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INTEGRATIONS - Connect an AI assistant to Qargo over MCP - Walkthrough

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant to your Qargo tenant. With Qargo Intelligence, you set it up yourself: a Super admin sets MCP access, then the user adds the connector.

Written by Alvaro Avelar

What an assistant can do

An assistant reaches the same data as the Qargo external API, on behalf of one named user, with that user's own permissions. Read the Qargo API available options FAQ for the full scope: orders, trips, tasks, companies, resources, documents and accounting.

Not available through MCP:

  • Tenant configuration. Feature flags, integration setup and organisation settings stay out of reach.

An assistant never sees more than the user it acts for. A user without access to financial data in Qargo cannot retrieve it through an assistant either.

Before you start

  • Qargo Intelligence on your tenant. MCP is part of the Qargo Intelligence add-on. Without it, MCP access is not available. Contact your Account Manager to add it.

  • A Super admin in your organisation. Only Super admins can set MCP access for a user.

📚 No request to Qargo needed. If your tenant has Qargo Intelligence, your Super admin completes the whole setup with the steps below.

Connector address

Use https://mcp.qargo.com/mcp in every assistant.

Step 1: Set MCP access for the user

MCP access is a separate setting per user. It defaults to Disabled for everyone, and a Super admin sets it.

  1. NAVIGATE to Configuration > Organisation settings > Users.

  2. CLICK the pencil icon next to the user.

  3. SELECT a level under MCP access.

  4. CLICK Save.

Level

What the assistant can do

Disabled

Nothing. No MCP tools at all. This is the default.

Read-only

Every read operation. Anything that creates, updates or deletes is refused.

Read and write

Reads, plus create, update and delete.

‼️ Be careful with Read and write. An assistant with write access can change or delete data across your whole tenant, and one wrong bulk update can take hours to unpick. Keep users on Read-only by default. Grant Read and write only to users who understand the consequences.

Step 2: Add the connector in your assistant

You can connect any AI assistant that supports MCP. Quick steps for Claude and ChatGPT are below.

Claude: quick steps

Free, Pro or Max, in Claude Desktop or the web app

  1. NAVIGATE to Customize > Connectors.

  2. CLICK Add at the top right of the Connectors panel, then Add custom connector.

  3. ENTER Qargo as the name and https://mcp.qargo.com/mcp as the remote MCP server URL, then click Continue.

  4. LEAVE Authentication and OAuth client as Claude fills them in. The detected settings are the correct ones for Qargo.

  5. CLICK Add, then Connect, and sign in with your Qargo credentials.

Team or Enterprise, in Claude Desktop or the web app

  1. ADD the connector once as an Owner, under Organization settings > Connectors > Add > Custom, using the name and URL above.

  2. CONNECT your own account as a member, under Customize > Connectors, then sign in with your Qargo credentials.

Claude Code

  1. CHECK first with claude mcp list. A connector you already added on claude.ai loads automatically for the same account.

  2. RUN claude mcp add --transport http qargo https://mcp.qargo.com/mcp in the project that needs access, if Qargo is not already there.

  3. TYPE /mcp, select qargo, choose Authenticate, and sign in when the browser opens.

Full steps and troubleshooting: INTEGRATIONS - Claude: connect to Qargo over MCP.

ChatGPT: quick steps

Business, Enterprise or Education

  1. PUBLISH the app once as an admin: turn on developer mode under Settings > Apps > Advanced settings, then go to Workspace settings > Apps > Create, enter the name and endpoint above, select OAuth, click Scan Tools, then Create. Test the draft, publish it from Drafts, and set user access.

  2. CONNECT your own account as a member: open the Qargo app, sign in with your Qargo credentials, then select the app for your message.

Plus or Pro

  1. OPEN ChatGPT settings, then Apps > Advanced settings, and turn on developer mode.

  2. CREATE a custom connector named Qargo, with https://mcp.qargo.com/mcp as the endpoint.

  3. SELECT OAuth as the authentication method. Leave client ID and secret empty.

  4. SCAN the tools, sign in with your Qargo credentials, and approve the access request.

  5. SELECT the connector for your message.

Reading works on Plus and Pro, changing data does not. Full MCP support, which is what allows a change, is currently limited to Business, Enterprise and Education. Free plans cannot add custom connectors at all.

Full steps and troubleshooting: INTEGRATIONS - ChatGPT: connect to Qargo over MCP.

The article for each assistant carries the full setup, the plan requirements and its own troubleshooting.

Assistant

Who sets it up

Article

Claude Desktop, claude.ai and Claude Code

An Owner on Team and Enterprise, each user on Free, Pro, Max and Claude Code

INTEGRATIONS - Claude: connect to Qargo over MCP

ChatGPT

An admin on Business, Enterprise and Education. Each user on Plus and Pro, with read-only access

INTEGRATIONS - ChatGPT: connect to Qargo over MCP

📚 Assistants move their settings. Menu paths change between versions and plans. If a path above does not match what you see, search your assistant's settings for connectors or developer mode.

Approve a change to production data

Read requests run immediately. The first time an assistant tries to change data in a production tenant, Qargo stops it and returns an approval link.

  1. OPEN the approval link in a browser where you are already signed in to Qargo.

  2. REVIEW the tenant named on the approval page and check it is the right one.

  3. APPROVE the session.

  4. RETURN to the assistant and ask it to retry the change.

Approval covers that user, that tenant and that assistant session only. A new session needs a new approval.

‼️ Approving a session authorises every further change in it, not only the one requested. Review any change an assistant proposes before approving, especially changes affecting more than one record.

Daily use

  • Sessions expire. You might have to re-authenticate the connector periodically to stay signed in, in practice around once a day.

  • Reporting is not supported. Send requests for totals, averages or dashboards to BigQuery or the external API instead.

  • Rate limits are shared with your tenant's other API traffic.

📚 AI assistants make mistakes. Check the output before relying on it, and review any proposed change to production data before approving it.

Troubleshooting

Issue

Resolution

The MCP access setting is missing when editing a user

Either you are not a Super admin, or the tenant does not have Qargo Intelligence. For Qargo Intelligence, contact your Account Manager.

The assistant reports that MCP access is not enabled for the user

That user is still set to Disabled. A Super admin sets the level in Configuration > Organisation settings > Users.

A read works but a change is refused

The user is set to Read-only. A Super admin can change the level. On ChatGPT Plus and Pro, changes are not possible at all, whatever the Qargo level.

The assistant reports that access is denied and mentions Qargo Intelligence

The tenant does not have Qargo Intelligence enabled. Contact your Account Manager.

The assistant can list tenants but every other request fails

External API access is not enabled on the tenant. Contact your Account Manager.

The assistant asks for approval again in the same conversation

A new session started. Open the new approval link and approve again.

The assistant stops responding after many requests

The tenant rate limit is reached. Wait for the period stated in the response.

Setup problems specific to one assistant

See the troubleshooting section in that assistant's setup article.

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