Bring your own AI: connect Claude or ChatGPT to ONYX1
Connect Claude or ChatGPT to ONYX1 over MCP. It works as you, sees only what your role allows, and reads money actions back before they run.
AI and MCP · 2 min read
You may already pay for an AI app. ONYX1 lets you point it at your business and ask in plain words. What is on tomorrow? Who is free on Thursday? Draft a quote for Hill St. There is no new chatbot to learn.
How it connects
ONYX1 is an MCP server. MCP is an open standard for plugging AI apps into other software. ONYX1 connects with Claude or ChatGPT. In claude.ai, add ONYX1 as a custom connector, sign in and approve. There is no key to copy. Claude Desktop and Cursor use a token made in Settings. Connecting an AI is included on Pro and Enterprise, and in your free trial.
What it can do
The ONYX1 MCP registry has 84 registered tools, including agent-only tools. It can check the schedule and who is on each job, create and update jobs, log time and parts, add photos, raise a variation, report an incident, request leave, handle timesheets, draft quotes and invoices, and mark an invoice paid. Your AI sees only what your role allows. Ask how to do something in ONYX1 and it answers from the help centre, with a link.
What it cannot do
- It works as you, and only sees and does what your role allows. A tech's AI gets no quotes or invoices, because the database will not hand them to a tech.
- It cannot delete records, and it cannot send a quote or an invoice. The ones it drafts wait in ONYX1 until someone sends them from the app.
- You pick its level when you connect: read only, everyday actions, or money actions. Only the owner, admins, dispatchers and office staff can pick the money level.
- If your business requires two-factor sign-in, the AI will not work for anyone who has not set it up.
Why the server decides, not the AI
An AI can be talked into things, so ONYX1 never relies on it behaving. Every request runs as the person who connected it, with their role as it is right now. Change their role or turn off their account, and their AI follows. The rules that keep money from a tech live in the database, the same rules as in the app.
Money actions get one more check. Before a quote, invoice, payment, timesheet approval, gear inspection or import is saved, ONYX1 sends back a plain read-back, such as the invoice and its total. It only runs once the AI confirms that exact action within five minutes, so a read-back for one invoice cannot be reused for another. ONYX1 works out the GST and totals itself. Check the read-back when your AI shows it to you.
Every tool your AI uses is recorded in the audit log as AI assistant activity. The owner or an admin can disconnect any assistant from Settings.
Set it up
Step by step, in the ONYX1 help centre.
Keep reading
- Timesheet exception rules that never change payONYX1 reads every timesheet and writes a plain sentence on the ones worth a look. It never changes the hours or stops an approval. You decide.
- Safety forms that must be signed before clock-inMake a signed safety form the key to the clock on every job. Each worker signs their own, and no one can delete an incident report.
- Xero sync and CSV export for NZ trade businessesInvoices and payments sync with Xero on Pro and Enterprise, and every plan can export Xero-ready CSV files. Here is how both work.