Work with your own CiviCRM: contacts, contributions, memberships, events; log activities. Hosted by usefulapi — connect from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or any MCP client.
Team and Enterprise: an Owner adds the connector for the organization first.
Run this command, then run /mcp in Claude Code to log in:
Add to Cursor or add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"civicrm": {
"url": "https://civicrm.usefulapi.io/mcp"
}
}
}Add to VS Code or add this to .vscode/mcp.json:
{
"servers": {
"civicrm": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://civicrm.usefulapi.io/mcp"
}
}
}No Add custom MCP server option? It depends on your account or workspace settings: see OpenAI's guide.
Run these commands. The second one opens the login page:
Other MCP clients (Windsurf, Cline, Zed and more): add the URL as a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP). The client then opens the login page in your browser. Do not add an Authorization header: see Before you connect.
The login page asks for your CiviCRM site address and CiviCRM API key.
Site address: the https address you log in at, for example https://crm.example.org (a WordPress, Drupal or Joomla site with CiviCRM inside works too; give the site's own address, or your /wp-admin/ or /administrator/ address if CiviCRM has no clean URLs there). API key: a key attached to one CiviCRM contact (Contacts → edit the contact → API Key with the API Key extension, or via the APIv4 Explorer). Use a dedicated contact whose role has only the permissions you want the AI to have, plus authenticate with api key. An administrator must also allow API keys under Administer → System Settings → Authentication (CiviCRM 5.47 or newer; AuthX in 5.36–5.46). The key is used only to call your CiviCRM on your behalf and to derive a private account id; it is never shown to anyone.
Add only the URL. Do not add an Authorization header or an API key to the client config. The server signs you in with OAuth: the login page asks for your CiviCRM site address and CiviCRM API key. If the config has such a header, remove it: some clients then send that header instead of the login token, and every call fails with 401.
Turn on the CiviCRM connector, then ask in plain words. The AI picks the tools.
| Tool | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
civicrm_whoami | read | Get current contact The CiviCRM contact this API key belongs to (contact id, display name, contact type) and how it authenticated. Everything the other tools do is limited to that contact's permissions. GET /civicrm/authx/id, then APIv4 Contact.get. |
civicrm_search_contacts | read | Search contacts Find contacts (people, organizations, households) by a word in their name, e-mail address or phone number, optionally of one contact type. Trashed contacts are left out. Returns id, display name, type, primary e-mail and phone. APIv4 Contact.get. |
civicrm_get_contact | read | Get contact One contact by id: name, type, job title, source, communication preferences (do not e-mail, opted out, ...), dates, plus all their e-mail addresses, phone numbers and postal addresses. APIv4 Contact.get, Email.get, Phone.get, Address.get. |
civicrm_list_contact_notes | read | List contact notes The notes recorded on one contact (subject, text, who wrote it, when), newest first. APIv4 Note.get. |
civicrm_list_relationships | read | List contact relationships The relationships of one contact (employee of, spouse of, volunteer for, ...) with the other contact, start and end date and whether it is active. APIv4 Relationship.get. |
civicrm_list_contributions | read | List contributions Contributions (donations, membership dues, event fees) with contact, amount, currency, financial type, status, payment method, date and source, newest first. Filter by contact, status, financial type, date range and minimum amount. Test contributions are left out. APIv4 Contribution.get. |
civicrm_list_memberships | read | List memberships Memberships with contact, membership type, status (New, Current, Grace, Expired, ...), join, start and end date. Filter by contact, status, type, or those ending before a date (renewal follow-up). Test memberships are left out. APIv4 Membership.get. |
civicrm_list_events | read | List events Events with title, type, start and end date, whether active and public, maximum participants and summary. Upcoming events first when upcoming_only is set. Template events are left out. APIv4 Event.get. |
civicrm_list_participants | read | List event participants Event registrations with event, contact, status (Registered, Attended, Cancelled, ...), role, registration date and fee. Filter by event, contact or status. Test registrations are left out. APIv4 Participant.get. |
civicrm_list_activities | read | List activities Activities (meetings, phone calls, e-mails, follow-ups, ...) with type, subject, status, date and details, newest first. With contact_id: the activities that contact took part in, with their role (source, target or assignee). Otherwise all activities, optionally of one type or status. APIv4 ActivityContact.get / Activity.get. |
civicrm_list_cases | read | List cases Cases (CiviCase) with subject, case type, status and dates. With contact_id: the cases that contact is a client of. Needs the CiviCase component to be enabled. APIv4 CaseContact.get / Case.get. |
civicrm_list_groups | read | List groups Contact groups (mailing lists, static groups, smart groups) with title, description, visibility and type. APIv4 Group.get. |
civicrm_list_group_contacts | read | List group members The members of one static group (or the groups one contact belongs to): contact, group and membership status (Added, Removed, Pending). Smart groups are computed by CiviCRM and not listed here. APIv4 GroupContact.get. |
civicrm_get_fields | read | Describe an entity's fields The fields of one CiviCRM entity (Contact, Contribution, Event, ...) including custom fields: name, label, data type, whether required, and the allowed options for a pick-list field. Use it to find the right field names for civicrm_query and the right option names for the filters and write tools. APIv4 <Entity>.getFields. |
civicrm_list_entities | read | List API entities The APIv4 entities this CiviCRM site offers (Contact, Contribution, Event, plus those of installed extensions), with a short description. Use the names with civicrm_get_fields and civicrm_query. APIv4 Entity.get. |
civicrm_query | read | Query any entity Read records of ANY CiviCRM entity with APIv4 Entity.get: choose fields, filter, sort and page. Use civicrm_list_entities and civicrm_get_fields for the names. Field names may be joined (`contact_id.display_name`, `email_primary.email`) or ask for an option's text (`status_id:label`). Examples: entity Tag; entity Campaign with where [{field:'is_active',op:'=',value:true}]; entity Contribution with select ['id','total_amount'] and where [{field:'total_amount',op:'>=',value:1000}]. Read-only; credential fields and system entities (settings, payment processors, mailings, users) are refused. |
civicrm_create_contact | write | Create contact WRITE: creates ONE new contact (an individual, organization or household) and optionally its first e-mail address and phone number. Does not check for duplicates: search first with civicrm_search_contacts. Sends nothing. APIv4 Contact.create, Email.create, Phone.create. |
civicrm_update_contact | write | Update contact WRITE: changes basic fields of ONE existing contact (name, job title, source, preferred language) and/or its communication preferences (do not e-mail, do not phone, do not mail, do not SMS, opted out of bulk mail). Only the fields you give are changed. Setting a do-not flag to false re-enables contact the person may have declined, so only do that on the person's request. APIv4 Contact.update. |
civicrm_add_contact_note | write | Add contact note WRITE: adds ONE note to a contact's record, written by the contact this API key belongs to. Sends nothing. APIv4 Note.create. |
civicrm_log_activity | write | Log activity WRITE: records ONE activity (a meeting, phone call, e-mail, follow-up, ...) with one or more contacts. It only STORES the record: an activity of type Email does not send an e-mail. Added by the contact this API key belongs to unless source_contact_id is given. APIv4 Activity.create. |
civicrm_record_contribution | write | Record contribution WRITE: records ONE contribution (a donation, a payment received elsewhere) for a contact. It only STORES the financial record: no card is charged, no receipt is e-mailed, and the amount shows up in CiviCRM's reports and the contact's giving history. Check civicrm_list_contributions first to avoid a duplicate. APIv4 Contribution.create. |
civicrm_create_membership | write | Create membership WRITE: gives ONE contact a membership of a type. CiviCRM works out the dates and status from the type unless you give dates. It does NOT record a payment (use civicrm_record_contribution for that) and sends nothing. APIv4 Membership.create. |
civicrm_add_contact_to_group | write | Add contact to group WRITE: adds ONE contact to ONE static group. If the group is used as a mailing list, the contact will receive future mailings sent to it, so only add people who agreed. Sends nothing by itself. Adding a contact who is already in the group changes nothing; a contact who was removed from it (or is pending) is set back to Added. APIv4 GroupContact.save matched on group and contact. |
civicrm_register_participant | write | Register participant WRITE: registers ONE contact for ONE event (a participant record). It does not check the event's capacity or fee, does not take payment and sends no confirmation e-mail. APIv4 Participant.create. |
civicrm_usage_status | Usage status (free-tier meter) Report the caller's current usage: the plan, calls used this month, the limit of the plan (the free monthly cap or the Pro fair use limit), remaining, and whether the limit is reached. Read-only; does not count against the meter. | |
civicrm_request_feature | Request a missing feature Tell usefulapi that the user needs something the CiviCRM tools cannot do yet (a missing tool, field or filter). Call it only when the user asks for something none of the tools can do, and tell the user that you send the request. Do not call it for errors or for normal requests. Do not include personal data, credentials or customer records. Stored with the product name and the client type (for example Claude or Cursor), without the user's account. At most 5 requests per day. Does not count against the meter. | |
civicrm_upgrade | Upgrade to Pro (unlimited*) Get Pro: unlimited tool calls (fair use limit: 10,000 a month) on CiviCRM (the free tier caps monthly usage). Plans: "monthly" — $9/month; "yearly" — $90/year (2 months free). Cancel any time: Pro then runs to the end of the paid period, so it also suits a one-time job. *A fair use limit applies. For heavy use (near Pro's limit): "plus" or "plus_yearly" — Pro+, $19/month or $190/year, unlimited tool calls (fair use limit: 100,000 a month); an existing Pro subscription changes to Pro+ in place (needs confirm: true; the price difference for the rest of the period is charged at once). Otherwise returns a short link to open in your browser (it opens Stripe Checkout); after payment the account upgrades automatically. Does not count against the meter. | |
civicrm_cancel_subscription | Cancel the Pro subscription Cancel the caller's CiviCRM Pro subscription at the end of the paid period (no refund for the current period; Pro continues until then, then the free tier applies). Requires confirm: true. Run civicrm_upgrade later to undo the cancel before the period ends. Does not count against the meter. |
| Plan | Price | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 50 tool calls / month |
| Proper user | $9/mo · $90/yr | Unlimited* |
*Pro fair use limit: 10,000 tool calls a month on this server. For more, write to [email protected].
Pro covers this CiviCRM server only. Subscribe with civicrm_upgrade (it returns a Stripe Checkout link). Cancel any time with civicrm_cancel_subscription: Pro continues to the end of the paid period, with no refund for the current period, and running civicrm_upgrade before then undoes the cancel. Or write to [email protected].
No. usefulapi is an independent service. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by CiviCRM. The server calls the CiviCRM API with your own CiviCRM access, so it sees only the data that your account can see.
Yes. In Claude, add this server's URL as a custom connector. In ChatGPT, add it as a custom MCP server in Plugins. Then log in once. Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code and Codex work too. See the setup steps.
The login page asks for your CiviCRM site address and CiviCRM API key. See Before you connect for where to find them.
No. Add only the URL. Do not add an Authorization header or an API key to the client config. The server signs you in with OAuth: the login page asks for your CiviCRM site address and CiviCRM API key. If the config has such a header, remove it: some clients then send that header instead of the login token, and every call fails with 401.
The login stores them encrypted in the authorization grant of your connection. The server uses them to call the CiviCRM API for you and to derive a private account id for usage metering. usefulapi does not show them on any page or in any reply. To stop all access, remove the connector and change or delete these credentials in CiviCRM.
Yes, if you approve it. 8 of the 24 CiviCRM tools can create or change data. The other 16 are marked read-only. Most MCP clients ask you to approve a tool call before it runs.
The Free plan gives 50 tool calls / month. Pro costs $9/mo or $90/yr, with unlimited tool calls (fair use limit: 10,000 tool calls a month), for this CiviCRM server only. Cancel any time: Pro then runs to the end of the paid period. Run civicrm_usage_status to see how many calls you used.
Ask the AI to run civicrm_upgrade: it returns a Stripe Checkout link. To cancel, run civicrm_cancel_subscription. Pro continues to the end of the paid period.
Tell the AI what you wanted to do. It can send the request with civicrm_request_feature. We store the text with the server name, the type of AI client and the tool you tried, not with your account, and read every request when we plan new tools. You can send up to 5 requests per day.
Any client that supports remote MCP servers (Streamable HTTP) with OAuth login: Claude (web and desktop), Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and others.
This is a Model Context Protocol endpoint — meant to be connected from an AI client, not opened in a browser. An invalid_token response at the URL is the auth gate working as designed; clients authenticate automatically.