Connect your AI Agent to Help Scout via MCP

Help Scout MCP gives AI assistants secure, official access to Help Scout data. You can connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and your own internal AI tools directly to Help Scout to pull up conversations, customer details, mailbox data, and Docs content. This integration is available on the Standard, Plus, and Pro plans — any plan that includes Help Scout API access. Access is read-only, and each team member connects with their own Help Scout credentials, ensuring Claude only accesses data that the specific user is permitted to see.


In this article


Setting up the connector allows your team to query Help Scout data directly from your AI assistant.


Before You Get Started

Keep the following requirements and details in mind before setting up the connector:

  • Your Help Scout account must have API access, which is included on the Standard, Plus, and Pro plans.
  • Log in to Help Scout with your own credentials during setup. AI Agents only access data that your specific user account is permitted to see. For more details on user permissions, see User Roles and Permissions.
  • The connector is read-only. AI Agents can find and summarize information in your account, but it cannot create, send, edit, or delete data.
  • To allow AI Agents to search your Docs knowledge base, you need a Docs API key.

After confirming these prerequisites, you can connect the two platforms.


Add the Connector in Claude

Follow these steps to connect Help Scout to Claude:

  1. In Claude, go to Customize > Connectors > Add > and click Add custom connector.

  1. Name the connector Help Scout.
  2. Set the remote MCP server URL to https://mcp.helpscout.net/mcp      .
  3. Click Add.

  1. Log in to Help Scout on the authorization page and approve access.

Your Help Scout tools are now available in your Claude conversations. To confirm the connection is working, ask Claude: "Run the Help Scout health check".


To disconnect the integration, remove the Help Scout connector from the Claude Settings > Connectors page.


Add the Connector in ChatGPT

ChatGPT adds custom MCP connectors through developer mode.  Because the Help Scout connector is read-only, it can't take any destructive actions, but ChatGPT still shows its standard developer-mode warning when you enable it. To get things set up:


  1. In ChatGPT, go to Settings > Security and login and turn on Developer mode. On Business, Enterprise, and Education workspaces, your workspace admin needs to approve it first.

  1. Go to Plugins (or open chatgpt.com/plugins) and click the + button to add a new connector.

  1. Enter Help Scout as the name, add a short description (for example, "Search Help Scout conversations, customers, and Docs"), and set the MCP server URL to https://mcp.helpscout.net/mcp.

  1. Click Create.
  2. Log in to Help Scout when prompted and approve access.

To confirm everything is working, ask ChatGPT: "Run the Help Scout health check".

To disconnect later, remove the Help Scout connector from your Plugins page.


Turn On Knowledge Base Tools

Inbox tools connect automatically when you authorize the integration. Enabling Docs tools requires an additional step because the Docs API uses its own API key.

First, retrieve your Docs API key:

  1. In Help Scout, navigate to Your Profile > Authentication > API Keys. To learn more about managing your profile settings, see Manage Your User Profile.
  2. Copy your Docs API key.

Note: If you do not see an API key on the Authentication page, you need the Docs: Create new, edit settings & Collections permission. Ask your Account Owner or an Administrator to grant this permission.

Next, add the key during the Claude connection process:

  1. On the Help Scout authorization page, paste your key into the Help Scout Docs API Key (optional) field.

  1. Approve access.

Note: If you already connected without a key, remove the Help Scout connector, and add it again to paste your key on the authorization page. If the key is missing or invalid, other tools continue to function while Docs tools remain unavailable.


What You Can Ask

You can ask Claude to perform various actions using plain English. Here are some examples to help you get started:

  • "Show me all open conversations in the Support inbox"
  • "What did customer@example.com last contact us about?"
  • "Search for conversations mentioning 'refund request'"
  • "Summarize conversation #12345 — the opening question and the latest reply"
  • "Search our docs for 'how to reset password'"
  • "Show me the happiness report for January 2026"

What's Available via the MCP

Once connected, Claude can work with the following areas of your account:

  • Conversations: List, search, and summarize conversations, including threads, tags, custom fields, and attachments.
  • Customers: Retrieve customer profiles, email addresses, phone numbers, conversation history, and organization details.
  • Inboxes and saved replies: Browse inboxes, folders, and saved replies.
  • Users and teams: View account users and team configurations.
  • Workflows: View active workflows configured on your account.
  • Reports: Pull company, conversation, productivity, and happiness reports, and drill down into the underlying conversations. For more details on report metrics, see Understanding Reports in Help Scout.
  • Docs: Search and read knowledge base articles, sites, and collections (requires a Docs API key).

Limitations

The connector has the following limitations:

  • Read-only access. Claude cannot reply to customers, add notes, change tags, or edit Docs articles.
  • Reporting history. Available history depends on your plan. Standard plans include two years of reporting history, while Plus and Pro plans include all-time history. Report requests return data within your plan's supported range.
  • Docs tools. Requires a Docs API key and the appropriate user permissions.

Understanding how your credentials and support data are secured is essential when using AI integrations.


How Your Data Is Handled

You connect through Help Scout's OAuth sign-in: you log in on Help Scout's own page, so the connector never sees or stores your Help Scout password.

  • The connector acts as your Help Scout user, meaning Claude only accesses data you are permitted to view.
  • When Claude retrieves data to answer a question, that information becomes part of your conversation with Claude. The storage and use of this data are governed by your AI provider's terms and privacy policy; Anthropic's for Claude, OpenAI's for ChatGPT.
  • Help Scout encrypts the credentials it stores for you: your sign-in tokens and, if you added one, your Docs API key. For more on how we protect your data, see Security at Help Scout.

Report a Security Issue

If you find a security vulnerability in the Help Scout MCP server, email help@helpscout.com with steps to reproduce the issue. We investigate all security reports.

In-scope issues include vulnerabilities in the MCP server, weaknesses in the OAuth sign-in flow, credential storage issues, or unauthorized data access. Out-of-scope issues include documented tool behaviors, AI model decisions, denial of service, and vulnerabilities in third-party dependencies.


Get Help

If you have questions about the connector or need assistance with setup, reach out to our support team at help@helpscout.com, and we'd be happy to help you get connected.

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