Connecting AI apps

Connect ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI app to Cogram and ask about your projects — meeting minutes, emails, RFIs, submittals, drawings, and field reports.

Connect your AI app to Cogram once, and from then on you can ask it about your projects directly — "what did we decide about the curtain wall in last week's OAC meeting?", "list open RFIs on the Riverside project", "summarize this month's field reports".

The connection is safe by design:

• It is read-only. The AI can search, read, and summarize. It cannot create, change, or delete anything in Cogram.

• It acts as you. The AI sees exactly what you can see in Cogram, and nothing more.

This page covers ChatGPT and Claude step by step, but any AI app that supports MCP connectors works the same way — see Other AI apps.

Before you start

You need your own Cogram account, in an organization where an administrator has turned on MCP access. If the connection is refused, ask your administrator — the setup is described in MCP Server.

Connect ChatGPT

In a ChatGPT workspace, Cogram is installed as a plugin. A workspace admin must publish the Cogram MCP plugin to the workspace first — send them to MCP Server. Then each user installs it once:

1. In the ChatGPT sidebar, select Plugins.

2. Select your workspace's tab, next to Public — it carries your company's name.

Plugins → your workspace's tab. Cogram MCP is listed there once your admin has published it

1. Select Cogram MCP, then select Install plugin.

Select Install plugin

1. In the Connect Cogram MCP dialog, select Continue to Cogram MCP.

Select Continue to Cogram MCP

1. A Cogram tab opens. Sign in as you normally do, including through your identity provider if your organization uses SSO, and on the approval screen — Allow ChatGPT to access Cogram? — select Allow. If you have signed in and approved before, this step completes on its own.

Expected result: ChatGPT shows Cogram MCP is installed, and the plugin page now offers Try in chat.

Installed: the plugin page now offers Try in chat

To use it, select Try in chat, or in any chat select Plugins under the message box and pick Cogram MCP.

In a chat: Plugins under the message box → Cogram MCP

Connect Claude (claude.ai)

In a Claude workspace, Cogram is a custom connector. An owner must publish the Cogram MCP connector to the organization first — send them to MCP Server. Then each user connects it once:

1. In the claude.ai sidebar, select Customize, then Connectors.

2. Find Cogram MCP in the list and select Connect.

Customize → Connectors: select Connect on Cogram MCP

1. A Cogram tab opens. Sign in as you normally do, including through your identity provider if your organization uses SSO, and on the approval screen — Allow Claude to access Cogram? — select Allow.

Expected result: you land back on the connector in claude.ai, which now shows Cogram's tools and a Disconnect button. On this page you can also set per-tool permissions — by default Claude asks for your approval before each tool call.

Connected: the connector page lists Cogram's tools

To use it in a conversation, open the plus menu in the chat box, select Connectors, and check that Cogram MCP is turned on — it is on by default after connecting.

In a chat: plus menu → Connectors → Cogram MCP

If you use a personal Claude account (Free, Pro, or Max), add Cogram yourself:

1. Go to Customize → Connectors and select Add custom connector.

2. Name it Cogram and enter the server URL https://mcp.cogram.com/mcp. Leave the advanced OAuth fields empty.

3. Select Add, then Connect, and complete the same sign-in and approval as above.

Claude caveats: custom connectors work on the web, in the desktop app, and in Cowork. The Free plan allows one custom connector.

Other AI apps

Cogram's MCP server is a standard MCP server, so any AI app that can add a custom MCP connector can connect — for example Grok, Microsoft Copilot Studio, or an agent your own team builds. The menu names differ per app, but the shape is always the same:

1. In the app, add a custom connector (sometimes called an MCP server, app, or tool) with the server URL https://mcp.cogram.com/mcp.

2. Sign in to Cogram in the browser window that opens, and select Allow.

For agents your team builds itself, see MCP Server.

Check that it works

Ask the AI application: "list my active Cogram projects". It should call Cogram tools such as search_projects and answer with your projects.

What the AI can see

The AI reads Cogram through a fixed set of read-only tools: projects, meetings, emails, documents, RFIs, submittals, drawings, field reports, observations, transmittals, boards, workflows, and the directory. Which tools are offered depends on your organization's licensing; what each tool returns is limited by your own project membership and asset visibility. The full tool list is in MCP Server.

Anything the AI writes from Cogram data is an AI draft. Check names, dates, decisions, action items, technical values, and any contractual wording before you rely on it.

Troubleshooting

Symptom: The AI reports "MCP access is not enabled for your organization", or the approval screen offers no Allow button. Likely cause: MCP access is off for your organization. Fix: Ask an administrator to turn it on — see MCP Server.

Symptom: Cogram MCP does not appear under Plugins on your workspace's tab in ChatGPT. Likely cause: A workspace admin has not published the Cogram MCP plugin to your workspace yet — users cannot add it themselves. Fix: Ask a workspace admin to publish it — see MCP Server.

Symptom: The AI sees fewer projects or meetings than you expect. Likely cause: The AI has exactly your own access. You are not on those projects, or asset visibility hides those records from you. Fix: Ask to be added to the projects. Nothing about the connection itself can widen what the AI sees.

Symptom: A working connection suddenly asks you to sign in again. Likely cause: The stored sign-in expired or was revoked. Fix: Run the connection again — sign in and approve.

Symptom: You want to disconnect the AI from Cogram. Fix: Remove the Cogram connector or app in the AI application. That ends its access immediately.

Next steps

• Agent — Cogram's own built-in agent, which needs no setup.

• MCP Server — administrator setup, the full tool list, and rate limits.

Questions? Email [e-mail] or use the in-app Help menu.