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AI Assistants (MCP)

What it is​

You can connect an AI assistant such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude Code, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot in VS Code to your thanks.io account. It connects through MCP, the open standard AI assistants use to work with other apps, at https://mcp.thanks.io/mcp. Once it's connected, you ask in plain language and the assistant does the work in your account.

A connected assistant can:

  • Check your balance, send history, and which designs, messages, and lists earn the most QR scans.
  • Design fronts with ThanksAI Studio, and list, create, and update your creatives.
  • Build mailing lists and add recipients.
  • Preview an order with its proofs and exact total, then send postcards, letters, notecards, MagnaCards, and gift cards.
  • Track orders, and look up whether a person or address was mailed by any of your orders.
  • Create recurring campaigns and turn them on or off.
  • List, create, change, and delete your webhooks, including Scan Board stage webhooks.

Connect your assistant​

  1. Click Integrations & API in the sidebar.
  2. On the AI Assistants card, click Connect Your AI.
  3. Either copy the setup prompt and paste it into your assistant, which walks you through connecting, or follow the steps on your assistant's tab (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, or Other) using the server URL https://mcp.thanks.io/mcp.
  4. Sign in to thanks.io when asked and approve access.

Most assistants need no API key. For one that can't sign in on its own, create a key under Settings → API Access with Allow MCP access turned on and use it as the bearer token. See Generate an API Key.

Decide what it may spend​

Connecting an assistant doesn't let it spend money. Two switches on the MCP Permissions card under Settings → API Access decide that, and both are off until you turn them on:

  • Allow orders via MCP - placing real, paid mail orders and turning on a recurring campaign.
  • Allow lead purchases via MCP - looking up a mailing address for a recipient who has only an email address. Each address found costs 7¢.

Without them, an assistant can still check results, plan, design, save creatives, build lists from full addresses, and preview orders. When it needs a switch you haven't turned on, it tells you which one, and nothing is charged. See MCP Permissions.

warning

Once Allow orders via MCP is on, an assistant can send real mail, which charges your balance or card and can't be undone once printing starts. thanks.io tells the assistant to show you a preview with the total and wait for your go-ahead before every send, so read the preview before you approve. Turning on a recurring campaign approves every send it makes on its schedule.

How sends work​

Before any mail goes out, the assistant:

  1. Picks the audience: a mailing list, or addresses you give it.
  2. Picks what to print, usually one of your creatives.
  3. Previews the order, showing the proofs and the exact total without charging anything.
  4. Waits for you to confirm, then sends.

Some things you can ask for along the way:

  • Postage class - First Class or Standard Mail (Marketing Mail). Without one, it mails at your account's default. See Postage Options.
  • Return address - one of your saved return addresses from Settings → Mail Preferences.
  • No email lookups - to skip recipients who have only an email address instead of paying to look up their address.

On the Free and Business plans, the preview images an assistant shows you carry a DRAFT watermark. The mail you send prints without it.

Tips & best practices​

  • Ask it to start from your results, for example "Which of my postcards gets the most QR scans?", before planning a send.
  • To check a contact against your CRM, ask whether they were mailed. The assistant looks at what your orders actually mailed, not just who is on a list.
  • To act for a sub-account, name the sub-account in your request.

Limits & gotchas​

  • An assistant can place at most 10 orders a minute on your account, and make up to 120 requests a minute.
  • Webhooks follow your plan, as they do in the dashboard: they need a paid plan, and Scan Board stage webhooks need Business or higher. Webhooks send recipient names and addresses to their URL, so the assistant confirms the URL with you first.
  • Gift card codes are never shown to an assistant.

Disconnect an assistant​

Remove the connector or MCP server in the assistant's own settings. If it connected with an API key, delete the key under Settings → API Access.