Connect an assistant (MCP)

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

Every assistant app puts this in a slightly different place and uses slightly different names (connector, integration, app or MCP server). The first one takes a few minutes of patience; after that, connecting any other assistant works the same way.

1. In your assistant's settings, add a custom connector and paste the connector address. In Claude this is Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. In the Codex desktop app it is Settings → Plugins → MCPs → Add → Add MCP server, then paste the address, save, and click Authenticate. Give it a name you will recognize, such as “Carpe Inventory”.
2. If the app asks for a connection type, choose Streamable HTTP (not STDIO); it will not connect otherwise. Leave any bearer token or API key field empty: you sign in with your Carpe Inventory IQ login instead.
3. Click Connect (Authenticate in Codex). 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).
4. 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.
5. You land back in your assistant, connected. Ask it a question about your inventory.

What an assistant can see

• SKU details. Name, barcode, MPN, brand, PO short name, reorder settings, lot tracking, suppliers with their part numbers, and a bundle's recipe. Costs and suppliers only if your role can see them.
• Stock. On hand by location for any SKU you search for, with each location's bin, 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.
• Help. Answers how-to questions about Carpe Inventory IQ from the same help content our help assistant, Ledger, uses. This looks at no store data, so every connection has it, whatever the role.

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.

What you can ask

Ask in your own words; the assistant works out where to look. A few examples:

• Stock by location: “How many WIDGET-100 do we have, and where?” “How much GADGET-200 is at Amazon FBA versus our own warehouse?”
• SKU details: “What barcode and reorder point does WIDGET-100 have?” “What goes into the BUNDLE-900 gift set?”
• Sales velocity: “How many days of cover do we have on GADGET-200?” “Is WIDGET-100 selling faster over the last 30 days than the last 90?”
• Reorder suggestions: “What do I need to reorder from Acme Supply this week?” “Which SKUs are critical right now, and how many should I order?”
• Reports: “What was our inventory worth by location on June 30?” “What were COGS by channel last month?”
• Open purchase orders: “What is still outstanding from Northwind Packaging, and when is it due?” “Is PART-300 on any open purchase order?”
• Account alerts: “Is anything on my account that needs attention?” “Do any of my channels need reconnecting?”
• How to use Carpe Inventory IQ: “How do I create a transfer?” “Where do I set lead times for a supplier?”

It can combine them, too: “Which fast-moving SKUs have under two weeks of cover and nothing on order?” More examples are on the Connected Assistants feature page.

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 in Carpe Inventory IQ (not in your assistant's app) 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.

Letting an assistant make changes

By default a connected assistant can only read your data. When connecting one, team members whose role allows it see an unticked box, “Also let it make changes,” on the approval screen. Leave it unticked to keep the connection read-only. An assistant already connected read-only keeps working and stays read-only when it signs in again. To let it make changes, disconnect it under Settings → Connected Assistants in Carpe Inventory IQ (not in your assistant's app), then connect it again and tick the box.

Preview, then save

Every change takes two calls: the assistant first shows a preview, and only a second call carrying that preview's confirmation actually saves it. Confirmations expire after 10 minutes and work once. Most assistants ask you before running a tool that changes your data; if yours does not, ask it to show you the preview before you agree to anything.

What it can change

• Stock at your own locations (not Amazon FBA/AWD or Walmart WFS).
• Turning an existing finished product that doesn't have a recipe yet into a bundle, built from your other existing products. Its own on-hand is then set to zero, since a bundle's stock is counted from its components. It cannot replace an existing bundle's recipe or create a brand-new product.
• SKU details: name, description, barcode/UPC, MPN, brand, PO short name, cost (only if your role can view costs), reorder point and reorder quantity.
• Draft purchase orders for suppliers you already have, if your role can create purchase orders and view costs. For example, tell your assistant “make a PO for 50 WIDGET-100 from Acme Supply.” When it shows you the preview, reply “yes, create it” to save the draft. A line without a cost uses this supplier's price, else what you last paid this supplier on a confirmed PO, else the product's standard cost. It never uses another supplier's price on its own: it asks you first. The PO is always saved as a draft: nothing is sent to the supplier and stock doesn't change until you confirm and receive it in Carpe Inventory IQ. The supplier's contact details and payment terms come from the supplier record, and the PO number is assigned when it's saved.

What it can never do

Rename or merge SKU codes, change a SKU's type, delete anything, confirm, send or receive a purchase order, add or edit suppliers, or change settings or channel sync mode.

Channels

Stock changes reach channels in Full Sync exactly as a change made in the app does; Read-Only channels are untouched. Cost changes reach Shopify only if cost push is on and Shopify is in Full Sync.

Where to see what it did

Every stock change it makes shows in the Activity Ledger as “(via AI assistant: <name>)”. A draft purchase order it creates says the same in its internal notes, which are never printed on the PO the supplier sees.

Roles

A change is limited by the role of the person who connected the assistant. A Warehouse user can only let it adjust stock; a Viewer cannot allow changes at all. Draft purchase orders need a role that can create purchase orders and view costs.

Turning it off

Go to Settings → Connected Assistants in Carpe Inventory IQ (not in your assistant's app) — the “Can make changes” badge shows which assistants have it — and disconnect, then reconnect without ticking the box.

Example prompts: “Set WIDGET-100 at Main Warehouse to 40, cycle count”. “Set up BUNDLE-900, which already exists, as a bundle of 2× PART-300 and 1× GADGET-200”.

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.