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AI Assistant Integration (MCP) ​

Who is this for? Recruiters and HR managers who use AI tools like Claude, Cursor, or similar assistants in their daily work.
This guide explains how to connect Tailed to your AI assistant so you can ask real questions about your candidates and pipeline.

What is this? ​

Tailed can connect to AI assistants — tools like Claude (by Anthropic), Cursor, or others — so they can read your live recruiting data and give you useful, specific answers.

Without this connection, an AI assistant knows a lot about the world, but nothing about your candidates, your pipeline, or your hiring cycle. With it, you can ask questions like:

  • "How many candidates do we have in the interview stage right now?"
  • "Show me candidates from Concordia who applied in the last two weeks."
  • "What's our conversion rate from screening to offer this winter?"
  • "Move application #1234 to the Offer stage."

...and get real answers pulled directly from Tailed — not made-up information.

How does it work? ​

This feature uses a standard called Model Context Protocol (MCP), which is a way for AI assistants to securely connect to external tools and data sources.

Think of it like giving your AI assistant a direct, read/write connection to Tailed — with the same access controls that apply to your team.

What can the AI assistant do with Tailed? ​

ActionWhat it means
Search candidatesFind candidates by name, school, program, skills, or any natural language description
View applicationsSee who applied to which job and at what stage
Advance a stageMove a candidate forward in the pipeline by asking your assistant
Pull analyticsGet a summary of your hiring metrics for any period
Semantic searchAsk "find me candidates with Python and data science experience" and get smart results

What the AI assistant cannot do ​

  • It cannot access data from other organizations.
  • It cannot change billing settings or team permissions.
  • It cannot delete candidates or data.
  • It can only see data your Tailed account is authorized to see — the same as if you were logged in yourself.

Who can set this up? ​

The AI assistant integration is available on the Professional and Enterprise plans. The initial connection is typically done by a technical team member, but once set up, any team member can use it from their own AI assistant.

Setting it up ​

Step 1 — Generate a Tailed API key ​

  1. Go to Settings → API Access.
  2. Click Generate new API key.
  3. Name it something like Claude Desktop or Cursor.
  4. Select the scopes you want your AI to have (see below).
  5. Copy the key — you'll need it in the next step.

Recommended scopes for AI access:

  • Candidates — Read
  • Applications — Read & Write (if you want the AI to advance stages)
  • Analytics — Read

Step 2 — Set up the connection in your AI tool ​

For Claude Desktop:

  1. Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings → Integrations.
  2. Click Add MCP server.
  3. Enter the Tailed MCP server URL: https://api.tailed.ca/mcp
  4. When prompted for an API key, paste the key you generated in Step 1.
  5. Save and restart Claude Desktop.

For Cursor:

  1. Open Cursor Settings → MCP Servers.
  2. Click Add Server.
  3. Name: Tailed
  4. URL: https://api.tailed.ca/mcp
  5. Auth: Bearer token → paste your API key.
  6. Save.

Step 3 — Test it ​

In your AI assistant, try asking:

"Using Tailed, how many active candidates do we have in our pipeline?"

If it's working, the assistant will fetch live data from your Tailed organization.

Example conversations ​

Here are some prompts you can try once the connection is set up:

"Show me all candidates from ETS who are currently in the Screening stage."

"What were our top 3 source universities for hires in Winter 2026?"

"Find me candidates with experience in mechanical engineering and Python."

"Move the application for Marie Tremblay (Job: Software Intern) to the Interview Offered stage."

"Give me an analytics summary for the current hiring season."

Security and privacy ​

  • The AI assistant accesses only your organization's data — it cannot see data from other Tailed customers.
  • All requests are authenticated with your API key — the same security model used for all Tailed API access.
  • The AI assistant does not store or train on your candidate data.
  • You can revoke access at any time by revoking the API key in Settings → API Access.

Frequently asked questions ​

Does this work with ChatGPT?
MCP support is currently available for Claude Desktop and Cursor. Support for other tools (including ChatGPT with plugins) is coming as the MCP ecosystem grows.

Can the AI make mistakes and change data incorrectly?
AI assistants can make errors. We recommend enabling read-only scopes at first (Candidates — Read, Applications — Read, Analytics — Read) and only enabling write access when you're confident in how you'll use it.

Does every team member need their own API key for this?
Yes — each person who wants to use AI assistant integration should generate their own key. This keeps the access logs clear and lets any key be revoked independently.

Last updated: March 2026