MCP

Let Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, or another AI tool manage your store directly, creating products, updating orders and adjusting inventory, using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Brainerce has a built-in MCP server for your store. It lets you connect an external AI client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT, and others) directly to your real data: products, orders, customers, coupons, content, your loyalty program (points, rewards and tiers), and more. Click MCP in the top bar of the dashboard to get started, and see Connect an AI assistant for the full setup guide.

Where is the MCP button?

On a computer or a wide tablet, the MCP button sits in the top bar, in the group beside the dark-mode switch and the bell.
On a narrow screen such as a phone, the top-bar button is hidden. Open your user menu (your picture at the top) and choose the MCP row instead. Both open the same popup.
If you do not see MCP at all, your role cannot view API keys. The button and the menu row only appear for people whose role includes View API keys. Ask the store owner to change your permissions under Settings → Team. See Team and permissions.

There is one MCP address for every assistant that supports it, and the popup shows it first. ChatGPT is the exception: its card in the popup is a button that installs the Brainerce plugin, with no address to paste. See Connect an AI assistant.

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard, not something specific to Brainerce, that lets AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT connect to outside services and use them like a set of instructions the AI can follow on its own. Think of it as a bridge: on one side is your AI assistant, on the other side is your Brainerce store, and MCP is the language they use to talk to each other. Once connected, the AI can call specific, well-defined actions ("look up this order," "create a product," "apply a discount") instead of you copy-pasting data back and forth.

You're not installing anything on Brainerce's side. You're pointing an AI client you already use at a URL Brainerce gives you.

This is not BOBO

Brainerce also has BOBO, a built-in AI agent that runs inside your dashboard (see BOBO, your AI agent). In a chat, BOBO shows you a summary to approve before it changes anything; a scheduled BOBO run acts on the approval you gave when you set the schedule up, and never deletes or cancels on its own. An AI client connected through MCP uses its own approval prompts instead of BOBO's summary card: it is a separate tool acting on its own, outside BOBO's approval flow. Keep this distinction in mind before you connect anything.

Before you connect

What asks for your approval depends on your AI app. Deleting things and changing who has access to your store are marked as such, so a client like Claude or ChatGPT can ask you before each one. Everything else, such as editing a product or changing stock, runs as soon as your AI app decides to call it. Nothing inside Brainerce adds a further "are you sure?" step the way BOBO does. Only connect AI apps you trust, and grant the narrowest set of permissions that let them do their job.

Choose how to authenticate

Method	Best for	How it works
OAuth (recommended)	Interactive tools: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT	Paste the server URL into your AI client and sign in with your Brainerce account, then choose one store, several stores or all your stores, and approve the requested permissions. Nothing to copy or store.
API key	CLIs, headless tools, or clients without OAuth support	Create a key under Settings → API keys, choosing the permissions it needs, either by ticking them or by starting from a preset (Custom, Storefront, Read-only or Full access). Pass it as a Bearer token. A key belongs to one store.

Choosing stores is an OAuth feature. On the Brainerce sign-in screen you pick One store, Choose which stores (tick the ones the app may reach) or All my stores (every store you can access, including stores you create or join later). In each store the app can only do what your role in that store allows. This is checked on every action, so removing a permission from someone takes effect on their next action. An API key is always tied to the one store it was created in.

Full access is a choice you make, not a default. The Full access preset ticks every permission the dialog offers. A key made from it can do everything a key can do in that store, so use it only for a tool you fully trust, and prefer Read-only or Custom for anything else.

OAuth is not just the easier option, it reaches more of your store. Categories, tags, brands, product options, product custom fields, add-on options, order bumps, bundle offers, shipping zones and rates, and loyalty are unreachable with an API key, however you scope it, and only work when you sign in. Everything else (products, orders, refunds, customers, coupons, stock, pages, blog posts, media) works with either. See some actions need you to sign in.

Next steps

Connect an AI assistant covers step-by-step setup for Claude Code, Cursor, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, and other MCP clients, plus best practices.
BOBO, your AI agent is Brainerce's built-in AI, which asks you to approve each change you request in a chat.

Need help connecting an AI client? Email [email protected].