Gradual supports Model Context Protocol (MCP), which allows you to connect compatible AI assistants, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, and Claude Code, to your community’s admin dashboard.

Once connected, you can use natural language instructions to create and manage courses, community content, and events directly through your AI assistant, without navigating through each step in the dashboard.

This guide walks you through setting up the MCP connection, authorizing access to your Gradual community, and verifying that everything is working.

To connect your AI assistant to Gradual, you’ll need:

Your MCP Server URL follows this format:

https://dashboard.gradual.com/mcp/{your-community-identifier}

Replace {your-community-identifier} with your community’s identifier.

Note: Make sure you’re signed in to your Gradual admin dashboard before starting the connection process. You’ll need to approve access to your community during setup.

You can connect Gradual to ChatGPT by adding your community as a custom connector.

After adding the MCP Server:

Once approved, you’ll be returned to ChatGPT, and your Gradual MCP Server will be connected.

Ask ChatGPT to retrieve information from your Gradual community.

For example:

List the existing courses in my Gradual community.

If the connection is successful, ChatGPT will retrieve the course information from Gradual.

You can connect Gradual to Claude on the web or in the Claude desktop app by adding your community as a custom connector.

After adding the MCP Server:

Once authorization is complete, Claude will be connected to your Gradual community.

Ask Claude to retrieve information from your Gradual community.

For example:

List the existing courses in my Gradual community.

If the connection is successful, Claude will retrieve the course information from Gradual.

If you manage multiple Gradual communities, you can add a separate MCP connection for each one. Use a distinct name for each connection so you can easily identify which community you’re working with.

After saving your MCP Server, you’ll need to authorize Codex to access your Gradual community.

Once approved, you’ll be redirected to Codex, and your Gradual MCP Server will be connected.

Note: If you’re redirected to the Gradual login page instead of the authorization page, sign in to your admin dashboard and return to Codex to click Authenticate again.

After completing authorization, fully close Codex and reopen it.

This ensures the newly connected Gradual tools are available to your AI assistant.

Once Codex has restarted, open a new conversation and ask your AI assistant to retrieve information from your Gradual community.

For example:

What course categories currently exist in my Gradual community?

If the connection is successful, your AI assistant will retrieve the existing course categories from your community.

You can also try creating a new course category:

Create a course category called “Getting Started” in my Gradual community.

Open your Gradual admin dashboard and navigate to Courses to verify the changes.

You can also connect Gradual to Claude Code using its MCP configuration commands.

This command adds your Gradual community as an MCP Server in Claude Code.

After adding the MCP Server:

Once authorization is complete, Claude Code will be connected to your Gradual community.

Ask Claude Code to retrieve information from your Gradual community.

For example:

List the existing courses in my Gradual community.

If the connection is successful, Claude Code will retrieve the course information from Gradual.

The Gradual MCP Server accepts new connections from ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, and Claude Code. These assistants identify themselves to Gradual automatically, so there is no authentication method to choose during setup.

Other AI assistants, including Glean, cannot set up a new connection on their own. To connect Gradual to another AI assistant, contact the Gradual support team at [email protected].

If you connected another AI assistant before this change, that connection keeps working. Depending on the assistant, reconnecting it may not be possible without help from Gradual support.

Once your AI assistant is connected, you can use natural language instructions to create and manage supported features in your Gradual community.

You can use your AI assistant to:

For detailed instructions and examples, see the following guides:

If you experience issues connecting your AI assistant to Gradual, review the following troubleshooting steps.

If your AI assistant cannot connect to Gradual:

If the authorization page redirects you to the Gradual login screen, sign in. You are returned to the authorization page, where you can select Approve. You do not need to go back to your AI assistant and start the connection again.

If the authorization page has been open for more than 10 minutes, selecting Approve loads a fresh authorization page instead of completing the connection. Select it again to finish.

If your AI assistant cannot access Gradual after you’ve successfully connected:

For Codex, restarting the application ensures the newly connected tools are available.

If your AI assistant displays a “Not authorized” message or another permission error, confirm that your Gradual account has permission to manage the content or event you’re trying to access.

If the authorization page tells you that connecting an application requires Community admin access, your Gradual account is not a Community admin. Ask a Community admin to approve the connection.

Your AI assistant uses the same permissions as your Gradual account. For example, you must have access to a club before you can manage its events or content through your AI assistant.

If you need help with your account permissions, contact your community administrator.

If your AI assistant reports that an action was completed but you don’t see the changes in Gradual:

If you continue experiencing connection issues, contact [email protected] for assistance.