Developers · for tenants

Connect ChatGPT, Claude or your own AI agent (MCP)

Connect ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, n8n or any MCP client to your Guestbud account — with your Guestbud sign-in or an API key. Your agent answers guests in the Airbnb and Booking.com chat, manages bookings, listings, issues and guest messages — with the permissions you choose.

Guestbud speaks the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the open standard AI assistants use to work with other software. You connect your own AI agent to your Guestbud account once. After that, you can tell it in plain language what to do, for example:

• "Reply to the new questions in the Airbnb chat about parking."
• "Who arrives tomorrow, and has everyone checked in?"
• "Change the Wi-Fi password of Harbour Loft to SeaBreeze2026."
• "Make the check-in details email friendlier and add the beach towels rule."
• "Which issues are still open, and what did the guest in apartment 3 report?"

The agent works with your data, in your account, and only with the permissions you give it.

What your agent can do #

Never available to an agent: refunds, deposit release or capture, payment settings, users and API keys. These stay with you in the dashboard.

Two ways to connect #

Your server address is shown under Settings → AI agent (MCP):

• https://guestbud.io/mcp, or
• your own domain followed by /mcp, for example https://stay.example.com/mcp.

1. Choose what the agent may do #

The agent always works with a role — exactly like a person on your team (see Users, roles and sign-in):

• Staff — recommended for answering guests: reads bookings, sends guest messages and check-in links, handles issue reports, sees the cleaning plan. Cannot change listings or settings.
• Manager — additionally edits listings, guest-message templates and settings, and reads statistics.
• Viewer — reads only; cannot send anything.
• Cleaning — only the cleaning plan.

Start with Staff. With sign-in, you choose the role on the Guestbud page that opens; it can never be more than your own role, and never Owner.

2. Connect with sign-in (ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor) #

Where to add the server address (https://guestbud.io/mcp) in your AI app:

• claude.ai, Claude Desktop and mobile: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, paste the address, Add, then Connect.
• ChatGPT: Settings → Apps & Connectors, create a connector (developer mode), paste the address, authentication OAuth.
• Claude Code: run claude mcp add --transport http guestbud https://guestbud.io/mcp, then type /mcp in Claude Code and choose Authenticate.
• Cursor: Settings → MCP → Add server with { "mcpServers": { "guestbud": { "url": "https://guestbud.io/mcp" } } }, then Connect.

Then:

1. In your AI app, add Guestbud with your server address as shown above and start the connection.
2. A Guestbud page opens. Sign in with your normal Guestbud login (on guestbud.io you also enter your company short name).
3. Check the app name and where it returns to (for example claude.ai), choose the role for the app and click Allow.
4. Back in the AI app, Guestbud's tools are available. Ask, for example, "Which guests arrive this week?".

Stays connected: the app renews its access automatically in the background (every hour). You do not need to connect again as long as the agent is used at least once every 60 days.

Who may connect: under Settings → AI agent (MCP) → Who may connect AI apps with sign-in you choose Team members who manage users (default), All team members (each up to their own role) or Nobody. Switching to Nobody stops all sign-in connections at once.

Connected apps: the same page lists every connected app with the person who signed in, its role and when it was last used. Disconnect stops it immediately.

3. Connect with an API key (automation tools and your own code) #

Use a key for tools that run without anyone signing in: n8n, Make, agent frameworks, scripts and servers.

1. Open Settings → AI agent (MCP) and expand For automation tools and your own code (API key) (you need permission to manage users).
2. Enter a Name, for example n8n — guest replies, and choose the Role.
3. Click Create key and show the setup.
4. The full key (gpk_…) is shown once, together with ready-made setup lines that already contain it. Copy them now. If you lose the key, revoke it and create a new one.

A key only works for your own account. It is refused on another company's domain.

n8n and other automation tools #

In n8n, add an AI Agent with the MCP Client Tool:

• Endpoint: https://guestbud.io/mcp
• Server transport: HTTP Streamable
• Authentication: Bearer Auth, token = your gpk_… key

Any other MCP client that can send a header works the same way:

• URL: https://guestbud.io/mcp
• Transport: Streamable HTTP
• Header: Authorization: Bearer gpk_…

Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf with a key #

Prefer sign-in for these apps. If you want a key anyway (for example on a server):

claude mcp add --transport http guestbud https://guestbud.io/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer gpk_…"

Apps that start MCP servers from a configuration file use the free mcp-remote bridge (needs Node.js):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "guestbud": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://guestbud.io/mcp", "--header", "Authorization:${GUESTBUD_AUTH}"],
      "env": { "GUESTBUD_AUTH": "Bearer gpk_…" }
    }
  }
}

The key is in the env part on purpose: it avoids problems with spaces on Windows.

4. Use it #

Ask in plain language, the way you would ask a colleague. A few examples that work well:

• Guest chat: "Look at the bookings arriving in the next three days. Read their Airbnb and Booking.com conversations and draft replies to unanswered questions. Show them to me before sending."
• Check-in follow-up: "Who arrives tomorrow and hasn't done the online check-in? Send them a reminder through the booking chat."
• Early check-in: "The guest of booking GP-7KQ2XD may check in at 12:00 — unlock the codes early and tell them in the chat."
• Listings: "Show me the check-in steps of Capua Flats and correct the lift code to 3044."
• Issues: "List open issues; set the Wi-Fi one at Harbour Loft to resolved with the note 'router restarted'."
• Cleaning: "What does the cleaning team have to do on Saturday, sorted by departure time? Mark same-day turnovers."
• Messages: "Rewrite the check-in details email in a warmer tone, keep all placeholders, and show me a preview with the next booking."
• Numbers: "How many late check-outs did we sell last month, and which extras sold best?"

Tip: let the agent draft and show you guest messages first ("show me before sending"). Once you trust it, you can let it send directly.

Security #

• Your choice of permissions: the role of the key or sign-in decides everything. The agent sees only the tools its role allows, and the server checks every call again.
• No money moves: refunds, deposits, payment settings, users and keys are not reachable through MCP.
• Untrusted guest text: guests can write anything into a chat or check-in form. Guestbud tells the agent to treat everything a guest wrote as information, never as instructions. It also tells the agent not to send door codes before the booking shows them as visible. Still, review what the agent sends, especially at the start.
• Every change is recorded: each action that changes something (a message sent, a booking or listing changed, a code unlocked …) is listed in Settings → Audit trail under the name of the app or key. Pure lookups are not listed, so the trail stays readable.
• Less personal data: the agent gets what it needs to help guests, not more. Booking details leave out ID-document data and uploads, IP addresses and the booking's smart-lock code. The read-only API access excludes files, users, API keys, the audit trail, webhooks, guest registration data and payment, email and lock settings.
• Limits: at most 120 tool calls per minute and 40 guest messages per hour per connection or key; at most 10 requests in one batch, and very long answers are shortened.
• Sign-in done safely: Guestbud uses the standard for AI app sign-in (OAuth 2.1 with PKCE). The app never sees your password; it receives an access token valid for one hour and a renewal token that changes with every use. If a renewal token is ever used twice, Guestbud closes the connection. A sign-in token works only for the AI agent connection, not for the rest of the API.
• Revoke at any time: Settings → AI agent (MCP) → Disconnect (sign-in) or Revoke (key). The agent loses access immediately.
• Your AI provider: the data the agent reads is processed by the AI service you connect (for example Anthropic for Claude). Check that this fits your privacy notice to guests.

Frequently asked questions #

Which AI agents work with Guestbud? #

Every MCP client. ChatGPT, claude.ai, Claude Desktop and mobile, Claude Code and Cursor connect with sign-in. n8n, agent frameworks and your own code connect with an API key.

How long does a sign-in connection last? #

As long as you use it. The app renews its access automatically every hour; the connection only ends after 60 days without any use, when you disconnect it, or when the person who signed in is removed, disabled, gets another role or changes their password.

Can the agent send door codes to guests? #

Only if its role can read bookings and listings, and only when the guest's booking shows the codes as visible: check-in and payments done, and the check-in time reached (or unlocked early by you). The agent is told this rule. Your guest-message templates with {doorCodes} follow the same rule automatically.

Can several agents use Guestbud at the same time? #

Yes. Each sign-in and each key is a separate connection with its own role, listed separately in the audit trail, and you can disconnect one without affecting the others.

Does the agent cost anything in Guestbud? #

No. MCP access is part of your account. Your AI provider bills you for the agent itself.

Is there an API for developers too? #

Yes — the agent uses the same permissions as the REST API and webhooks; see the API quick start.