Docs / AI assistants

Connecting an AI assistant

Use Orbilo from ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex or Claude Code through the Orbilo MCP server.

Orbilo has an MCP server at https://orbilo.co/mcp. Connect it to an AI assistant and you can ask "is shop.example.com ready for agents?", "what should I fix first?" or "what changed in UCP last month?" without leaving the chat. It uses the Model Context Protocol, which ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex, Claude Code, Gemini CLI and Windsurf all speak.

The checker works with no account, the same as the public checker. Monitoring needs one: the first time an assistant reaches for your sites, Orbilo sends you to a consent screen, you approve it, and the assistant receives a token limited to the team you are working in. API tokens are not involved and are not accepted by the MCP server.

What the assistant can do

Tool What it does Needs an account
check_site Check any website against UCP, WebMCP and Access, or one of them, and get a shareable report link. No
get_report Read a report back by its link or token, for up to 30 days. No
list_monitored_sites Your team's monitored sites with the latest grade per spec, open issues and how many site slots are left. Yes
get_site_status One site in detail: the latest check per spec (WebMCP per monitored page) and every open issue with its fix. Yes
add_monitored_site Start monitoring a site. Uses one of your plan's site slots and runs the first checks straight away. Yes

It also publishes two resources, orbilo://changelog/ucp and orbilo://changelog/webmcp, which carry the plain-English changelog so the assistant can explain a spec release rather than guess at it.

An assistant cannot remove sites, change your plan, touch billing or manage API tokens.

Two things worth knowing

check_site runs live and can take up to a minute. On the website a check is queued and the page updates as results arrive. Over MCP the assistant waits for the answer, and WebMCP needs a real browser, so a full three-spec check is the slowest thing the server does. Ask for one spec if you only need one.

Free checks are limited per day. Without an account the limit is the same as the public checker's, counted per network address. Signed in, it is higher. Either way the message tells you when it resets.

Connect from your assistant

ChatGPT

  1. Open Settings, then Connectors, then Create (you need Developer mode enabled under Settings, Apps and Connectors, Advanced settings).
  2. Name it Orbilo, paste https://orbilo.co/mcp as the server URL, leave authentication on OAuth and save.
  3. Click Connect. ChatGPT opens the Orbilo consent screen. Approve it.

ChatGPT will then offer Orbilo's tools in any conversation where you enable the connector.

Claude (web and desktop)

  1. Open Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector.
  2. Name it Orbilo and paste https://orbilo.co/mcp. Leave the client ID and secret empty.
  3. Click Add, then Connect and approve on the consent screen.

Claude Code

claude mcp add -s user --transport http orbilo https://orbilo.co/mcp
claude mcp login orbilo

The -s user flag registers the server for every project. Without it the server is only visible in the directory you ran the command from. Skip the login line if you only want the checker.

Codex

codex mcp add orbilo --url https://orbilo.co/mcp
codex mcp login orbilo

Cursor

Open Cursor Settings, then MCP, then Add new MCP server, choose the Streamable HTTP transport and enter https://orbilo.co/mcp. Or add this to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "orbilo": {
      "url": "https://orbilo.co/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Cursor prompts you to sign in the first time a tool needs it.

VS Code

Run MCP: Add Server from the command palette, choose HTTP, enter https://orbilo.co/mcp and name it orbilo. Or add this to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "orbilo": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://orbilo.co/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Gemini CLI

gemini mcp add --transport http orbilo https://orbilo.co/mcp

Windsurf

Add the same url entry under mcpServers in Windsurf's mcp_config.json.

Things to try

  • "Is shop.example.com ready for AI agents?"
  • "Check example.com for WebMCP only and tell me what is failing."
  • "Which of my monitored sites has open failures?"
  • "What should I fix first on shop.example.com?"
  • "Start monitoring example.com."
  • "What changed in the last UCP release and does it affect checkout?"

Managing access

Every assistant you connect is listed under Connected assistants on the API tokens page. Disconnect revokes that assistant's tokens immediately; it will have to go through the consent screen again to reconnect. Tokens expire after an hour and refresh on their own for 90 days of inactivity.

Access follows the team you were working in when you approved the assistant. To use it with another team, switch teams in Orbilo and connect again.

Troubleshooting

"Sign in to use this tool" The assistant called a monitoring tool without connecting your account. Run the login step for your client (above) or click Connect in its settings.

"API tokens are not accepted by the MCP server" The assistant is sending an Orbilo API token as the bearer token. MCP uses OAuth; remove the token from the server config and let the assistant sign in.

The consent screen says the app cannot be authorised The assistant registered with a redirect URL Orbilo does not recognise. Reconnect from the assistant's own settings rather than a copied config, so it registers a fresh client.

"The Free plan covers 1 site" Site slots are a hard cap on every plan, over MCP as on the dashboard. See plans and limits or upgrade from billing.