Common customer questions about Affinity MCP. For step-by-step setup, see Getting started with Affinity MCP.
General
What is Affinity MCP? It connects Affinity to your own AI tool — Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Notion, or Gemini — so you can read, update, and clean up your CRM in natural language. It’s a thin, secure layer over Affinity’s external API and always runs with your own permissions. Which plans include MCP, and is there an extra cost? MCP is included on Scale, Advanced, and Enterprise at no additional cost. Token usage inside Claude, ChatGPT, or other tools is between you and that AI provider — Affinity doesn’t charge for MCP access. Do I need my admin to set it up? Usually not. You can connect it yourself once you’re on a supported plan, unless your admin has switched off your AI client. See Getting started with Affinity MCP. Which AI tools are supported? Any MCP-compatible client. OAuth (“Log in with Affinity”) is supported for Claude, ChatGPT, Notion, and Copilot Studio and Power Automate (through the certified Affinity MCP connector). API-key authentication works for GitHub Copilot (CLI, VS Code), Gemini, and other clients. Hosted or self-hosted? Most firms use the hosted MCP — no installation, works with browser-based tools, stays automatically up to date, and connects with OAuth or an API key. A self-hosted (local) option exists for more technical setups. Steps for both are in the setup guide.What it can do
What can MCP read? Companies, people, and opportunities; lists and list entries; notes; meetings and (where available) transcripts; email metadata; relationship-intelligence data; and field-value history. What can MCP change? Update field values (global and list-specific), add entities to lists, create, edit, and delete notes, create reminders, log interactions, and create companies, people, and opportunities. It can also define new fields and dropdown options, delete list entries, opportunities, companies, and people, and merge duplicate people and companies. Every delete and merge shows you what it will affect and waits for your explicit confirmation. Can it create opportunities, companies, and lists? Yes. Creating records (companies, people, opportunities) and adding list entries are supported. Does creating a note through MCP trigger agent suggestions? If you attach a note to a meeting, it can trigger the Data Update agent’s Suggested Field Updates — the same as a Notetaker meeting note. A note attached only to a record (person/company/opportunity) won’t. Does it access notes and files? Yes — search notes by keyword or topic, retrieve notes on a company or person, and pull meeting notes and Notetaker summaries. Searching notes and files requires Deal Assist on your plan. Does it read email? Email metadata and subject lines only — not message bodies. Can it update custom fields? Yes — global and list-specific fields, including custom ones. Supported types include Text, Number, Date, Location, Dropdown, Ranked Dropdown, Person, and Organization. Can it merge records or enrich fields? It can merge duplicate people and companies. Each merge shows you what it will affect and needs your explicit approval. Merging people requires an org admin with the Manage Duplicates permission. Merges made through MCP appear in Settings → Duplicate Management → Merged, where an admin can undo a merge of local records; a merge involving a global (Affinity-enriched) company can’t be undone. MCP doesn’t perform enrichment: it retrieves the enriched data already in your CRM. Can it delete records? Yes: list entries, opportunities, companies, people, and notes you created. Every delete and merge shows you what it will affect and waits for your explicit confirmation. Deletes can’t be undone, and data-recovery options are the same as for deletes made in Affinity. Deleting an entry on an opportunity list deletes the opportunity itself, deleting a note also deletes its replies and attached files, and global companies can’t be deleted. You or your AI client’s admin can switch off the delete tools in the client’s settings.Advanced use cases
Can it analyze my whole pipeline, not just one company at a time? Yes — it can fetch data across companies and list entries to summarize your pipeline (deals by stage, activity, what’s gone cold). It can filter a list with nested AND/OR conditions, apply up to five sorts, and match a keyword in a single query. For very large lists, work in batches so results fit in your AI tool’s context. Can it support IR and sourcing workflows? Yes. Common examples: “Who has the strongest relationship with [firm]?”, “Find companies in [sector] in [region],” and drafting outreach — all through data queries plus note and reminder creation. Can it work alongside my other tools? Yes. Affinity MCP only accesses Affinity data, but your AI tool can combine it with other connected MCPs (Notion, Drive, and so on) in the same conversation.Skills
What are the MCP skills, and how do I use them? Pre-built workflows deployed with the Affinity MCP server. Five ship today — Meeting Prep, Warm Intro, Market Map, Data Migration (it prepares a CSV for the importer; it doesn’t run the import), and Event Setup. You can discover them from the Affinity MCP card on Ascend → Agents, which has Open in Claude and Open in ChatGPT links and starter prompts you can copy. See Affinity MCP skills.Data & privacy
Is my data still protected through MCP? Yes. MCP enforces the same privacy and permission rules as the product and the API — you can’t see interactions, notes, or other data you wouldn’t normally have access to. See Affinity MCP security.Limitations to know
- Email bodies aren’t accessible (metadata and subject lines only).
- Files can be uploaded to and downloaded from records, up to 100 MB each, one at a time — there’s no bulk file upload.
- Dashboards can’t be modified through MCP — use it for ad-hoc pulls instead.
- Very large lists (~100+) can hit your AI tool’s context limit — work in batches.
- Deletes and merges need your explicit confirmation. If you connected before September 24, 2026, restart your AI client or start a new session to load these tools.