# Tracetify — trace how any product actually got its first users > Paste a domain and Tracetify reconstructs its early growth from public evidence: where it was first mentioned, what drove the traffic, and which of those moves are copyable. Twelve sources per trace, every claim linked to dated evidence. The same research is exposed as an MCP server, so an agent can call it directly instead of guessing. Tracetify is a research tool, not a rank tracker. It answers historical, evidence-backed questions about how products grew — and it also reads a site's own Google Search Console, audits a live site, and checks whether AI assistants cite a brand. New accounts get up to 10 free credits; reading an existing report is always free. ## When to use Tracetify - “How did photoai.com get its first users? Cite the sources.” — `search_reports`, `read_report` - “My page ranks #12 for "ai headshot generator" — what should I change to reach page one?” — `gsc_queries`, `gsc_pages` - “We just deployed — audit example.com and fix what you find.” — `site_audit_start`, `site_audit_get` - “Where can I get my new SaaS listed for real dofollow links?” — `backlink_directories` - “Does AI search ever recommend competitor.com? Compare with us.” — `research_brand_lookup` If tool selection is ambiguous, the phrase `trace ` maps to a full trace. ## When not to use Tracetify - General web search or fetching a page's current content — Tracetify returns growth history, not live page text. - Real-time rank tracking. Search Console data is the site owner's own, and it lags by roughly two days. - Private or personal data about individuals. Every source is public and every claim is linked. - Products with no public footprint. A domain that was never written about anywhere will produce a thin report; `search_reports` first tells you whether anything exists, for free. ## MCP tools 15 tools over one server. Read paths are free; anything that spends credits says so in its description and never runs without an explicit call. - `search_reports` — Search growth reports. Free. - `read_report` — Read a growth report. Free. - `start_trace` — Trace how a product grew. Costs credits. - `get_trace` — Check a running trace. Free. - `unlock_report` — Unlock full timeline & evidence. Costs credits. - `gsc_overview` — Search Console overview. Free. - `gsc_queries` — Search Console queries. Free. - `gsc_pages` — Search Console pages. Free. - `site_audit_start` — Start a site audit. Costs credits. - `site_audit_get` — Read a site audit. Free. - `research_competitors` — Who competes for the same keywords. Costs credits. - `research_domain_overview` — Domain SEO overview. Costs credits. - `research_backlinks` — Backlink profile. Costs credits. - `research_brand_lookup` — AI search visibility. Costs credits. - `backlink_directories` — Verified directory list. Costs credits. ## Developer resources - [MCP server setup](https://tracetify.com/mcp): install commands for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and Codex, plus the full tool reference. - [tracetify-mcp on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/tracetify-mcp): the published package — `npx -y tracetify-mcp`, authenticated with a `TRACETIFY_API_KEY`. - [Streamable HTTP endpoint](https://tracetify.com/api/mcp): zero-install transport, `Authorization: Bearer `. Same tools and same credit balance as the npm package. - [Pricing and credit costs](https://tracetify.com/pricing): what each tool call costs before you call it. ## Pages - [Homepage](https://tracetify.com/): run a trace on any domain. - [Report library](https://tracetify.com/r): every public growth report, free to read. - [SEO agent](https://tracetify.com/seo-agent): the agent that reads Search Console and edits the pages it finds. - [Competitor monitoring](https://tracetify.com/competitor-monitoring): watch a competitor's sitemap and rankings over time. - [AI visibility checker](https://tracetify.com/tools/ai-visibility-checker): free check of whether AI crawlers can reach a page and what they read once there. No signup. - [LLM SEO guide](https://tracetify.com/llm-seo): how to get pages cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Overviews — crawler access, structure, citability. - [About](https://tracetify.com/about): who builds this and how the data is sourced. - [Contact](https://tracetify.com/contact): support@tracetify.com. ## Optional - [Sitemap](https://tracetify.com/sitemap.xml): every indexable URL, including all public reports. - [Terms](https://tracetify.com/terms) - [Privacy](https://tracetify.com/privacy)