. |
| exchange_get_signal | Get full detail for a single Exchange Signal by ID. Read-only. Returns the complete signal including constraints, participation rules, verification configuration, consideration declaration, and follow-on behavior. A signal does NOT create a Commitment, authorize execution, or guarantee payment. |
| exchange_get_attempt | Get detail for a signal attempt. Read-only. Enforces attempt visibility — actors may only read their own private attempts. Returns attempt status and verification result if available. Attempt status is NOT an exchange state. Verification is Steward-controlled and cannot be self-asserted. |