There are two ways to put an AI model in front of your server. One is the built-in chat. The other is the MCP door for outside AI agents. MCP is a shared language that AI apps use to call your server's tools. A door is a way in that you open on purpose. Both ways go through the same gate. Grants, approvals, and the audit diary apply no matter who asked.
#The built-in chat
Chat talks to your server. It answers from your warehouse. The warehouse is the place on your server that keeps a copy of your mail, calendar, contacts, CRM records, and files. It builds timelines from them. CRM means your customer records system. Pick a model for chat in Settings → AI/Models. It can be a free-pool key or a provider you bring.
Sometimes chat wants to act: send, update, or create something. Then the action comes to you as an approval. An approval is a pause. Recued stops and asks you first. You can fix the details before you say yes. You can approve just that one action. You can approve the whole batch it belongs to. Or you can open a grant for the rest of the session. See Grants and approvals.
#Connect an outside agent
Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any agent that speaks MCP can connect to your server and use your tools. The MCP door makes its own secret key. You never type one in by hand:
- Open the MCP door. Choose the tools it may show.
- Give the agent your server's MCP address and the door's secret key.
- The agent's calls arrive marked with that agent's name. They pass the same grants. They land in the same audit diary.
The agent can reach only what the door grants: warehouse reads, timelines, and installed recipes as tools. Close the door, and its secret key stops working. The agent never sees the secret keys for your accounts. It asks Recued to act. Recued acts on your accounts under your grants.
MCP is not the only way in. Some chat apps let you type in a custom base URL and an API key. Those apps connect through the server's OpenAI-compatible endpoint. The details for each kind of app are in Connect to Recued.
#Chat platforms
Slack and Telegram connect as messenger doors. Messages and slash commands (commands that start with /) POST straight to your server. They never go through Recued's cloud. Replies, notifications, and approvals can reach you in the same channel.
#Why this stays safe, in one paragraph
An outside agent is just one more actor. An actor is whoever is asking. The agent cannot see your secret keys. It cannot skip the gate. It cannot approve its own asks. Approvals come to you. Every call it makes is marked with its name and written in the audit diary. You can stop a running action from your side at any time.
The same door works the other way too. You can sell or give outside customers access to your own tools and AI, in tiers. See Selling access.