Let AI assistants ask your bot questions
Give your bot its own MCP server URL. Anyone who adds that URL to their AI assistant, such as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code, can ask your bot questions from inside the assistant. The bot answers with the same instructions, knowledge and power-ups it uses on your other channels.
Standard, Pro and Enterprise
The MCP server channel is included on the Standard, Pro and Enterprise plans.
Who can do this: team owners and admins.
This is different from using Chat Thing from your AI assistant, which lets you build and manage your own bots. The MCP server channel is for the people your bot serves: your customers, your team or anyone else you share the URL with.
Steps
- Open your bot, select the Channels tab and turn on the MCP server card. The MCP server settings page opens.
- Under Access, choose Who can connect:
- Anyone with the URL works in every assistant, including connectors in the Claude and ChatGPT apps.
- Only clients with the secret key asks clients to send a key. Click Generate secret, copy the key straight away (you can't see it again after saving) and share it with the people who should connect.
- Under When should an assistant use this bot?, describe what your bot knows about and what it can help with, for example "Answers questions about Acme's products, pricing and orders". Assistants read this to decide when to ask your bot. If you leave it empty, the bot's description is used.
- Optionally turn on Offer a search tool (see Tools your bot offers).
- Click Save.
- Copy the Server URL, or one of the setups under Connect an assistant, and add it to your assistant.
Connect an assistant
Under Connect an assistant, pick your assistant's tab. Each setup has your URL filled in and a copy button.
- Claude Code: run the
claude mcp addcommand in your terminal. - Codex: add the server to
~/.codex/config.toml. - Cursor: click Add to Cursor, or add the server to
~/.cursor/mcp.json. - VS Code: click Add to VS Code, or add the server to
.vscode/mcp.json. - Claude & ChatGPT apps: add a custom connector and paste the server URL. These apps connect without a key or with their own sign-in, so they usually can't send your secret key. Use Anyone with the URL for them.
The Add to Cursor and Add to VS Code buttons only appear with Anyone with the URL, so a secret key never ends up in a link.
With Only clients with the secret key, clients send the key as a bearer token: an Authorization: Bearer <your-secret-key> header.
Tools your bot offers
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
ask | Asks your bot a question and returns its answer. When the bot's Include sources for responses setting is on, it also returns links to the web pages the answer used. Every answer comes with a conversationId, which the assistant passes back to ask a follow-up in the same conversation. |
search | Only when Offer a search tool is on. Returns passages from your bot's knowledge word for word, with the page or file they came from. |
Search results skip your bot's instructions, so only turn the search tool on if everything in your bot's knowledge is fine to share as written.
If your bot has power-ups, they work over MCP like on your other channels. For example, a bot that can book meetings can book one for the assistant's user.
Usage and limits
- Every question uses your team's message tokens, like any other channel.
- Each caller can ask up to 10 questions and run up to 30 searches a minute, and each bot answers up to 60 questions a minute in total. Over that, the assistant is told to wait a minute and try again.
- The bot's Daily message limit per visitor setting (in the bot's Settings tab) applies to questions asked over MCP too. Callers are identified by their network address, and the limit is shared with the bot's web chat.
- The bot's Maximum characters per message setting applies to questions.
Check it works
- Add the server to your assistant.
- Ask the assistant something your bot knows, for example "Ask Acme Support how long delivery takes".
- The assistant calls your bot's
asktool and uses its answer. - In Chat Thing, open Conversations. The conversation is listed there, with MCP as its channel.
Troubleshooting
The assistant says the server needs authentication or can't connect
Check Who can connect. If it is Only clients with the secret key, the client must send the key as a bearer token, and connectors in the Claude and ChatGPT apps usually can't. Switch to Anyone with the URL, or use a client that can send headers, such as Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code.
The assistant doesn't use my bot
Make When should an assistant use this bot? more specific, so it is clear which questions your bot answers. You can also ask the assistant to use the bot by name.
The server URL returns "Not Found"
The MCP server card is turned off, or the bot was deleted. Turn the card back on to use the same URL again.
Related
- Channels
Where your bot talks to people - your website, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, Telegram, email, AI assistants and the API - and which plans include each channel.
- Use Chat Thing from your AI assistant
Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another AI assistant to Chat Thing and build, test and manage your bots by chatting with it.
- Move a Custom GPT to Chat Thing
Rebuild an OpenAI Custom GPT as a Chat Thing bot - instructions, knowledge files, starters and actions - and keep sharing it by link or on your site.
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