MCP doesn't have its own credits. When you use The Swarm in Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant through MCP, the assistant calls the Swarm API for you, and credits are used from the same pool as direct API use.
What uses credits
Profile fetches: 1 credit per profile returned.
Company fetches: 1 credit per company returned.
Out-of-network profiles: looking up people your team isn't connected to uses credits.
What's free
In-network intro paths: finding who on your team knows someone, through the relationships tool, doesn't use credits.
Searches: running a search doesn't use credits; only fetching results does.
Failed or empty requests: no credits are used.
Full rates are in How API credits work.
Why MCP usage can vary
With the API, your developers decide exactly which requests are made. With MCP, the AI assistant decides which tools to call and how often. A broad prompt can lead to many lookups.
Low: "Who knows Bob Moore?" uses a network lookup and a few profile lookups.
Medium: "Find 50 VP Sales leaders at cybersecurity companies" uses company and profile searches and profile fetches.
High: "Research the top 100 AI companies and find warm intro paths" can mean hundreds of profile and company lookups.
Keep usage in check
Ask for a specific number of results.
Be specific: company, title, industry or location.
Avoid broad research prompts unless you need them.
Check usage on the API page before running large workflows.
Who can use MCP
Owners, Admins and Contributors can use MCP. Guests can't. See User roles and permissions.