01
The connector
A hosted MCP server, in your account, exposing the tools you approve.
- Read-only unless you ask for more, in writing
- Answers come from your live data, not a copy that goes stale
- Rate limits so it cannot be hammered
Software & AI · AI connectors
AI connectors, explained for owners
The short answer
What an AI connector is
An AI connector, also called an MCP server, is a small, secure piece of software that lets AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT look up facts from your business, like your catalog, price list, service area or documents, instead of guessing. We build them read-only by default, so an assistant can look but cannot change anything, and every request is logged.
Think of it as a front counter for AI. Without one, an assistant answers questions about your business from whatever it found on the web, which may be old or wrong. With one, it asks your counter, and your counter answers only what you have decided to share.
Plain English
What "MCP" means, in four lines
A shared plug
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to outside data and tools, the way a USB port is a standard for connecting devices.
Widely supported
Anthropic, which makes Claude, introduced it, and by 9 December 2025 it was supported by ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and others, with more than 10,000 active public servers (Anthropic, 2025-12-09).
Not owned by one company
On that date MCP was donated to the Agentic AI Foundation, a fund under the Linux Foundation (Linux Foundation, 2025-12-09). That makes it a safer bet than a one-vendor plug-in.
You set the limits
The connector decides what is visible. Your price list can be public while your customer list never is.
What you get
What we deliver
02
Security
Built on the rule that a connector should be able to do as little as possible.
- Least-privilege keys, stored as secrets, never in code
- Sign-in for anything that is not public
- An audit log of every request
03
Set-up for your team
Connection steps for the assistants your staff already use, written for a non-technical reader.
- Tested in each assistant you name
- A list of the questions it can answer
- A runbook for adding a tool later
Is it for you?
Who gets value from a connector today
| Your situation | Connector worth it? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Large catalog or price book (parts, cabinets, materials) | Often yes | Staff and buyers can ask an assistant for exact items and prices instead of searching PDFs. |
| Many internal documents (procedures, specs, warranties) | Often yes | Your team gets answers from your own documents, with the source named. |
| Selling to companies that use AI assistants in purchasing | Worth testing | Being readable by their tools makes you easier to buy from. |
| A five-page service website | Usually no | A clean site with an AI facts page and llms.txt does the job for far less. See AI search. |
Proof
Built from experience, not a tutorial
Shaun built and runs an AI connector for his own subscription software product, which also has a catalog, Stripe payments and a large database. Assistants use it to look up records from that database. The safeguards listed above are the ones that connector runs with.
A read-only connector for this website's own catalog is planned. It will be listed on the AI facts page once it is live, not before.
Prices
A starting price, then a written quote
Connectors vary with how many systems they read and who may use them, so they are scoped first and priced in writing before work starts. Larger or unclear projects begin with paid discovery, and the discovery fee is credited to the build.
AI Connector (MCP server)
A secure, read-only connector to your catalog, docs or data for Claude, ChatGPT and other agents.
From $6,500
- Read-only by design
- Your catalog, docs or data
- Works with Claude, ChatGPT and other agents
AI Site Assistant
A chat assistant that answers only from your content, with sources and a hand-off to a person. AI usage billed at cost.
From $4,500
- Answers only from your content
- Shows its sources
- Hand-off to a person
- AI usage billed at cost
Software Discovery
A scoping workshop, architecture and an estimate in sprints, credited to the build.
$1,500
- Scoping workshop
- Architecture
- Estimate in sprints
- Credited to the build
Want a chat box on your own website instead? The AI Site Assistant answers only from your content, shows its sources and hands off to a person when it should.
How it runs
Four steps
Choose the data
We list what an assistant should be able to look up, and what it must never see.
Design the tools
Each lookup becomes a named tool with a clear description, so the assistant uses it correctly.
Build and test
Tested in each assistant you use, including attempts to make it reveal what it should not.
Hand over
Hosted in your account, with the runbook, the audit log and the connection steps.
FAQ
Questions about AI connectors
Can an AI assistant change my data through the connector?
Not with a read-only connector, which is how we build them by default. Write access, such as creating a quote, is added only when you ask for it in writing, and it goes behind a sign-in.
Which assistants work with it?
Any assistant that supports MCP. Anthropic's December 2025 announcement listed ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Visual Studio Code among them, alongside Anthropic's own Claude. We test in the ones your team actually uses.
Is a connector the same as a chatbot on my website?
No. A chatbot is a chat box on your site. A connector lets assistants that people already use, anywhere, look up your facts. They can share the same data source.
Will it help my business show up in AI answers?
It helps assistants that use it give correct answers about you. It does not control what any AI company shows in its general answers, and nobody can promise that. Being clear and correct on your website still matters most.
Next step
Bring one task that eats your week.
On a free scoping call we map it and tell you straight whether it's worth automating and what it would cost.