Get Started with the Viral Outliers API & MCP Server

Step 0: Try it without an account

Two endpoints are free and need no key at all: a live sample of the outlier feed, and the machine-readable price list.

curl https://viraloutliers.com/api/v1/trending
curl https://viraloutliers.com/api/v1/pricing

Step 1: Create a free account

Sign up here. A free account is enough to buy credits and use the full API. Subscriptions are optional and additionally include a monthly credit allowance (Basic: 250, Pro: 750, Agency: 3,000).

Step 2: Create an API key

Go to Settings → API Keys and create a key. It starts with so_live_ and is shown once, so store it immediately. You can revoke and rotate keys on the same page.

Step 3: Add credits

On the same API Keys tab, buy a one-time pack (1,500 credits for $15, 4,200 credits for $39, 12,000 credits for $99) or use a subscription's monthly allowance. 1 credit = $0.01. Billing is prepaid with a hard stop at zero: calls fail with a machine-readable insufficient_credits error instead of running up a bill.

Step 4: Make your first REST call

Search outliers in any niche (1 credit per call):

curl -X POST https://viraloutliers.com/api/v1/search/content \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer so_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "home workout", "platforms": ["tiktok"], "minOutlierScore": 5}'

Every billable response includes X-Credits-Charged and X-Credits-Balance headers, so you can track spend per call (useful when several of your own users share one key).

Step 5: Connect an AI agent via MCP

In Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http viral-outliers https://viraloutliers.com/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer so_live_YOUR_KEY"

In Claude.ai or ChatGPT, add a custom connector with the URL https://viraloutliers.com/api/mcp and the same key. The server is listed on the official MCP registry as com.viraloutliers/viral-outliers. The free trending tool works even before the key is added.

Step 6: Run async work (crawls, transcripts, remixes)

Skills that do real work (crawl a profile, transcribe a video, remix a post) charge on queueing and return a jobRef. Poll GET /api/v1/jobs/{jobRef} (free) every 10 to 30 seconds, then fetch the result: transcripts and visual analyses land on GET /api/v1/posts/{postId}, crawled profiles become searchable. Jobs that fail refund your credits automatically.

Step 7: Go further

• The full skill table with per-skill docs lives at /docs; the REST contract at openapi.json; a machine-readable site summary at /llms.txt.
• On insufficient_credits (HTTP 402), agents can call create_topup_link (free) to get a payment link for the account owner.
• Found a bug? report_issue (POST /api/v1/feedback) is free.