# claim

When an AI quotes a document, `claim` shows you the actual page with the quote highlighted. It's
one MCP tool that takes a file and a quote and returns a picture: green if the whole quote is
there, amber if only part of it is, and a red bar with the page untouched if it couldn't find
it. It reads PDFs, text and markdown files, CSV/TSV/XLSX tables, images, web pages, and links to
files. In Claude Code it comes as a plugin that also scans every answer against the files the
session read: every run of eight words the answer shares with a file, and every figure in it, is
checked whether or not the model called the tool or used quotation marks. A figure counts only
where the file's line shares words with the answer's sentence around it. $22,270M matches 22,270
on a page "in millions". A figure in no file is "worked out" (computed or inferred, never
checked), and claim lists the figures next to it in the answer and where they are. The point is
to make any citation checkable at a glance, without trusting the model's say-so.

## Install

You need [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/). Then, for Claude Code:

```
claude plugin marketplace add alnaik/claim
claude plugin install claim@claim
```

The first call is slow while uv sets things up. Web pages also need a browser:
`uv run playwright install chromium`, once, in a clone or the installed folder.

To try it without any AI:

```
git clone https://github.com/alnaik/claim.git && cd claim && uv sync
uv run claim fixtures/report.pdf "operating margins to remain broadly stable" --page 2  # writes out.png
```

## Add it to Claude Code / Claude Desktop / Cursor

Claude Code: the plugin above is all you need; it brings the server, tells
Claude when to call it, and scans the answers. From a clone, `claude --plugin-dir .`
loads the same plugin.

Claude Desktop (`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`)
and Cursor (`~/.cursor/mcp.json`) take this block, with the path to your clone:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claim": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/claim", "claim-server"]
    }
  }
}
```

## Use it

Ask Claude about a file. Under its answer comes one line per claim, the first problem open. These
are drawn from claim's real output, on the fixtures and on a Walmart 10-K:

![Quotes from two PDFs: one in the file, one partly, one not in the file](docs/claim-quotes.gif)
![A spreadsheet cell, lit in its row](docs/claim-spreadsheet.gif)
![Figures from a filing: in the file (in millions, rounded), and worked out with the figures near them](docs/claim-figures.gif)

In Claude Code each answer gets one line per claim under it, in the answer's order: the dot, the claim in
Claude's words, and where it is; `auto` marks one claim checked by itself, not because Claude asked. The
first problem's card is open, and a click on a line opens or closes its card: the highlighted lines close
up, and `enlarge` opens the picture. The line above the prompt counts the answer's checks; a click on it or
`/claim` opens the pane, the same lines for every answer. `/claim path/to/file` adds a file to check
against. A claim call on a file the session opened runs without a permission prompt; any other asks.

## What it can't do yet

- A figure counts only where its line in the file shares words with the answer's sentence, so one on a table row with no words on it (a column of totals) comes back "worked out".
- A paraphrase with no eight words in common with the file produces nothing, by design: claim checks literally and never guesses.
- Web pages are loaded by a headless browser, so pages that need a login or block bots won't work.
- No OCR: scanned PDFs come back "not found", and images come back "not searchable".
- A quote that runs across a page break is shown as a partial match from one page.
- Spreadsheets: `.xlsx`, `.xlsm` and `.xls` work, `.ods` and Numbers don't. Cells show the way Excel shows them for the common number and date codes, with the stored value under them; other codes, `.xls` and CSV show the stored value; Excel's default date follows this computer's date order. A formula cell shows its saved result, or the formula itself when a script wrote the file without one; claim never works a sum out.
- Word, PowerPoint and other office files aren't read yet, nor pasted images with no file. Files opened through a shell command are tracked by their names in the command.
- Cards show pictures only in terminals that draw images (Ghostty, Kitty, WezTerm); elsewhere a PDF card shows the status line, and `enlarge` opens the picture. The desktop app and VS Code may show a large crop's path. Claude Desktop and Cursor get the tool's image only, no band, pane or scan. In Claude Desktop's chat a file you upload stays on Anthropic's servers, where claim can't reach it: tell Claude the file's path on your computer instead.