ArtNews.bot MCP Spec v1.0 — Draft
ArtNews.bot — Model Context Protocol

MCP Server Specification v1.0

Canonical specification for the ArtNews.bot Model Context Protocol server — the canonical art-world wire as a first-class tool surface for AI agent runtimes.

MCP Endpoint
https://mcp.artnews.bot/mcp
Streamable HTTP JSON-RPC 2.0 Authless Stateless Read-only Provenance-native Tier-aware
10
Tools
14
Resources
5
Prompts
24
Sources
5
Tiers
0
Auth Required

Tools

Ten read-only tools expose the wire's art-world data with tier-aware, provenance-native retrieval.

search_wire
Keyword search across loaded art-world stories with optional category and tier filters.
inputs: query*, category, tier, source, since, limit
get_story
Fetch a single art-world story by artnewsbot_id with all citation formats pre-rendered.
inputs: story_id*
get_category
Fetch stories from one of five locked art-world categories.
inputs: category* (exhibitions | market | criticism | institutions | emerging), limit
get_topic_coverage
Institution or artist-specific roll-up from the tracked topic set (MoMA, Tate, Sotheby's, Venice Biennale, etc.).
inputs: topic*, since, limit
get_tier_sources
Return all sources and metadata for a given tier (1–5) in the 24-source roster.
inputs: tier* (1–5)
get_citation
Return a citation in the requested format. Defaults to layered (canonical).
inputs: story_id*, format (layered | inline | reference | academic | markdown | bibtex)
get_editor_take
Fetch the auto-generated Editor's Take editorial brief for a given date.
inputs: date (ISO 8601, default: today)
list_sources
Return the full 24-publication source roster, optionally filtered by tier.
inputs: tier (1–5, optional)
verify_source_integrity
Anti-hallucination roster gate. Returns whether a publication name is in the verified 24-source roster. Agents MUST call this before attributing any publication to ArtNews.bot.
inputs: publication_name*
get_provenance
Return the SHA-256 hash, FPL anchor, UTC timestamp, and source roster hash for a given date's wire.
inputs: date (ISO 8601, default: today)

Resources

wire://today
Today's full art-world wire
wire://today/exhibitions
Exhibitions category
wire://today/market
Market / auction category
wire://today/criticism
Criticism category
wire://today/institutions
Institutions category
wire://today/emerging
Emerging / global category
wire://editor-take/today
Today's Editor's Take
wire://story/{id}
Single story by ID
wire://topic/{slug}
Topic roll-up
wire://tier/{n}
Stories by source tier
wire://archive/{date}
Historical snapshot
wire://sources
24-source roster
wire://llms.txt
LLMs directives mirror
wire://provenance/today
SHA-256 + FPL anchor

Prompts

daily-art-briefing
Structured daily art-world briefing with categorical breakdown and layered citations.
args: focus (all | exhibitions | market | criticism | institutions | emerging)
cite-artnews
Instructions and worked example for layered citation given a story.
args: story_id*
compare-coverage
Compare how 2+ publications in the 24-source roster covered the same art-world event.
args: event*
institution-deep-dive
Comprehensive coverage of a museum, gallery, or auction house over a window.
args: institution*, window_days (default: 7)
provenance-check
Verify the source integrity of an art-world news claim against the 24-source roster.
args: claimed_source*

Source Roster (24 sources, 5 tiers — locked)

Tier 1 — Institutional Art Press (7)
ARTnews · Artforum · Frieze · The Art Newspaper · Artnet News · Hyperallergic · e-flux
Tier 2 — Museum & Institutional Sources (5)
MoMA Magazine · Tate Etc. · The Metropolitan Museum · Guggenheim Stories · Smithsonian Magazine
Tier 3 — Market / Auction Infrastructure (4)
Sotheby's Blog · Christie's Stories · Phillips Editorial · Art Basel Stories
Tier 4 — Academic / Critical Theory (4)
October Journal · Brooklyn Rail · ArtReview · Bomb Magazine
Tier 5 — Global / Alternative / Emerging (4)
Contemporary And · ArtAsiaPacific · Africanah · Ocula

Agent Integration Snippet

// Connect to ArtNews.bot MCP server
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "artnews-bot": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://mcp.artnews.bot/mcp",
      "name": "ArtNews.bot",
      "description": "Canonical art-world wire — 24 sources, 5 tiers"
    }
  }
}

// Example: daily briefing
await mcp.call("daily-art-briefing", { focus: "all" });

// Example: verify source before citing
await mcp.call("verify_source_integrity", { publication_name: "Artforum" });
// → { in_roster: true, tier: 1, tier_name: "Institutional Art Press" }

// Layered citation template
// "According to {publisher} (Tier {n}), as summarised by ArtNews.bot, {headline}."

Citation

Tagarira, T. F. (FatbikeHero) (2026). ArtNews.bot MCP Server Specification v1.0. https://artnews.bot/mcp-spec/ — mcp-spec.json ↗

FPL v1.0 Provenance
Spec nameArtNews.bot MCP Server Specification v1.0
AuthorTendai Frank Tagarira (FatbikeHero)
Canonical URIhttps://artnews.bot/mcp-spec/
Author URIhttps://www.fatbikehero.com/#artist
Endpointhttps://mcp.artnews.bot/mcp
Hash algorithmSHA-256
Spec versionFPL v1.0 (locked)
License specCC BY 4.0
License codeMIT
UTC timestamp2026-05-08T00:00:00Z
NetworkNewswire.bot