Connect ITGallery to AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT…)
ITGallery can be connected to artificial intelligence assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT. Once it is connected, you simply ask the assistant, in your own words, about the gallery's artworks: what is available by an artist, the dimensions and technique of a piece, which editions are left or, if your user is allowed to see them, the sales over a period.
Access is read-only: the assistant looks up the inventory, but it cannot create, change or delete anything in ITGallery.
What it is
The connection uses MCP (Model Context Protocol), an open standard for connecting AI assistants to other applications. In the assistant, you add ITGallery as a “custom connector” with this address:
https://mcp.itgalleryapp.com/mcp
Each person connects the assistant with the ITGallery account they normally sign in with, and the assistant respects that account's permissions: if someone cannot see prices in ITGallery, the assistant will not show them either.
What you need
- The “AI assistants” add-on on the gallery's licence. If you do not have it, write to us and we will activate it.
- The permission to connect AI assistants on your user. Nobody has it by default, not even the gallery's administrators: a gallery administrator grants it in ITGallery. See Give or remove access to AI assistants.
- An assistant account that supports custom connectors. In Claude, every plan (on the free plan, one custom connector). In ChatGPT, it depends on the plan and the account settings.
Connect it in Claude
It works the same way on claude.ai and in the desktop app.
Free, Pro and Max plans
- Open Customize › Connectors.
- Click + Add and then Add custom connector.
- Enter a name, for example ITGallery, and as the server address https://mcp.itgalleryapp.com/mcp. Click Continue.
- Under Authentication, choose Sign in now.
- Under OAuth client, choose Register automatically. Nothing else needs to be filled in.
- Click Add. Claude will open the ITGallery sign-in window: see What happens when you connect.
Heads up
Under “OAuth client”, choose Register automatically. With the option Claude marks as recommended, “Use Claude's published identity”, the connection to ITGallery does not work for now.
Team and Enterprise plans
On these plans, the connector is added for the whole organisation by someone with the Owner role in Claude:
- In Organization settings › Connectors, click Add, then Custom and Web.
- Fill in the name and address as above and choose the same options: Sign in now and Register automatically.
- Then each member opens Customize › Connectors, finds ITGallery (labelled “Custom”) and clicks Connect to sign in with their own ITGallery account.
Use it in a conversation
Connectors are turned on per conversation: click the + button at the bottom left of the text box, open Connectors and switch ITGallery on.
Tip
Claude's menus change from time to time. If something does not match, Claude's official help explains it step by step: Getting started with custom connectors using remote MCP.
Connect it in ChatGPT
ChatGPT calls these connections “custom MCP servers”. The steps are for ChatGPT in the browser (chatgpt.com).
- Open ChatGPT's plugins page: chatgpt.com/plugins.
- Click the + button and choose Add custom MCP server.
- Enter the name ITGallery and a short description, for example “Gallery inventory”.
- Under Connection, enter the address https://mcp.itgalleryapp.com/mcp.
- For authentication, choose OAuth, without filling in any client ID or secret: ChatGPT registers itself with ITGallery.
- Read OpenAI's security warning, accept it (I understand and want to continue) and click Create as a plugin.
- When you connect, ChatGPT will open the ITGallery sign-in window: see What happens when you connect.
To use it, type @ in the text box of a new conversation and choose ITGallery.
Tip
On some accounts, the option sits inside Developer mode, in ChatGPT's settings: turn it on there and then create the connection with the same details. On business accounts (Business, Enterprise, Edu), the workspace administrator has to allow it first. More in OpenAI's help: Developer mode and MCP apps in ChatGPT.
What happens when you connect
When you connect, the assistant opens a browser window with the ITGallery sign-in. There are three steps.
1. Sign in
Enter the email and password you use for ITGallery and click Sign in.
Security
The screen shows the ITGallery logo and the For your security box. Even so, before typing your password, check that the address in the browser starts with https://mcp.itgalleryapp.com: a logo can be copied, the address cannot.
2. Verification code
Only if your account has two-step verification turned on. ITGallery asks for the code sent to your email (it expires after 10 minutes) or, if you use an authenticator app, the code from the app. Enter it and click Verify.
3. Authorise
The Authorise access screen sums up what the assistant will be able to do. Check that the account shown under “Signed in as” is the right one (if not, Switch account) and click Allow. The window returns to the assistant and the connection is ready.
If you see Access not available instead, the add-on or the permission is missing, and the message says which. See Give or remove access to AI assistants.
You do not need to repeat these steps every time: the connection stays in place until it is disconnected.
What the assistant can look up
The assistant looks up the inventory of the galleries you have access to, with the permissions your user has in ITGallery:
| What | Who sees it |
|---|---|
| Artworks and editions: title, artist, year, type, technique, description, dimensions, weight, status, location, tags and public images | Every user with the permission to connect AI assistants |
| Availability of artworks and editions | Every user with that permission |
| Prices of artworks and editions | Only users allowed to see prices |
| Sales: when, to whom, in which status and which edition | Only users allowed to see sales |
| Sale amounts | Only users who can see both sales and prices |
| Name of a buyer who is a private contact | Only users allowed to see private contacts; otherwise the assistant only knows it is a private contact |
And never, with any permission: internal notes, buyers' contact details (email, phone, address) or the rest of ITGallery's modules (contacts, invoices, exhibitions, mailing…).
If you work with several galleries, the assistant only sees the ones that have the add-on and where your user has the permission. It helps to tell it which gallery to search.
Privacy: what data leaves ITGallery
Important
What the assistant looks up in ITGallery (artwork records and, if your user can see them, prices, sales and buyers' names) goes to the assistant's provider (Anthropic for Claude, OpenAI for ChatGPT) so it can prepare the answer, and it stays in the conversation history. From then on it is governed by that provider's terms, not ITGallery's.
- Review the assistant's privacy options (for example, whether conversations can be used to train models) and, if possible, use a business account.
- Give the permission only to the people who need it, and consider whether they should see prices and sales from the assistant.
- ITGallery keeps a technical log of the queries (which user, when and what kind of query) for security. We do not see your conversations with the assistant.
Example questions
Ask naturally, as you would ask someone on the team. Some ideas:
- “Which artworks by Ana Martín do we have available?”
- “Find the available artworks from 2018 to 2022 and make me a table with title, technique and dimensions.”
- “Give me the full record of the artwork with inventory number AM-0123: editions, dimensions and images.”
- “Which editions are still available from Luis Pérez's print series?”
- “Which paintings do we have for under €3,000?” (with permission to see prices)
- “What did we sell between January and March, and to whom?” (with permission to see sales)
- “With five available artworks by Ana Martín, draft a dossier for a collector with title, year, technique and dimensions.”
Tip
If the assistant cannot find an artwork, ask it to search with another term: the inventory number is usually the most direct.
Disconnect an assistant
There are two ways, and the safest is to do both:
- From ITGallery: in the user name menu (top right), open My User and then, in the Configuration tab, AI assistants. The assistants connected to your account are listed there: click Disconnect next to the one you want to remove. Access is cut off straight away.
- From the assistant: remove the connector. In Claude, in Customize › Connectors, Remove (or the three-dot menu). In ChatGPT, on the plugins page.
To connect it again, just repeat the steps: the assistant will ask you to sign in and authorise again.
Also, if a gallery administrator removes the permission from a user, or the gallery no longer has the add-on, the assistant loses access on its next query.