isBusinessEmail
Check if an email is a real person's work address or a personal, disposable, relay or shared team inbox, and see the company's Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 tenant.
Documentation
Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and other MCP clients to isBusinessEmail: server URL, OAuth sign-in, tools, example prompts and limits.
isBusinessEmail runs a remote MCP server (Model Context Protocol). Connect it once, and your AI assistant can check whether an address is a work email, classify a list of leads or find out whether a company runs Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, using your account and quota.
https://api.isbusinessemail.com/mcp
| Transport | Streamable HTTP (JSON responses, no sessions) |
| Sign-in | OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, through your isBusinessEmail account. Or send an API key as a Bearer token. |
| Cost | Free. Each check counts toward your daily quota, like an API call. |
Connect your assistant
Claude (web, desktop and mobile)
- Open Settings → Connectors and choose Add custom connector.
- Name it
isBusinessEmailand pastehttps://api.isbusinessemail.com/mcpas the URL. - Select Connect, sign in to isBusinessEmail (or create a free account) and select Allow access.
On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds the connector for the organization first.
Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http isbusinessemail https://api.isbusinessemail.com/mcp
Then run /mcp inside Claude Code and choose Authenticate. A browser window opens for sign-in.
ChatGPT
Add a custom connector (in developer mode, depending on your plan) with the server URL https://api.isbusinessemail.com/mcp and OAuth authentication. ChatGPT registers itself and opens the sign-in page.
Cursor
~/.cursor/mcp.json (or .cursor/mcp.json in a project):
{
"mcpServers": {
"isbusinessemail": { "url": "https://api.isbusinessemail.com/mcp" }
}
}
Cursor shows Needs login next to the server; select it to sign in.
VS Code
.vscode/mcp.json:
{
"servers": {
"isbusinessemail": { "type": "http", "url": "https://api.isbusinessemail.com/mcp" }
}
}
Any other client, with an API key
If your client can’t do OAuth, use a secret key from your dashboard as a header:
{
"mcpServers": {
"isbusinessemail": {
"url": "https://api.isbusinessemail.com/mcp",
"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ibe_live_your_key" }
}
}
}
Keep keys out of shared repositories. An OAuth connection is safer: it creates its own key that you can revoke without touching your other integrations.
Tools
| Tool | What it does | Counts as |
|---|---|---|
check_email | Classifies one address: category, is_business, recommendation, reasons, typo suggestion, mail provider, Google Workspace / Microsoft 365 | 1 check |
check_domain | The same for a domain, for when you only care about the company | 1 check |
check_batch | Up to 100 addresses or domains in one call, results in input order | 1 check per item |
get_usage | Tier, limits, checks used and remaining today, last 30 days | free |
report_wrong_verdict | Reports a misclassified address or domain; a person reviews it | free (50 a day) |
The check tools take an optional policy (b2b, strict or lenient; see Categories and policies). Every tool returns a short text summary for the assistant and the full API response as structured content, with the same fields as POST /v1/check.
Things to ask
- “Is jane@acme.io a work email? Does Acme use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?”
- “Here are 40 sign-ups from this week. Which ones are personal or disposable?”
- “Score these leads by email domain and tell me which to send to sales.”
- “Why was contoso.com classified as business? Show me the reasons.”
- “How many checks do I have left today?”
How sign-in works
The server follows the MCP authorization spec:
- Without a token,
/mcpanswers401with aWWW-Authenticateheader pointing athttps://api.isbusinessemail.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp. - The client reads the authorization server’s metadata at
https://api.isbusinessemail.com/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server, then registers itself (dynamic client registration). - You sign in at isbusinessemail.com and approve the app. PKCE (S256) is required.
- The app receives a secret key named MCP · . It shows up in your keys, with its own usage. Revoke it there to disconnect the app. Connecting the same app again replaces its previous key.
Limits and privacy
- MCP checks use your account’s rate limits and daily quota. When the quota is used up, tools return a
quota_exceedederror until 00:00 UTC. - The MCP server sees the same data as the API: the addresses and domains your assistant sends. It never emails or probes them. See Privacy and data.
- Your assistant decides when to call a tool. Most clients ask before running tools; check your client’s settings.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| The client says the server needs authentication | Connect again and finish the sign-in in the browser. |
| “This account already has the maximum number of active API keys” | Revoke an unused key at /app/keys, then connect again. |
Tools return quota_exceeded | Wait for the reset at 00:00 UTC, or ask for more. |
Tools return invalid_token | The key was revoked. Connect again. |