Connect an assistant

What you need

• An assistant that supports custom connectors. They may be called connectors, integrations, apps or MCP servers (Carpe Inventory IQ is an MCP server). Claude and ChatGPT both support them on paid plans; on a business or enterprise plan, your workspace admin may have to allow custom connectors first.
• Your Carpe Inventory IQ login. There is no API key to create or copy.
• The connector address:https://app.carpeinventory.com/api/mcpIt is also shown, with a Copy button, under Settings → Connected Assistants.

How to connect

1. In your assistant's settings, add a custom connector and paste the connector address. In Claude this is Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Give it a name you will recognize, such as “Carpe Inventory”.
2. Click Connect. Your assistant opens a Carpe Inventory IQ sign-in page. Sign in with your usual email and password (you will not be asked if you are already signed in).
3. Review the approval screen. It names the assistant and the store it will read, lists what it can see, and shows the address you will return to after you allow. Check that address is the assistant you are using (for example claude.ai or chatgpt.com), then click Allow.Some assistants, including ChatGPT, show as Unverified because they register themselves rather than publishing their details at a web address. That is expected; the “you'll return to” address is what to check. Others, such as Claude, show “published by” and a web address. The name is chosen by the app itself, so the address is what tells you who it really is.
4. You land back in your assistant, connected. Ask it a question about your inventory.

What an assistant can see

• Stock. On hand by location for any SKU you search for, plus units at Amazon FBA/AWD and Walmart WFS, open purchase order quantities, and how many bundles or kits you could build from components.
• Sales velocity. Units per day over 30, 60, 90 or 180 days for specific SKUs, and days of cover at that pace.
• Reorder suggestions. The same list as the Reorder Suggestions page: urgency, days until stockout, suggested order quantity, lead time and supplier.
• Open purchase orders. Everything not yet fully received, with ordered, received and outstanding quantities and expected dates.
• Reports. Inventory valuation (overall and by location), COGS by channel, inventory adjustments, the Activity Ledger, BOM production, ABC analysis, MOQ excess, lot expiry and accounts payable.
• Alerts. Anything on your account that needs attention, such as a channel that needs reconnecting.

It sees what your own role can see. If your role cannot view costs, the assistant gets no costs, values or cost reports either. It cannot see other team members' logins, your marketplace connections or your billing.

Where your data goes

Anything the assistant reads is sent to the company that runs it (for example Anthropic for Claude, or OpenAI for ChatGPT) and is handled under your agreement with them. That can include costs, supplier pricing, sales by channel and your bills of materials. If any of that is sensitive, check your assistant's data settings before connecting.

Disconnecting

Go to Settings → Connected Assistants and click Disconnect next to the assistant. It is cut off immediately. Removing a team member, or deactivating their account, also cuts off any assistant they connected. Resetting your password also disconnects every assistant you connected; reconnect and approve again. You can remove the connector in your assistant too, but disconnecting in Carpe Inventory IQ is the one that stops access. Owners can see and disconnect every assistant connected to the store; other roles see the ones they connected. Every role can open Connected Assistants.

Common questions

I work with more than one store. Which one does it read?

The store you are signed in to when you approve the connection, shown by name on the approval screen. A connection only ever reads the store it was approved for. If your login belongs to more than one store and you need a different one connected, contact support.

Can it make changes, like adjusting stock or creating a bundle?

Not yet. Today the connection is read-only. Making changes through an assistant, with a preview you approve before anything is saved, is planned.

The assistant says it could not find a SKU

Ask it to search first, for example “find SKUs matching blue widget”. Searches match SKU code, product name, UPC and MPN. Discontinued SKUs are left out unless you ask for them.

Why don't on-hand numbers include Amazon FBA?

They are reported separately, the same way the Inventory page does it: on hand is what sits in your own locations, and units at Amazon or Walmart fulfillment centers are listed beside it. See FBA, FBM, WFS — what's the difference?

It stopped working and asks me to reconnect

That happens if the connection was disconnected, you reset your password, your account was deactivated, or you have not used it for a long time. Reconnect from your assistant and approve it again.