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AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Codex can work with your store’s Depict data through Depict’s MCP server (MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is the standard these assistants use to connect to other services). A connected assistant can answer questions about your collections, products, search, recommendations and analytics, and, if you allow it, make changes such as pinning products in a collection or adding a synonym. Each assistant connects to one store. You approve every connection yourself, choose whether it may make changes, and can disconnect it at any time. AI assistants are in beta, for selected stores.

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Limits and behavior

  • Depict turns AI assistants on per store, with two switches: AI assistants (MCP) lets assistants read, and Assistant changes lets them make changes. When AI assistants (MCP) is on, AI assistants appears in Settings.
  • Every connection can read. Making changes needs two things: you ticked the changes box when you approved the connection, and Assistant changes is on for your store.
  • Changes are attributed to the person who approved the connection.
  • A connection lasts 30 days from when it was approved. After that the assistant has to connect again, and you approve it again.
  • If Depict turns AI assistants (MCP) off, connected assistants stop working at their next request.

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Requirements

  • AI assistants (MCP) turned on for your store. If AI assistants is missing from Settings, contact us.
  • A Depict account with access to the store. You sign in with it when you approve the connection.
  • An assistant that supports remote MCP servers with OAuth sign-in. The steps below cover Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT and Codex. Other assistants that work the same way can connect too.

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Your endpoint URL

Every store has its own endpoint URL:
You don’t need to build it yourself. In the portal at app.depict.ai, open Settings → AI assistants:
  • Your MCP endpoint shows the URL with a Copy button, and the full Claude Code and Codex commands, each with its own Copy button.
  • Connected assistants lists the assistants connected to the store.
Use the URL exactly as copied. The store_id part ties the connection to your store; without it, the assistant can’t connect.

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Connecting an assistant

Whichever assistant you use, connecting works the same way: you give it the endpoint URL, it opens the approval screen in Depict, you sign in and approve it, and it is connected. You don’t create keys or enter a client ID or secret.

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Claude

Claude on the web and the Claude desktop app share connectors.
1

Add a custom connector

In Claude, go to Customize → Connectors, click + Add, then Add custom connector. On a Team or Enterprise plan, an organization owner adds it instead, under Organization settings → Connectors (Add → Custom → Web).
2

Enter the endpoint

Give the connector a name, for example Depict, and paste your endpoint URL. Leave the OAuth client ID and secret empty. Then click Add.
3

Connect

Click Connect on the new connector. Your browser opens Depict; see The approval screen.
4

Turn it on in a chat

In a chat, open the + menu, then Connectors, and make sure the Depict connector is on.
The steps follow Anthropic’s custom connector guide.

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Claude Code

1

Add the server

Copy the command from Claude Code on the AI assistants page and run it in your terminal. It looks like this:
Keep the quotes: without them, some shells treat the ? in the URL as a wildcard.
2

Sign in

Start Claude Code, run /mcp, select depict and choose to authenticate. Your browser opens Depict; see The approval screen.

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ChatGPT

ChatGPT connects to remote MCP servers on the web for Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces, and your workspace’s permissions decide who can add one. Menu names change, so follow OpenAI’s guide to custom MCP servers.
1

Add a custom MCP server

In ChatGPT, add a custom MCP server from Plugins. Give it a name, for example Depict, paste your endpoint URL, and set the authentication to OAuth. Leave any client ID and secret empty.
2

Connect

Start the sign-in. Your browser opens Depict; see The approval screen.

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Codex

1

Add the server and sign in

Copy the command from Codex on the AI assistants page and run it in your terminal. It adds the server, then signs in:
Keep the quotes, as with Claude Code. Your browser opens Depict; see The approval screen. To sign in again later, run codex mcp login depict on its own.
The steps follow OpenAI’s Codex MCP guide.

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The approval screen

When an assistant connects, your browser opens a Depict page titled Connect an AI assistant to Depict. If you are not signed in, sign in first. The request waits for 10 minutes. The page names the assistant and your store, and says where approving sends you: an app on your computer, or a website. The name is what the assistant calls itself, and any program can register under any name. Approve only if you just started connecting from that assistant. If you didn’t, click Decline. Choose what it may do:
  • Read the store’s data in Depict is always part of the connection.
  • Also let it make changes the store allows assistants to make is a box you can tick. It appears only when the assistant asked for changes and Assistant changes is on for your store. If the store has changes off, the page says the assistant will only read.
Then click Approve to connect, or Decline to refuse. After you approve, you can close the tab.

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What an assistant can do

A connected assistant gets these tools:
  • overview: a one-page explanation of how Depict models a headless store. The assistant reads it before its first search.
  • search: finds the Depict operation that answers a question.
  • execute: reads your store’s data. It never makes changes.
  • execute_write: also makes changes. Only a connection you allowed to make changes gets this tool, and its changes are refused while Assistant changes is off.
So an assistant can, for example, answer:
  • “Which collections have the most hidden products?”
  • “Compare last week’s revenue per collection with the week before.”
With changes allowed, it can also act on requests like:
  • “Pin these three products at the top of the SUMMER SALE collection.”
  • “Add jumper as a synonym for sweater.”
Changes cover pinning and hiding products in collections, hand-picked collection products, Boost & Bury rules, the search start view, products and tags search never returns, synonyms, search content, query rules, auto-hide exemptions and custom recommendation rules. Anything else is changed in the portal. On some stores Depict keeps the settings itself: both the assistant and the portal refuse the change there, and only Depict support can make it. Changes are safe:
  • Every change starts from the latest data. If someone else changed the same thing since the assistant last read it, the change is refused. The assistant reads again and retries.
  • Changes sent right after each other can be refused with a message that a save is already running. Nothing is saved; retrying a moment later fixes it.
Some limits to know about:
  • An answer over 1 MB is refused with a message to narrow the request. Ask for fewer rows, a shorter period, or leave out extra metrics.
  • Ask for only a few rows of product metrics at a time: at most 40 products over 30 days, 15 over 90 days or 5 over a year.
  • Metrics reads can take 10 to 30 seconds. Ask for a shorter period if one fails.
Whether an assistant asks you before it runs a tool is decided by the assistant and its settings, not by Depict. Changes only go through execute_write, so you can let execute run without asking and still review every change. Don’t choose “always allow” for execute_write if you want to see each change first, or connect with read access only.

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Disconnecting access

Connected assistants on Settings → AI assistants lists every connection with its name, where it signs in, its access and the date it was connected. Access is what you approved: Read, or Read and write if you ticked the changes box. A new connection can take a minute to appear; reload the page if you don’t see it yet. Click Disconnect on a row and confirm. The assistant loses access to the store, its old sign-in stops working, and it has to connect again, with a new approval, to get access back. Disconnecting one assistant doesn’t affect the others. The same assistant may appear more than once, for example on two computers. If the portal says it could not disconnect the assistant, click Disconnect again.

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Troubleshooting

The AI assistants page is missing from Settings, or the assistant says AI assistants are not enabled for this store. AI assistants are off for your store. A direct link to the page shows a page headed “This page got buried”. Contact us to turn them on. Connected assistants stop working while they are off. The assistant says it is not authorised. Its connection has ended: it was disconnected, it expired after 30 days, or the sign-in was refused. Remove the connector, add it again, and approve it again. I connected an assistant but the page says none are connected. A new connection can take a minute to appear. Wait a minute, then reload the page. There is no changes box on the approval page, or the assistant can’t make a change. Either Assistant changes is off for your store, the assistant didn’t ask for changes, or you connected it without ticking the box. Check with us that changes are on, then disconnect the assistant, connect it again and tick the box. This connection request has expired or was already used; connect again from your assistant. A request is valid for 10 minutes and can be answered once. Start connecting again from the assistant. You cannot answer this connection request. Your Depict account has no access to this store. Sign in with one that does. The assistant says an answer was too large, or a change was refused because the data changed. See the limits above. For a refused change, ask the assistant to read again and retry.