You can connect Upfirst to AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex, and others. Once it's connected, you can ask your assistant for information about your calls, or ask it to make changes to your account, without opening the Upfirst dashboard.

Using Claude or ChatGPT? Just add Upfirst from the directory, then sign in to Upfirst and approve access:

Using Cursor, VS Code, Codex, or another assistant? Connect it using our MCP server. The steps for each one are under How to connect below.

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It's an open standard that lets AI assistants connect to outside tools. You don't need to know anything about it to use Upfirst with your assistant. Your assistant handles the technical part.

There is nothing to install and no API key to create. The first time your assistant connects, it opens the Upfirst sign-in page. You approve access once, and the connection stays bound to your organization from then on.

Your assistant gets 25 tools. Some read your account and some change it. Together they cover six areas:

You don't need to know the tool names. Ask in plain language and your assistant picks the right tool.

The setup is different for each assistant. Pick yours below. Whichever you use, the first call opens Upfirst's sign-in page, and you approve access once.

Upfirst is in Claude's connector directory. Open the Upfirst connector in the Claude directory, add Upfirst, then sign in to Upfirst and approve access.

On Claude Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds the connector once under Organization settings. Everyone else just clicks Connect.

Upfirst is in ChatGPT's plugin directory. Open the Upfirst plugin page in ChatGPT, add it, then sign in to Upfirst and approve access.

Run claude mcp add --transport http upfirst https://mcp.upfirst.ai in your terminal. That adds it to the current project. Add --scope user to make it available everywhere. Then run /mcp inside Claude Code and sign in.

Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

Use .cursor/mcp.json inside a project instead to scope it to that project. Cursor prompts you to sign in the first time it calls the server.

Add this to .vscode/mcp.json:

Start the server from the play button in the config file, then use it from Copilot's agent mode. Sign in when prompted.

Add this to ~/.codex/config.toml:

Then run codex mcp login upfirst to authorize.

Any client that supports remote MCP servers over HTTP will work. Point it at https://mcp.upfirst.ai as a streamable HTTP server. It handles the sign-in on the first call.

Every tool carries a tag for what it does to your data. Read fetches data and never changes anything. Write creates or updates a record. Delete permanently removes a record, with no undo.

Voice, timezone, and language are managed on the dashboard and can't be changed here. Spam blocking and toll-free blocking apply to your whole organization. Changing either one changes it for every active receptionist, the same as the dashboard.

A scheduled greeting is what your receptionist says first on calls that come in during certain hours or on certain dates. When no scheduled greeting matches the time of the call, the receptionist uses its default greeting. The default greeting is changed with update_agent.

A schedule has weekly hours and optional exact dates. A date wins over the weekly hours for that day, which is how you set a holiday greeting. Times use the receptionist's timezone.

Two active greetings can't cover the same time. If a new schedule overlaps another active greeting on the same receptionist, the change is rejected and nothing is saved.

Changing a schedule replaces it whole. Your assistant reads the greeting first and sends back the full schedule you want it to have.

A skill is an action a receptionist can take on a call. Each kind has its own tools, so the settings you pass are always the ones that kind uses.

Transfer rule options. When you create or edit a transfer rule, your assistant can also set:

Every destination number must be in the same country as one of the Upfirst numbers of the receptionists that have the rule, and must be in full international format, like +12025550123. Options you don't set use the same defaults as the dashboard, so a rule created through your assistant behaves exactly like one built in the UI.

There is no tool for deleting a transfer rule. That's done on the Upfirst dashboard. Through your assistant you can switch one off instead, which stops the transfer while keeping the rule set up.

Scheduling skills are read-only here, because they depend on calendar setup that lives on the dashboard. Webhook skills are custom actions, so your assistant changes them with the custom action tools below.

Your receptionist's knowledge is what it answers callers from. In the Upfirst dashboard these entries live under Training.

Editing replaces the whole entry. Content is never appended. Your assistant reads the entry first and sends back the full text you want it to have, including the parts you're keeping. If you ask it to add one line to your pricing entry, it will rewrite the entry with that line included.

One entry can serve several receptionists. Editing or deleting it changes what every receptionist that uses it says.

Changes retrain the receptionist automatically and take effect within minutes. There is no publish step.

Importing knowledge by scanning a website URL is dashboard-only. New entries created through your assistant are always plain text.

A custom action lets your receptionist reach another app or service over the web. It can run before a call starts, during the conversation, or after the call ends. For example, it can look something up in your system while the caller is on the line, or send the call details somewhere once the call is over.

It runs when you tell it to. A before action runs as the call starts. A during action is offered to the receptionist, which calls it when the caller needs what it does. An after action runs once the call ends, every time or only when a rule you write in plain language is true.

Editing replaces lists whole. Your assistant reads the action first, so the settings you are keeping stay in place.

Signing in to another app (an OAuth connection) is set up on the dashboard. Once a connection exists, your assistant can use it in a custom action.

How you can filter calls:

Transcript speakers are Agent (your AI receptionist), Caller (the person who dialed), and Transferee (a person the call was handed to).

A schedule restricts a knowledge entry or a transfer rule to certain hours, using each receptionist's own timezone. Each weekday is switched on or off, with one or more time windows.

Outside its windows, a scheduled knowledge entry behaves as if it doesn't exist, so your receptionist never answers from it at the wrong time. This makes schedules a dependable way to handle facts that change with the clock. To make open and closed hours foolproof, add one entry restricted to your open hours that says "We are currently open," and a second restricted to your closed hours that says "We are currently closed." Only one is ever active, so the receptionist can't mix them up.

Schedules are honored on calls for transfer skills and knowledge entries. Other skill kinds can store one but ignore it.

These stay in the Upfirst dashboard:

A call I just took isn't showing up. Only finished calls appear, and a call shows up shortly after it ends. Calls in progress aren't available until they hang up. If a call is still missing, check whether it was archived, since archived calls are excluded by default.

My assistant says a skill wasn't found. A skill's kind is fixed when it's created. Asking to edit a scheduling or webhook skill with the texting or transfer tools reads as not found. Scheduling skills are dashboard-only, and webhook skills are edited with the custom action tools.

My text message was rejected. SMS messages pass a content filter that rejects promotional or otherwise restricted wording. Rewrite it as a plain informational message.

A transfer destination was rejected. Every destination must be in the same country as one of the Upfirst numbers of the receptionists that have the rule, and must be written in full international format, like +12025550123.

My knowledge edit removed something. Editing replaces an entry's content entirely. Ask your assistant to read the entry first, then make the change, so nothing is dropped.

I want to start answering calls with Upfirst. We give you a phone number. You can hand that number out directly, but most businesses forward calls to it from the line they already use. You choose how much to forward: every call, only the ones you miss, or, depending on your phone or carrier, only during certain hours. See our call forwarding guide for your provider.

Every tool, every setting, and every option is documented at upfirst.ai/docs/mcp.