Connect your AI assistant to Sidedoor (MCP)

Sidedoor has an MCP server at https://www.thesidedoor.co/api/mcp. Sidedoor is listed in the Claude connector directory, so you can add it to Claude in a couple of clicks, or add it to Claude or ChatGPT yourself as a custom connector. Once connected, your assistant can read your Sidedoor data, and make changes if you allow it, using the same permissions as your own operator account.

One sign-in covers every business you have access to, not just the one you were in when you connected - see Several businesses, one connection.

What you can ask it

Once it’s connected, you can ask things like:

“How many covers are booked at Bar Luna on Friday?”
“Who are my top guests this month?”
“Move the Smith booking to 8pm” (needs Read and make changes)
“Cancel the 7pm table for four tomorrow” (needs Read and make changes)

It can work with your venues, reservations, guests, analytics and reports (including pre-orders), and settings, and it can search the Sidedoor help docs. For anything that changes data, like moving or cancelling a booking, a well-behaved assistant asks you to confirm before it goes ahead.

Who can connect

Connecting your own AI assistant needs the AI assistant permission under Access → Roles:

Read lets you connect it read-only.
Write also lets you choose Read and make changes when you connect.

It’s on by default in the Full Access role; an admin can add it to General Manager, Floor Staff or a custom role under Access → Roles. The connection is still capped at your own account’s access either way, so it can never see or do more than you can yourself.

If your role doesn’t have it, the sign-in page asks you to get an admin to add the AI assistant permission to your role.

Several businesses, one connection

If you have access to more than one business, connecting once covers all of them - you don’t connect separately per business. A business is included once it has the MCP add-on turned on, you hold a role there, and your role holds the AI assistant permission; a business missing any of those is simply left out until it qualifies.

Read and make changes, chosen when you connect, is the most the connection can ever do. Within that, each business still follows your own role there: in a business where you only hold Read on the AI assistant permission, the connection stays read-only for that business even if you chose Read and make changes overall.

Join a new business later, or get the AI assistant permission added to your role somewhere you already work, and it’s picked up automatically the next time your assistant starts a session - there’s no need to disconnect and reconnect.

Connect Claude

From the Claude directory (quickest)

Open Sidedoor in the Claude connector directory ↗, or in Claude open Settings > Connectors, select Browse connectors and search for Sidedoor.
Select Connect, then sign in with your normal Sidedoor business login.
Choose Read only or Read and make changes, then select Allow.

On a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, an owner may need to add Sidedoor for your organisation before you can connect it.

Manually, as a custom connector

If you’d rather add it by address, on claude.ai, in the Claude desktop app, or the Claude mobile app:

Open Settings > Connectors.
Select Add custom connector.
Paste in the address: https://www.thesidedoor.co/api/mcp
Select Connect, then sign in with your normal Sidedoor business login.
Choose Read only or Read and make changes, then select Allow.

Either way you get the same connection: the same tools, permissions and access choice.

Connect ChatGPT

Open Settings > Apps & Connectors and turn on developer mode.
Select Create.
Paste in the address: https://www.thesidedoor.co/api/mcp
Sign in with your Sidedoor business login, choose your access level, and select Allow.

Read only or read and make changes

You choose this when you connect:

Read only - the default. The assistant can see your data but can’t change anything.
Read and make changes - the assistant can also create, update and cancel things on your behalf. A well-behaved client still asks you to confirm before each change. This option only shows if your role holds write on the AI assistant permission (see Who can connect); with read only, you can’t pick it.

It can only ever do what your own Sidedoor account can do, in the business you’re signed in to. The choice applies for as long as that connection stays open - to switch it later, disconnect and reconnect, choosing the other option.

Turning it off

Open Access in the sidebar, then the API tab (this needs the API permission, which is separate from the AI assistant permission used to connect). A connected assistant shows up named, for example, “Claude connector”, with an AI assistant tag next to it. Select Revoke to disconnect it immediately. Anyone holding the API permission can see and revoke every assistant connection in the business this way, not just their own. Revoking only disconnects that one business - the same connection keeps working for any other business it covers.

It also disconnects automatically if you leave the business, or if the MCP add-on is turned off.

Limits

It needs the MCP add-on (and the API add-on) turned on - see Plan & Add-ons. MCP is included free on the Max plan and during a trial; otherwise it’s £20 per live venue a month.
Each connection is limited to 120 requests a minute.
Every tool call it makes is recorded under AI assistants in the Activity log at Analytics → Logs.

For developers

The directory and custom-connector flows above are a sign-in; for a server-to-server or CLI integration, connect with an API token instead. For Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http sidedoor https://www.thesidedoor.co/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer sk_..."

Behind a connection, whichever way it was made, the server exposes a small, general set of tools rather than one tool per endpoint: one to search the documented API (search_api), one to call a read endpoint (execute_api), one to call a write endpoint (execute_api_write, only available on a Read and make changes connection), and one to search the docs (search_docs). A few task tools, like finding a guest or a booking, are offered directly too. That means every documented endpoint is reachable this way, including creating and cancelling bookings.

Venues up front

The assistant gets the operator’s venues (name, id and timezone) as soon as it connects, and again with every search_api result, so it can use a venue’s id straight away instead of looking it up first. With more than 50 venues, it sees the first 50 by name, with a note that there are more and where to read the rest.

Reading several things at once

execute_api can take several reads in one call: pass requests, an array of up to 10 { method, path, query, body } objects, instead of a single method and path. They all run together and come back in the same order under results. If one of them is refused (for example it asks for a write, an unknown path, or something the connection doesn’t have permission for), that entry becomes an error and the rest still complete. Writes always go one at a time, through execute_api_write.

Paging large results

A read that would return a very large list comes back with just the key columns and a first page of rows, along with a note of how many rows there are in total and how to get more: pass fields for other columns, or offset and limit to page through the rows. Nothing is left out without the reply saying so.

Everyday tasks

For common jobs, the assistant can call a task tool directly instead of searching for the right endpoint first:

Find a guest by name, email or phone, across all the operator’s venues.
A venue’s day - a summary of bookings, covers, tables and the waitlist for a date.
Find a booking by id, or by guest and optionally a date.

Each is read-only, and only offered when the connection’s access level allows the read it’s based on.

API tokens - create, roll, edit and revoke tokens.
Aimy, your portal assistant - the assistant built into the operator portal.
Logs - the Activity log, including the AI assistants category.
Conventions - rate limits and other rules that apply across the API.