What is Instant MCP?

Instant MCP connects AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT to your Instant account. After you connect, you can ask your AI tool about your store, flow and campaign performance, look up shoppers, and build draft campaigns from a chat.

  • Without it, your AI tool cannot see your Instant data, so you have to copy numbers or screenshots into the chat by hand.
  • Performance answers come from the same data as your Instant AI dashboard, so the numbers in the chat match what you see in Instant.
  • You can build a draft campaign in the chat and then review and send it in Instant.

How to set it up

Before you start

  • A site admin must set up Instant MCP on your site before anyone on your team can connect an AI tool.
  • You need an account with an AI tool that supports MCP connectors, for example Claude or ChatGPT.
  • If your company uses Claude Team or Enterprise, or ChatGPT Business or Enterprise, only your workspace owner or admin can add Instant for your organisation. Speak to them first.

Step 1: Set up Instant MCP on your site (site admins)

  1. Go to Integrations in your Instant AI dashboard
  2. Scroll to Your apps
  3. On the Instant MCP card, click Set up
  4. Click Manage to open the Instant MCP page

When you set up Instant MCP, every Read permission is on and every Write permission is off. To let AI tools build campaigns or create segments, turn on the Write permission you need. See Choosing what AI tools can do below.

Note: If you are not a site admin, the Instant MCP card shows A site admin can set it up. Ask a site admin on your account to complete this step.

Step 2: Connect your AI tool

You can find these steps on the Instant MCP page, under Connect an AI tool. Go to Integrations > Instant MCP in your Instant AI dashboard.

Claude Free, Pro or Max

  1. On the Instant MCP page, open Claude under Connect an AI tool
  2. Click Connect to Claude
  3. In Claude, confirm that you want to add the Instant connector
  4. Sign in to Instant
  5. Choose the sites that Claude can reach, then click Connect

Claude Team or Enterprise

  1. In Claude, go to Customize > Connectors
  2. Find Instant and click Connect
  3. Sign in to Instant
  4. Choose the sites that Claude can reach, then click Connect

If Instant is not in your list of connectors, your Claude Owner must add it first. On the Instant MCP page, open Claude and copy the Link for your Claude Owner. Send that link to your Claude Owner. When they add Instant, follow the steps above.

Personal ChatGPT

  1. On the Instant MCP page, open ChatGPT under Connect an AI tool
  2. Copy the Server URL
  3. Click Open ChatGPT Plugins
  4. In ChatGPT Plugins, click +, then Add custom MCP server
  5. Enter Instant as the name
  6. Paste the server URL
  7. Choose OAuth
  8. Click Create as a plugin
  9. Sign in to Instant, choose the sites that ChatGPT can reach, then click Connect

ChatGPT Business or Enterprise

  1. Ask your ChatGPT workspace admin to add Instant in ChatGPT Plugins with the server URL from the Instant MCP page, and to publish it for the workspace
  2. In ChatGPT, find Instant in Plugins and click Install
  3. Sign in to Instant, choose the sites that ChatGPT can reach, then click Connect

Other MCP clients

For tools that do not have a connect button, for example Cursor or Claude Code:

  1. On the Instant MCP page, open Other MCP clients
  2. Copy the Server URL
  3. Paste it into the MCP settings of your tool
  4. Sign in to Instant when your tool asks you to

Choosing which sites to connect

When you sign in, Instant shows the sites that you can reach, with the permissions that each site allows. Turn off any site that you do not want the AI tool to reach, then click Connect.

Note: A site only shows here when a site admin has set up Instant MCP on it. If no site shows, ask a site admin to complete Step 1.

Choosing what AI tools can do

Site admins control the permissions on the Instant MCP page, under Permissions. Each permission has a Read switch, and most also have a Write switch. The permissions apply to every AI tool connected to the site.

Permission Read Write
Analytics Read store, flow and campaign performance Not available
Campaigns Read campaigns and their emails Create and edit draft campaigns
Flows Read flows and their emails Create, rename and delete custom flows
Events Read event history Send events for shoppers
Profiles Read shoppers and their details Create shoppers, update their details and create segments
Account Required for Instant MCP to run. Always on. Not available

Changes take effect on the next request from the AI tool.

How it works

What your AI tool can do

Instant MCP acts as you, on the sites that you connected, with the permissions that the site admin turned on. Here are some examples of what you can ask:

Performance

  • “How did my store perform last month compared to the month before?”
  • “Which flows made the most revenue in the last 30 days?”
  • “How did my Black Friday campaign perform?”
  • “Why were shoppers skipped from my Abandoned Cart flow this week?”
  • “How are my coupons performing in my flows?”
  • “What are my bounce and spam rates by mailbox provider, for example Gmail and Outlook?”

Flows and campaigns

  • “List my flows and tell me which ones are turned off.”
  • “Show me the emails in my Welcome flow.”
  • “What campaigns have I sent this month?”

Shoppers and segments

  • “How many shoppers bought in the last 90 days but have not opened an email in 30 days?”
  • “Show me the recent activity for [email protected].”
  • “Create a segment of shoppers who bought more than twice this year.” (needs Profiles Write)

Building campaigns

  • “Build a draft campaign for our new summer collection and send it to my VIP segment.” (needs Campaigns Write)
  • “Change the subject line of the second email to something shorter.” (needs Campaigns Write)

When your AI tool builds or changes a campaign, it shows you a preview of the emails in the chat, and gives you a link to the campaign in your Instant AI dashboard.

Tip: If you have more than one site connected, name the site in your question, for example “How did my Australian store perform last week?”

What your AI tool cannot do

  • It cannot send or schedule a campaign. Campaigns are always saved as drafts. You review, schedule and send them in your Instant AI dashboard.
  • It cannot delete a campaign that is not a draft.
  • It cannot turn a flow on.
  • It cannot do anything that the site’s permissions do not allow. If a permission is off, the request fails and your AI tool tells you which permission a site admin must turn on.

Managing connections

Go to Integrations > Instant MCP in your Instant AI dashboard. On this page you can:

  • See each connected AI tool, the person who connected it, when they connected it and when it was last used, under Connected MCP clients
  • Click Disconnect to remove one AI tool from your site
  • See each request that AI tools made, under Recent activity
  • See who changed the permissions, paused the app or disconnected a tool, under Audit history
  • Click Pause app to stop all AI tools from reaching your site. Click Resume app to let them reach it again.

Site admins can make these changes. Other team members can see the page.

FAQ

Can my AI tool send emails to my shoppers? No. Your AI tool can only create and edit draft campaigns. You review, schedule and send every campaign in your Instant AI dashboard.

Will the numbers in my AI tool match my Instant AI dashboard? Yes. Performance answers use the same data and your site’s reporting settings. Your AI tool tells you the date range and the currency of each answer.

Which AI tools can I use? Claude and ChatGPT have step-by-step instructions on the Instant MCP page. Any other tool that supports MCP connectors with sign-in, for example Cursor, Claude Code or Grok, can connect with the server URL.

Why can my AI tool read my campaigns but not create them? The Campaigns Write permission is off by default. A site admin can turn it on under Integrations > Instant MCP > Permissions.

I have more than one store. Do I need to connect each one? No. When you sign in, you choose all the sites that the AI tool can reach in one step. Each site must have Instant MCP set up by its site admin.

Can my AI tool create images for my emails? No. Your AI tool cannot generate images through Instant MCP.

How do I stop an AI tool from reaching my data? To remove one AI tool, click Disconnect next to it under Connected MCP clients. To stop all AI tools at once, click Pause app. Both changes take effect on the next request.

My AI tool says that the app is paused or a permission is missing. What do I do? A site admin has paused Instant MCP or turned off a permission on your site. Ask a site admin to resume the app or turn on the permission under Integrations > Instant MCP.

For more on building campaigns in Instant, see How to Create a Campaign with Instant AI.