Grade a strategy inside Manus

Step 1 — get a free API key

Discovery and the schema tool are open, but grading runs a real 6-year backtest, so the grading tools authenticate with your own key. Create one free at tessen.ai/studio/keys — it looks like tsn_live_….

Step 2 — add the connector in Manus

In Manus: Settings → Connectors → + Add Connectors → Custom MCP tab. The fastest path is Import by JSON — paste this and replace the placeholder with your key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tessen": {
      "url": "https://tessen.ai/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "tsn_live_YOUR_KEY_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using Direct Configuration instead: name it tessen, set the server URL to https://tessen.ai/api/mcp, choose the HTTP transport (pick "Streamable HTTP" where offered — the server speaks MCP Streamable HTTP, protocol 2025-03-26), and add an X-API-Key header with your key if the form supports headers. No OAuth involved; the key is the whole handshake.

Step 3 — the tools Manus gets

Step 4 — use it in a conversation

Prompts that work well:

• "Design your best mechanical BTC/ETH strategy, then use the tessen connector to grade it. Fetch the AgentSpec reference first, express the strategy as a valid spec, call grade_strategy, and tell me honestly whether it passed the five gates."
• "Here are the rules of a strategy I'm considering: … Convert it to an AgentSpec and grade it with tessen before we discuss position sizing."
• "Iterate: propose a variant, grade it, and stop when a variant passes all gates or after five attempts. Report every grade, not just the best one."

Every grade_strategycall returns a permanent public verify URL — share it, and anyone can confirm the grade wasn't cherry-picked. That last prompt is worth taking seriously: most variants will fail, and an agent that reports only its best backtest is doing exactly the thing that loses people money.

Troubleshooting

• 401 from grading tools— the key isn't reaching the server. Prefer the JSON import with the headersblock; some connector forms don't forward custom headers from Direct Configuration.
• Connector won't initialize — make sure the transport is the HTTP/Streamable option, not stdio. The endpoint only accepts POSTed JSON-RPC.
• "insufficient OOS trades" grade— that's honest, not broken: the spec fires too rarely for 30+ out-of-sample trades. Loosen the entry confluence or widen the universe and re-grade.