Adding Shulboard takes about two minutes, once, on a computer. After that it works in the AI app on your phone too. What it can and can't do is in Connect an AI app.
Before you start
- Shulboard's address. In Shulboard, open Connect an AI in the menu and choose Copy address. It's the same for every shul: signing in is what picks yours.
- The AI app, signed in, on a computer. Claude at claude.ai or the Claude app for Mac or Windows, or ChatGPT at chatgpt.com. Phones can't add a connector, but they use one once it's added.
- Your Shulboard email and password, or Google, or your fingerprint or face: the AI app sends you to Shulboard's own sign-in page once.
Claude
Claude calls it a custom connector. Every Claude plan can add one, the free plan included (one connector on the free plan).
Add it
- In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors. (In an older version, Settings, then Connectors.)
- Choose + Add, then Add custom connector.
- Name: type Shulboard. Remote MCP server URL: paste Shulboard's address. Choose Continue.
- Claude reads how Shulboard signs in and shows it. Leave it as it is (Authentication: Sign in now; OAuth client: as Claude chose; no Request headers), and choose Continue, then Add.
- Shulboard's sign-in page opens. Sign in, if it asks.
- Connect Claude to Shulboard? says what Claude will be able to do. If you're in more than one shul, choose it under Which shul? Then choose Connect Claude.
- You're back in Claude, and Shulboard is in your list of connectors.
Use it
- Start a new chat.
- Choose + at the bottom left of the box you type in, then Connectors, and turn Shulboard on.
- Ask, in your own words: "What's on the lobby screen right now?"
- The first time Claude uses each of Shulboard's tools, it asks. Allow once asks again next time; Allow always doesn't. Either way, before Claude saves a change to a notice, a minyan or anything else, it tells you what it's about to save and waits for your yes.
On your phone
Nothing more to do. Open the Claude app on your phone, signed in to the same Claude account, and Shulboard is there under +, then Connectors.
Claude for a team
On a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, an owner of your Claude organization adds Shulboard once for everyone: Organization settings, then Connectors, Add, point at Custom and choose Web, then the name and address as above, and Add. Then each person opens Customize, then Connectors, finds Shulboard (marked Custom) and chooses Connect, which signs them in to Shulboard as themselves.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT calls it a custom MCP server, added as a plugin. On a personal plan it may first need Developer mode turned on (below).
Add it
- On a computer, go to chatgpt.com/plugins (or open Settings, then Plugins).
- Choose +, then Add custom MCP server.
- Name: type Shulboard. Description: "My shul's screens" or anything that reminds you.
- Under Connection, choose Public endpoint and paste Shulboard's address.
- Under Authentication, choose OAuth. Leave the rest empty: Shulboard tells ChatGPT the rest itself.
- ChatGPT says it hasn't checked this server. Shulboard is ours and asks before every change, so choose I understand and want to continue.
- Choose Create as a plugin. ChatGPT lists Shulboard's tools. Choose Install.
- Shulboard's sign-in page opens. Sign in, if it asks, choose your shul if it asks Which shul?, then Connect ChatGPT.
Use it
- Start a new chat.
- Type @ in the box and choose Shulboard, then ask: "@Shulboard what's on the lobby screen right now?" Without the @, ChatGPT may answer without asking Shulboard.
- Before a change is saved, ChatGPT shows what it's about to do and asks you to confirm, and Shulboard's own rule is the same: it says what it will save and waits for your yes.
On your phone
Once it's installed on a computer, it's in the ChatGPT app on your phone, signed in to the same account: type @ and choose Shulboard.
If Add custom MCP server isn't there
- On ChatGPT Plus or Pro: open Settings, find Developer mode (under Apps and Advanced settings, or Security and login, depending on the version) and turn it on, then go back to step 1.
- On the free plan: ChatGPT doesn't offer it. Use Claude, whose free plan does.
- On ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu: whoever runs your ChatGPT workspace has to allow custom MCP servers first, in the workspace's settings.
ChatGPT renames these menus often. If yours differ, look for Plugins, Apps or Connectors: the steps are the same.
Another AI app
Any AI app that adds a connector by its web address, with a sign-in, works the same way:
- Find where it adds a connector, often under Settings and called a connector, an integration or an MCP server.
- Paste Shulboard's address. If it asks how to sign in, choose OAuth, and leave any client ID and secret empty.
- It opens Shulboard's sign-in page: sign in, choose your shul, then Connect.
An app that only takes a command to run on your computer, or a key to paste in, can't connect to Shulboard.
If something goes wrong
- "This link to connect has expired." The AI app's sign-in took too long, or was started twice. Go back to the AI app and choose Connect again.
- It answers without Shulboard. In Claude, check Shulboard is on under +, then Connectors. In ChatGPT, start the question with @Shulboard.
- It asks you to connect again. The connection ended: it was disconnected, or not used for 90 days. Choose Connect in the AI app.
- "You're not in that shul any more." Connect it again and choose a shul you're in.
- It's connected to the wrong shul. Under Connect an AI in Shulboard, Disconnect it, then connect it again from the AI app and choose the right shul.
- Still stuck. Press Get help in Shulboard, or write to support@shulboard.app, and say which AI app and which step.
Take it off
In Shulboard, under Connect an AI, Connected now lists each AI app with Disconnect, which stops it straight away. To take it out of the AI app as well: in Claude, Customize, then Connectors, the three dots beside Shulboard, then Remove; in ChatGPT, Plugins, then Shulboard, then remove it.