generated: '2026-08-14'
method: probed
source: >-
  live probes of https://mcp.people.ai/mcp and
  https://mcp.backstory.ai/.well-known/*, plus the Backstory MCP help-centre
  collection (https://help.backstory.ai/en/collections/19658946-mcp)
scope: >-
  Backstory's only public machine-callable surface is its MCP server. There is no
  OpenAPI to derive REST conventions from, so this file records the cross-cutting
  semantics that are actually observable or documented, and states plainly where
  a convention is undocumented rather than guessing one.
transport:
  protocol: MCP (JSON-RPC 2.0 over Streamable HTTP)
  endpoint: https://mcp.people.ai/mcp
  method: POST
  accept: application/json, text/event-stream
  content_type: application/json
  documented_client_protocol_label: StreamingHTTP
  note: >-
    Microsoft Copilot Studio and Gemini CLI setup docs use a trailing slash
    (https://mcp.people.ai/mcp/); Claude, ChatGPT and n8n docs use no trailing
    slash. Both forms answer.
authentication:
  style: OAuth 2.0 bearer (authorization_code + PKCE S256, dynamic client registration)
  header: 'Authorization: Bearer <token>'
  alternative: PAI-Client-Id / PAI-Client-Secret request headers (case-sensitive)
  discovery: RFC 8414 + RFC 9728 metadata on the MCP host
  detail: authentication/backstory-authentication.yml
authorization:
  model: caller-permission inheritance (no scope-based capability grants)
  detail: scopes/backstory-scopes.yml
error_envelope:
  format: custom JSON object
  rfc9457: false
  content_type: application/json
  fields:
  - error
  - error_description
  - error_code
  - error_reason
  challenge_header: WWW-Authenticate (RFC 6750 Bearer, carrying resource_metadata)
  observed_example: '{"error": "invalid_token", "error_description": "...", "error_code": "missing_credentials", "error_reason": "missing_authorization"}'
  detail: errors/backstory-problem-types.yml
idempotency:
  supported: unknown
  documented: false
  note: >-
    No idempotency key, header, or retry-safety contract is documented anywhere
    in Backstory's help centre, and none could be observed without credentials.
    Recorded as absent rather than asserted — no Idempotency pointer is emitted
    for this provider.
pagination:
  documented: false
  note: >-
    Not documented. Two tools imply server-side result caps that a caller cannot
    control ("Top Records" returns a ranked set; "Situation Search" returns up to
    four matches), but no cursor, offset or page-size parameter is published.
rate_limiting:
  documented: false
  detail: rate-limits/backstory-rate-limits.yml
versioning:
  scheme: none published for the MCP endpoint
  note: >-
    The endpoint is unversioned. Product changes are announced in the help
    centre's "New Product Releases" article rather than through an API version
    train.
  detail: lifecycle/backstory-lifecycle.yml
request_tracing:
  documented: false
  note: >-
    No request-id or correlation header is documented. Support asks customers for
    an "Activity ID" when filing issues, which is a product record identifier,
    not an API trace id.
data_freshness:
  note: >-
    ChatGPT and Gemini CLI setup articles both state the connection exposes
    "30 days of communications" for an account.
  sources:
  - https://help.backstory.ai/en/articles/13781010-connect-chatgpt-to-backstory
  - https://help.backstory.ai/en/articles/15252790-connect-gemini-cli-to-backstory
cross_links:
  authentication: authentication/backstory-authentication.yml
  scopes: scopes/backstory-scopes.yml
  errors: errors/backstory-problem-types.yml
  lifecycle: lifecycle/backstory-lifecycle.yml
  rate_limits: rate-limits/backstory-rate-limits.yml
  mcp: mcp/backstory-mcp.yml