Kickbacks.ai MCP Server

Earn ad revenue from AI coding agent spinners — MCP server for Kickbacks.ai that exposes tools to check balance, earnings, status, ad history, and enable/disable ads.

What is Kickbacks.ai?

Kickbacks.ai pays developers 50% of ad revenue from ads shown in AI coding agent spinners (Claude Code, Codex). While your agent "thinks", its spinner shows sponsored lines instead of generic verbs like "Discombobulating...".

Platform	Status
VS Code Extension (Claude Code)	✅ Primary
VS Code Extension (Codex)	⚠️ Temp disabled
Terminal CLI (Claude Code 2.1.143+)	✅ Works

Quick Start

1. Get API Credentials

Email support@kickbacks.ai for partner API access.

2. Install & Configure

# Install via uvx (recommended)
uvx kickbacks-mcp

# Or install locally
pip install kickbacks-mcp
# or
pip install -e .

3. Set Environment Variables

export KICKBACKS_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
export KICKBACKS_USER_ID=your_user_id_here  # optional

4. Add to Hermes Agent Config

# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
mcp_servers:
  kickbacks:
    command: "uvx"
    args: ["kickbacks-mcp"]
    env:
      KICKBACKS_API_KEY: "your_key"

5. Use in Any MCP-Compatible Agent

# Check balance
> kickbacks_balance

# See earnings breakdown
> kickbacks_earnings

# Check status & caps
> kickbacks_status

# View ad history
> kickbacks_ads_history

# Enable/disable ads
> kickbacks_set_enabled enabled=true

Available Tools

Tool	Description
kickbacks_balance	Current balance (total earnings)
kickbacks_earnings	Breakdown: today/week/month/total
kickbacks_status	Connection state, caps, session stats
kickbacks_ads_history	Impression/click log with pagination
kickbacks_set_enabled	Enable/disable ads
kickbacks_config	Check configuration status

Example Outputs

> kickbacks_earnings
Earnings Breakdown:
  Today: $0.42
  This Week: $7.11
  This Month: $42.50
  Total: $156.78
  Currency: USD

> kickbacks_status
Connected: ✅ | Authenticated: ✅ | Enabled: ✅ | Last sync: 2026-06-13T21:32:31 | Session: 23 impressions, 2 clicks

> kickbacks_ads_history
Ad History (showing 2 of 2):
  👁 [2026-06-13T21:32:31] Ramp - save time and money (spinner) - $0.0010
  👆 [2026-06-13T21:32:31] Bitcoin Devs Takeover Toronto (statusbar) - $0.0500

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
KICKBACKS_API_KEY	Yes	API key from Kickbacks.ai
KICKBACKS_USER_ID	No	Your Kickbacks user ID
KICKBACKS_API_BASE	No	Custom API base URL (default: https://api.kickbacks.ai/v1)

Hermes Agent Config

mcp_servers:
  kickbacks:
    command: "uvx"
    args: ["kickbacks-mcp"]
    env:
      KICKBACKS_API_KEY: "ghp_xxx..."
      KICKBACKS_USER_ID: "user_123"
    timeout: 60

Claude Desktop Config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kickbacks": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["kickbacks-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "KICKBACKS_API_KEY": "your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Development

Local Development

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/msgok/kickbacks-mcp
cd kickbacks-mcp

# Install in dev mode
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run directly
python -m kickbacks_mcp.server

# Run tests
pytest

Project Structure

kickbacks_mcp/
├── __init__.py      # Package init
├── client.py        # Kickbacks API client
├── server.py        # MCP server with tools
├── pyproject.toml   # Project config
└── README.md        # This file

Adding Real API Support

When Kickbacks provides API access:

1. Edit client.py → replace _mock_response() with real HTTP calls
2. Update data models if API differs
3. Test with pytest tests/

Publishing to PyPI

# Build
pip install build
python -m build

# Publish
pip install twine
twine upload dist/*

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Support

• Kickbacks API Access: support@kickbacks.ai
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Kickbacks Website: https://kickbacks.ai

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Built for the Hermes Agent ecosystem. Works with any MCP-compatible agent.