Connect MerchantFlow to Claude

Connect MerchantFlow to Claude

Claude connects to MerchantFlow as a custom connector. The same steps work on claude.ai in your browser and in the Claude Desktop app - connectors sync across both, so you only add it once. Total setup time: about 2 minutes.

Looking for the Claude Code CLI instead? See Connect Claude Code - that one is a single terminal command.

Prerequisites

• A Claude account on a plan that supports custom connectors (check Settings > Connectors in Claude - if Add custom connector is not there, your plan does not include it)
• A MerchantFlow account on any paid plan. History depth varies by plan - see plan limits
• Logged into MerchantFlow in your browser

Step 1: Copy your server URL

1. Log in to merchantflow.ai
2. Go to Settings > Developer > MCP (/dashboard/settings/developer/mcp)
3. In the Quick install section, click Install in Claude
4. Copy the server URL shown in the modal

It is the same for every account:

https://merchantflow.ai/api/mcp

Step 2: Add it as a custom connector in Claude

In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, then choose Add custom connector.

Paste the server URL. Claude detects the rest of the settings for you:

• Authentication - leave on Always required. MerchantFlow never serves data without a token.
• OAuth client - either option works. Use Anthropic's hosted client metadata is the quickest: MerchantFlow reads Claude's details from Anthropic each time, so nothing is registered against your account. No client ID - register one automatically also works, and registers a client the first time you connect.

Confirm to continue.

Step 3: Authorize

Claude opens a MerchantFlow page in your browser. You will see:

• The name of the requesting client
• The list of permissions it is requesting
• An Allow access button

Click Allow access. The browser redirects back and Claude receives its access token. If you are not signed in to MerchantFlow at that moment, you will be asked to sign in first and then taken straight to the authorization page - you do not need to start over.

Step 4: Try your first prompt

Back in Claude, try:

Summarise this week's P&L with comparison to last week.

Claude will call the get_pnl_summary tool and return a structured weekly briefing with real numbers from your store.

Do not use claude_desktop_config.json

Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json file only launches local MCP servers on your own machine. MerchantFlow is a remote server reached over HTTPS, so an entry like this is silently ignored - Claude will not report an error, and no MerchantFlow tools will appear:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "merchantflow": {
      "url": "https://merchantflow.ai/api/mcp",
      "transport": "http"
    }
  }
}

If you previously added that block, remove it and use the Connectors steps above instead.

Make Claude 10x smarter (optional but recommended)

Download the MerchantFlow Skill file and install it as a Claude Project instruction. It teaches Claude how to think about ecommerce data, which tool to pick for each question, and how to format answers. Without it Claude will still work, but responses will be noticeably better with it.

Troubleshooting

MerchantFlow does not appear under Connectors, or "No tools available"

• Confirm you added it under Settings > Connectors > Add custom connector, not in a config file. See the section above.
• Check the URL is exactly https://merchantflow.ai/api/mcp, with no /sse or other suffix - MerchantFlow uses Streamable HTTP, not SSE.
• Do not use www.merchantflow.ai. It redirects to the address without www, and HTTP clients drop the authorization header across that redirect, so Claude ends up unable to authorize with no obvious reason why.
• Confirm your MerchantFlow workspace is on a paid plan and that Settings > Developer > MCP shows the server as enabled.

The browser authorization page shows a "Verify the app before approving" warning

• That amber banner appears on every MerchantFlow authorization, for every client -- it is not a signal that something is wrong with this one. As long as you intentionally added the connector yourself, you can proceed.

You were sent to your dashboard instead of the authorization page

• Sign out of the connector in Claude and add it again. Signing in mid-authorization now returns you to the consent screen automatically.

"Rate limit exceeded" errors

• Limits are 60 standard tool calls per minute, 10 heavy tool calls per minute (valuation, viability, report generation, and the audit tools), and 2,000 calls per day. If you are hitting that, your client is calling tools too aggressively - try asking more focused questions.

Some tools you read about are missing from the list

• A few tools only appear when the matching feature is enabled for your store. The attribution tools in particular are hidden unless per-channel attribution is turned on.

No browser available (VM, SSH, CI)

• Use a personal access token instead. It works anywhere and skips the browser step entirely.

Next steps

• Browse the tool reference to see everything Claude can read
• Try the 15 example prompts to learn what MCP makes easy
• Download the Skill file for much better answers

Last updated: August 29, 2026