AI assistants (MCP)

Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor or Codex to your Tailride workspace with the hosted MCP server.

Overview

Tailride runs a hosted Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Any MCP-capable assistant can connect to it and ask questions about your workspace in plain language: "which invoices failed to export to Xero?", "how much did we spend on AWS this quarter?", "which bank transactions still have no receipt?", "show me the PDF of the last Vodafone invoice".

Everything runs in the cloud, so it works from Claude on the web and on your phone without the desktop app.

Server URL: https://tailride.so/api/mcp
Sign-in: OAuth. Each assistant signs in with your Tailride account; no API key to copy.
Access: read-only. Assistants can read invoices, suppliers, bank statements, spending insights, chart of accounts and the status of your mailboxes and integrations. They cannot change, export or upload anything and never spend credits.

Availability

AI assistant connections are available on paid plans for business accounts. Only the root user of the account can connect an assistant.

What assistants can do

Tool	What it answers
`account_info`	Which workspace is connected, plan, remaining credits, mailbox limits
`invoices_search`	Find invoices by text, vendor, date, currency, tags, source, mailbox, payment status, "not exported to X", needs attention, uncoded
`invoice_get`	All extracted fields, line items with account coding, tax, export status per accounting tool, activity log
`invoice_get_pdf`	Short-lived download links for the invoice file and supporting documents
`needs_attention`	Failed exports with errors, low-confidence fields, coding to review, uncoded invoices, mailboxes and sources to reconnect
`spend_summary`	Spend by month, vendor or tag, per currency
`subscriptions_list`	Recurring vendors and the next expected charge
`suppliers_list`, `supplier_get`	Supplier records with their default and most-used expense account
`sources_status`	Mailboxes, Peppol and cloud-storage sources, reconnect status, recent scans
`integrations_status`	Connected accounting and storage tools
`chart_of_accounts`	Accounts and cost-tracking dimensions, so an assistant can propose coding
`bank_statements_list`, `missing_receipts`	Uploaded statements and the transactions that still lack a receipt
`search`, `fetch`	The standard pair ChatGPT connectors use for search and deep research

Connect an assistant

Copy the server URL

Open Settings → AI assistants. Copy the server URL, https://tailride.so/api/mcp.

Add it to your assistant

Pick your assistant below. Each one opens a Tailride sign-in page in the browser the first time it connects.

Claude (web, desktop, mobile) — go to Customize → Connectors, click Add custom connector, paste the URL and click Add. On Team and Enterprise plans an Owner adds it under Organization settings → Connectors and members then connect with their own account.

ChatGPT — in Settings → Connectors, enable Developer mode under Advanced, click Create, paste the URL and choose OAuth as the authentication.

Claude Code — run:

claude mcp add --transport http tailride https://tailride.so/api/mcp

then type /mcp in a session and choose Authenticate.

Cursor — in Settings → MCP, add a server with the URL https://tailride.so/api/mcp (transport "http"), then click Connect to sign in. Or add it to mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "tailride": { "url": "https://tailride.so/api/mcp" } } }

Codex — add the server to ~/.codex/config.toml and run codex mcp login tailride:

[mcp_servers.tailride]
url = "https://tailride.so/api/mcp"

Approve the connection

Sign in to Tailride if asked, review what the assistant will be able to read and click Allow access. You are sent back to the assistant, and the connection appears in the AI assistants (MCP) list.

Using an API key instead

Coding tools and scripts that run without a browser can also authenticate with a personal API key: send Authorization: Bearer trapi_… on every request to the server URL. Claude and ChatGPT do not support API keys for custom connectors; use the OAuth flow there.

Manage connections

Settings → AI assistants lists every assistant you approved, with the date it connected and when it was last used.

Disconnect — click the trash icon. The assistant loses access immediately and has to sign in again to reconnect.
Idle connections — a connection nobody has used for 90 days expires on its own.
Downgrades — if the account leaves a paid plan, every connected assistant stops working until the plan is restored.

Security

Assistants sign in through OAuth with PKCE. The sign-in page shows the name of the app that asked for access; if you do not recognise it, click Cancel.
Access tokens are short-lived and stored only as hashes. Revoking a connection invalidates both its access and refresh tokens at once.
Access is read-only in this version. Assistants cannot edit invoices, trigger exports, upload documents or spend credits.
Download links returned to assistants expire after 15 minutes.
Connections are credentials of the root user. Team members and accountants cannot create them.

Troubleshooting

"Couldn't reach the MCP server" — check the URL is exactly https://tailride.so/api/mcp, with no trailing slash.
"This request is invalid" on the sign-in page — the assistant started the flow with parameters Tailride does not support. Remove the connector in the assistant and add it again.
"can't be connected to this account" — the account is not on a paid plan, is an accountant account, or you are signed in as a team member. Sign in with the root user of a paid business account.
The assistant says it is not authorized after working before — the connection was disconnected, expired after 90 days without use, or the plan lapsed. Reconnect from the assistant.

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