AI Assistants lets you connect external AI tools—like Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity Computer, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and other MCP-compatible clients—to your Alcove account.

Once connected, those assistants can answer questions about your projects using live Alcove data. This is different from the AI features built into Alcove (such as Talk to Your Project). AI Assistants brings your preferred tools into the conversation with Alcove as the source of truth.

Important Note:
AI Assistants access is read-only. Connected assistants can look up projects, products, orders, and financial documents. They cannot create, edit, or delete records in Alcove.

What you get

With AI Assistants connected, you can ask your preferred AI tools things like:

Which projects are active in my Alcove account?
What’s on this project—products, orders, or open invoices?
Summarize project financial documents (estimates, invoices, retainers, quotes)
Help me draft a client or vendor update using real Alcove data

How it works

You generate an access token in Alcove.
You connect your AI tool with the MCP server URL. Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Perplexity, and the Claude Desktop extension take your access token. Claude on the web, Cowork, the Gemini web app, and Gemini Enterprise usually require OAuth, which Alcove does not support yet.
Your assistant uses Alcove’s read-only tools to answer questions about your company data.

Treat your access token like a password. Anyone with the token can read the same Alcove data your user can see.

Steps to set up AI Assistants

To connect an AI assistant to Alcove, please follow the steps below:

Log into your Alcove account and click the Profile icon in the top right.
Go to the Account tab >> Connected Accounts.
Locate the AI Assistants row and press Set up (or Manage if you already have a token).
On the AI Assistants page, choose a Hard token limit (for example, 1 year).
Tokens also expire after 30 days of inactivity, even if the hard limit has not been reached.
Click Generate Token.
Copy the MCP server URL and the Access token.
The access token is shown once—copy it before you leave the page.
Connect that tool using the assistant-specific steps below. Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Perplexity Computer, and the Claude Desktop extension accept your access token. Claude on the web, Cowork, and the Gemini web app usually do not.
Enable the connector, then ask your assistant to verify with something like: “Use Alcove to get my profile” or “List my Alcove projects.”

Connect a specific assistant

Use the setup sections on the AI Assistants page for step-by-step guidance. In short:

Cursor

Open Settings → Tools & MCP → New MCP Server (or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json / project .cursor/mcp.json).
Add a remote server with the Alcove MCP URL and Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ALCOVE_ACCESS_TOKEN in headers (see the AI Assistants page for a full JSON example).
Save, reload Cursor if needed, then ask it to run alcove_get_profile.

Claude Code

Claude Code accepts a Bearer token. Run claude mcp add --transport http alcove <MCP_URL> --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ALCOVE_ACCESS_TOKEN". Replace <MCP_URL> with the MCP server URL from Alcove.
Confirm with claude mcp list, then ask Claude Code to run alcove_get_profile.

Gemini CLI

Gemini CLI accepts a Bearer token on a remote HTTP MCP server. The Gemini web app (gemini.google.com custom apps) and Gemini Enterprise use OAuth, which Alcove does not support yet.
In a terminal, run gemini mcp add --scope user --transport http --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ALCOVE_ACCESS_TOKEN" alcove <MCP_URL>. Replace <MCP_URL> with the MCP server URL from Alcove. --scope user writes ~/.gemini/settings.json so the token is not saved in a project.
Confirm with gemini mcp list, then ask Gemini CLI to run alcove_get_profile.

Claude on the web, Cowork, and the desktop app

Use Claude Code (above) or the Claude Desktop extension (below). Those accept your Alcove access token.
claude.ai, Cowork, and the Claude desktop app can add a remote connector under Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector. On most accounts that dialog only offers OAuth sign-in. Alcove does not support that sign-in yet, so pasting the MCP URL alone will not connect.
Request headers, where you can paste a Bearer token, appear only for a limited set of organizations. If you see that section, add authorization with the value Bearer YOUR_ALCOVE_ACCESS_TOKEN (include the word Bearer and a space). Claude sends the value exactly as you enter it. If you do not see Request headers, use Claude Code or the Desktop extension.

Claude Desktop (local extension)

On the AI Assistants page, click Install Claude Desktop to download the Alcove .mcpb extension.
In the Claude desktop app, open Settings → Extensions, drag in the file, and click Install.
Generate a token in Alcove.
Use Copy Claude prompt (or paste the token with the Alcove session tool in Claude Desktop).
Run a quick profile check to confirm the connection.

ChatGPT (Developer Mode / custom MCP app)

In ChatGPT (web), open Settings → Security and login and turn on Developer mode.
Open Settings → Apps / Plugins → create a developer-mode app with the MCP server URL.
ChatGPT custom MCP apps use OAuth or no auth, not a static Bearer key. Prefer Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, the Claude Desktop extension, or Perplexity.
If tools load, ask ChatGPT to get your Alcove profile.

Perplexity Computer

Requires a paid plan. Open perplexity.ai/computer/connectors.
Click + Custom connector, paste the MCP server URL, and under Advanced choose API Key with your Alcove access token.
Use Transport Streamable HTTP, add and enable the connector.
Start a Computer session and ask it to list your Alcove projects.

Other MCP clients

Point a remote / Streamable HTTP MCP client at the Alcove MCP server URL.
Send Authorization Bearer (or your client’s API-key field).
Verify with a profile or session status check.

Manage or revoke access

You can manage AI Assistants anytime from Account >> Connected Accounts >> AI Assistants >> Manage.

Rotate Token — creates a new token. Update your AI tools with the new token; the previous token stops working.
Revoke — immediately disconnects AI Assistants access. You can revoke from the page header or the Access token card.

If you believe a token was shared or exposed, revoke it right away and generate a new one.

Best practices

Generate a token only when you are ready to paste it into your AI tool.
Store tokens in your assistant’s secure settings—not in shared docs or chat threads.
Prefer a hard limit (such as 1 year) instead of Forever unless you specifically need an open-ended token.
After rotating or revoking, update or remove the connector in each AI tool you use.
Always verify important financial or client decisions against the data you see in Alcove.

Important notes

Access is scoped to your Alcove user and company. Assistants only see data you are allowed to see.
Access is read-only in this version. Assistants cannot change projects, products, orders, or financial documents.
This connection is separate from built-in Alcove AI—including Talk to Your Project, Financial Insights, Markup Suggestions, Inbox Review, AI Extract Updates, Approval Review, Map with AI, and related in-app AI tips.
Availability of custom MCP / connectors depends on each AI product’s settings (some require developer or advanced connector options).

AI Assistants turns the tools you already use into a smarter layer on top of Alcove—so you can ask questions in Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and more, without exporting spreadsheets first.

Talk to Your Project with AI

Connect AI Assistants to Alcove (MCP)