Developers

Connect an AI assistant

Let Claude, Cursor or another AI assistant work with your MerchDash account directly, so you can ask it about your campaigns, keywords and search terms in plain language and have it propose changes.

MerchDash runs a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server at https://app.merchdash.net/mcp. An assistant connected to it gets one tool per public API endpoint, list campaigns, read search terms, check sync status, and calls them itself while it answers you.

The same tools as the API. An assistant can do exactly what its key or connection may do over the API: read with read, propose bid, state, negative, budget and campaign changes with write, and create, run and delete rules and approve or discard reviews with automation. A proposal lands in your review queue unless the key is set to apply without review.

Who can use it

Everyone with API access: Growth, Scale and the free trial. The assistant uses an API key or signs in to MerchDash, and the same plan check applies either way.

Set it up

Claude on the web, desktop and mobile

Claude connects with a “Sign in with MerchDash” step, so there is no key to copy.

  1. In Claude, open Settings → Connectors and choose Add custom connector.
  2. Name it MerchDash and paste https://app.merchdash.net/mcp as the URL.
  3. Click Connect. MerchDash opens; sign in if you are not already.
  4. Check the request, it names the app and the site you will be sent back to, and press Approve.

The connection then appears in Profile → API / MCP as a connected app. Disconnect there ends it at once. Other apps that add remote MCP servers with a sign-in step connect the same way.

Claude Code

Claude Code and the editors below use an API key instead. In MerchDash, open Profile → API / MCP and create a key for the assistant. Tick only what it should be allowed to do: read alone is enough to ask questions, Allow proposing changes lets it send changes to your review queue, and Manage rules & approve lets it approve them itself. Give it a name that says which assistant uses it, so you can revoke just that one later.

claude mcp add --transport http merchdash https://app.merchdash.net/mcp \ --header "Authorization: Bearer md_live_…"

Cursor, Windsurf and other clients

Any client that connects to a remote MCP server over HTTP and lets you set a header works. In a mcp.json-style config:

{ "mcpServers": { "merchdash": { "url": "https://app.merchdash.net/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer md_live_…" } } } }

What to ask

  • “Which keywords in my US marketplace spent more than $20 last month without a sale?”
  • “Compare ACOS by campaign for the last 30 days against the 30 days before.”
  • “Which search terms convert but aren’t keywords yet?”
  • “Is my data up to date? When did the last sync finish?”
  • “Add ‘free’ as a negative exact keyword to my Harvest campaign.” (lands in your review queue)
  • “Write a rule that pauses keywords with 30 or more clicks and no orders over 30 days.” (needs the automation permission; the assistant tests it with a dry run first and saves it switched off)

The assistant reads the same synced archive the dashboard shows, so the numbers are as fresh as your last sync. Spend and sales are in each marketplace’s own currency.

Limits and safety

  • Every tool call is one API request. It counts against the key’s rate limits and shows up under the key in your API request log.
  • 50 rows per call by default. The assistant pages on by itself when it needs more.
  • Limit the key to some marketplaces when you create it, and the assistant sees only those.
  • Revoke the key, or disconnect the app, in Profile → API / MCP and the assistant loses access at once.
  • A connected app can read, propose changes, manage rules and approve reviews. Its proposals go to your review queue, but approving a review or running a rule writes to Amazon. To keep it to proposals, untick Manage rules & approve on the connection in Profile → API / MCP. It signs in with an access token that lasts an hour and renews itself. A connection approved before v2.172.0 stays read-only until you disconnect and connect it again.
  • Uploading a video or logo needs a file the assistant can send. The upload tools hand back an address the file is sent to directly, so Claude Code (which can run curl) can upload one, while Claude on the web cannot. Upload it in Amazon Ads instead: MerchDash picks a new video up with its daily sync, and the assistant can then use it by name.
  • Claude asks before it writes. Tools that write to Amazon (approving a review, running a rule) are marked as such, so Claude asks you before calling them.
  • Connections you stop using are removed. One that has not been used for 90 days is disconnected and drops off the list by itself, and connecting a new app never fails because you already have 20.

Campaign names, keywords and search terms are text that advertisers and shoppers typed. MerchDash tells the assistant to treat them as data, never as instructions.