# ChatGPT connector for Shopify inventory and cash data > Connect ChatGPT to Keel HQ's read-only MCP server as a custom connector with a bearer token. It needs Developer mode and a plan that offers token authentication. Source: https://keelhq.io/integrations/chatgpt · Published 2026-10-27 · Last verified 2026-10-27 **TL;DR:** ChatGPT connects to Keel HQ's read-only MCP server as a custom connector in Developer mode, with a bearer token you paste into the form. It can then read inventory, cash, ad spend and published reports. ChatGPT offers token authentication only on some plans; if yours shows only OAuth, choose it: Keel HQ signs you in and you approve one workspace, with no token to paste. ChatGPT can read your Keel HQ numbers once you add Keel HQ as a custom connector. You ask about inventory, cash or ad spend, and it answers from your synced data. Where ChatGPT offers only OAuth, Keel HQ supports that too: add the connector with the URL, sign in to Keel HQ and approve one workspace. ## What ChatGPT can read Keel HQ serves a read-only [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) server. These are the tools it exposes: | Tool | What it returns | | ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `get_overview` | Month-to-date vitals, alerts, trends, inventory health and recent activity. | | `get_cash_dashboard` | Cash balances, debts, upcoming bills, expected income, runway and cash alerts. | | `list_inventory_products` | The first `limit` active products (default 50, up to 200), ordered by product id. It doesn't paginate: a larger catalog is truncated, and `pagination.truncated` and `pagination.total` say so. | | `get_inventory_product` | One SKU: catalog fields, days of cover on a 90-day pace, and every product carrying that SKU. | | `get_ads_spend` | Meta campaign spend by calendar month, for up to 12 months. Refreshed when a monthly report is generated, not by the daily Meta pull. | | `get_monthly_report` | A published monthly report as JSON, with notes on data quality. | | `get_brand_settings` | Brand profile and alert thresholds. No secrets. | Two resources come with it: `eos://docs/metric-calculations`, which defines how each figure is calculated, and `eos://reports/monthly/{year}-{month}`, a published report as markdown. These tools read your Shopify orders and products, Meta Ads campaign spend, Mercury balances and published monthly reports, all from what Keel HQ has already synced. There is no tool for Klaviyo or Google Ads data on its own. **Read-only** Every tool is marked read-only. ChatGPT can look, calculate and explain; it can't change anything in Keel HQ or Shopify. ## Questions it can answer "How many days of cover does one of my SKUs have, and which products share that SKU across my stores?" "What's my cash runway, and which bills are coming up?" "Show Meta spend by campaign for the last three months. Was any month only partly synced?" "Summarize last month's published report, and tell me which figures were withheld and why." "Is everything you just told me current? Check the data freshness." The questions that pay off are the ones across sources: inventory against cash, spend against revenue. Keel HQ has already joined them, and your assistant just reads the result. ## Connect ChatGPT **Create a token** In Keel HQ, open **Settings → MCP & API tokens**, and find **AI assistants (MCP)**. Click to create a token for ChatGPT. It carries the read scope and expires in 90 days by default. It's shown once, so copy it before you leave the page. **Turn on Developer mode in ChatGPT** Open **Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced settings** and turn on **Developer mode**. **Create the connector** Choose **Create a connector** and give it Keel HQ's MCP URL, which Settings shows you (it ends in `/api/mcp`). For authentication, pick the **API key or bearer token** option and paste your token. ChatGPT takes it in a form rather than a config file, which is why Keel HQ shows a new token once, with its own copy button. **Test the connection** Back in Settings → MCP & API tokens, **Test connection** runs the same `tools/list` call an assistant makes and shows the tool names it got back. Then ask a question. ## Tokens, scopes and revoking **Scope.** MCP needs a token with the `read` scope. A token without it gets a 403, and a missing or revoked one gets a 401. **Expiry.** 30, 90 or 365 days when you create it; 90 by default. **Revoking.** Revoke the token in Settings → MCP & API tokens. The assistant loses access immediately. **Rate limit.** 120 requests a minute per token. Your organization comes from the token, never from the request, so an assistant can only see the workspace the token was created in. ## Known limits Read-only, by design. ChatGPT can't update products, record costs or send anything. Data is as fresh as the last sync. Shopify orders sync every six hours, so a very recent sale may not be there, and each result says so in `data_freshness`. Ad spend is by calendar month and limited to a 12-month range. There is no daily breakdown. Token authentication depends on your ChatGPT plan. If ChatGPT offers only OAuth and No authentication, it can't connect to Keel HQ yet. Keel HQ is in private beta, with a waitlist. ## FAQ ### Why can't I find the token option? ChatGPT only offers the API key or bearer token option on some plans. If you see only OAuth and No authentication, choose OAuth: Keel HQ supports it, so you sign in to Keel HQ and approve one workspace instead of pasting a token. ### Can the AI change anything in Keel HQ or Shopify? No. Every tool is read-only, and the server only accepts POST requests that read. The AI can't edit a product, a cost, a report or a setting, and it has no route into Shopify. ### Which token does it use, and can I revoke it? An API token with the read scope, created in Settings → MCP & API tokens. Revoke it from the same list and the assistant stops working at once. Create a separate token per assistant so revoking one doesn't break the others. ### Is there a rate limit? Yes, 120 requests a minute per token. Over that, Keel HQ answers 429 and the assistant waits. ### How do I know the data is current? Every tool result starts with a data_freshness block: one entry per synced source it read, with the last sync time and a status of fresh, stale, never_synced or failed. Ask the assistant to mention it when a figure isn't fresh. ### What if a number isn't available? You get null with a reason, never 0. A failed query comes back as a tool error, not as empty data. ## Sources - [Model Context Protocol introduction](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro), modelcontextprotocol.io (accessed 2026-10-27)