Ask AI about your account

What is this?
How it works
What can you ask about
Example questions to try
Getting started
Switching environment
Tips for getting the best answers
Privacy and security
Troubleshooting
Questions and feedback

What is this?

The GoCardless MCP tool lets you connect your GoCardless account to AI assistants like Claude or ChatGPT and into your agentic workflows to get instant answers about your payments, customers, and payouts e.g.:

“How much did I receive in payouts last month?”
“Show me all active subscriptions for customer Y”
“Do I have any cancelled mandates this week?”
“Why did payment X fail?”

The AI assistant will use the MCP to look up the answer directly from your GoCardless account.

How it works

GoCardless uses a technology called Model Context Protocol (MCP) to give AI assistants secure, structured access to your account data. Here’s what that means for you:

Read-only access. The AI can look up information but cannot make changes to your account. It cannot create, cancel, or retry payments, or modify anything.
Sensitive data stays private. Sensitive details like email addresses and bank account numbers are automatically masked before the AI sees them.
You sign in securely. When you first connect, your browser will open a GoCardless sign-in page. Once you log in, your AI assistant is authorised to query your account. You won’t need to share any API keys or passwords with the AI.

What you can ask about

The MCP provides access to information across seven areas of your GoCardless account:

Area	What you can ask
Payments	Check payment status, find failed or overdue payments, look up specific payments by ID, filter by date range or currency.
Customers	Look up customer details, see when they were created, browse your customer list.
Mandates	Check if a mandate is active, see which scheme it uses (Bacs, SEPA, etc.), find mandates by status.
Subscriptions	View recurring payment plans, check subscription status, see amounts and intervals.
Payouts	See how much was paid to your bank account and when, filter by date or currency.
Refunds	Look up refund details, check which payment a refund relates to.
Events	See the history of what happened to a payment or mandate (e.g. when it was submitted, confirmed, or failed).

If you are building a GoCardless API integration you can also use the MCP to provide guidance.

Example questions to try

Payments

“Why did my latest payment fail?”
“Show me all confirmed payments from March 2026”
“What’s the status of payment PM01K44FZ685ZVKP4E6J9C3NPHJX?”
“Do I have any payments pending submission?”

Payouts & money received

“How much did I receive in payouts last month?”
“When was my last payout?”
“Show me all GBP payouts from this quarter”

Customers & mandates

“How many active mandates do I have?”
“Show me the details for customer CU01KNVS3PYJVAC8ZEHKK8EBZW7K”
“Are there any cancelled mandates this month?”

Subscriptions & refunds

“What active subscriptions does customer CU01KNVS3PYJVAC8ZEHKK8EBZW7K have?”
“Show me refunds from the past 30 days”
“Was there a refund on payment PM01K44FZ685ZVKP4E6J9C3NPHJX?”

Getting started

To connect your GoCardless account to an AI assistant, follow the instructions for your preferred tool below.

Claude (Browser/Desktop)

In the left-hand sidebar, click Customize > Connectors > ＋ > Browse connectors
Search for GoCardless then click ＋ or Connect.
Your browser will open a GoCardless sign-in journey - choose your environment then sign in.
Once signed in, you’re connected. Start a new chat and ask a question about your account.

Team or Enterprise users: An Owner or Primary Owner needs to add the connector first. Then team members can navigate to Customize > Connectors and connect individually.

ChatGPT

Requirements: A paid subscription (Pro, Plus, Team, or Enterprise).

Go to Settings > Apps > Advanced Settings and toggle Developer Mode on.
Click Create app and add a custom connector with the URL https://mcp.gocardless.com. You will need to tick the box next to I understand and want to continue to proceed, then Create.
Your browser will open a GoCardless sign-in journey - choose your environment then sign in.
Refresh the page. The GoCardless connector will appear as a source when starting a new chat (under ＋ > … More) and in the Deep Research tab under Apps > Connect more.

Claude Code

Open a terminal and run the following command: claude mcp add --transport http GoCardless https://mcp.gocardless.com

- Note: Run the MCP install command from your project’s root directory to ensure cross-tool discoverability.
Open Claude Code, and write a prompt with a question about your accounts, explicitly telling it to use the GoCardless MCP (e.g. “Using the GoCardless MCP, show me my five most recent payouts”). You should be asked if you want to authenticate - select the option to authenticate.
Your browser will open a GoCardless sign-in journey - choose your environment then sign in.
Once signed in, you’re connected and can start asking questions about your account.
From within Claude Code, you can use the /mcp command to get more information about the server.

Team or Enterprise users: An Owner or Primary Owner needs to add the connector first. Then team members can connect individually.

For instructions on connecting to Integrated Development Environments (e.g. Cursor) see here.

Disconnecting the MCP

If, for any reason, you want to revoke the GoCardless access you have granted to your AI assistant you can do so at any time. The exact steps will vary based on which AI assistant you’re using but generally you must find the GoCardless MCP in your AI assistant/LLM and then you should see an option to disconnect from it.

If that fails, you can alternatively log in to the GoCardless dashboard, click Settings (top right) > Connected apps then find the GoCardless MCP and select Revoke access.

Switching environment

GoCardless has two environments: Live for processing real payments and Sandbox for testing and building API integrations. Each environment is completely separate. When connecting to the MCP, you will choose which environment to connect to.

If or when you want to switch your connection from Sandbox to Live (or vice versa), the exact steps will vary based on which AI assistant you’re using but generally you must:

Find the GoCardless MCP in your AI assistant/LLM.
Disconnect from it.
Connect again, following the steps above.
This will trigger the sign-in journey, allowing you to choose (and sign into) the other environment.

If you are not sure which environment you are currently connected to you can ask your AI assistant.

Tips for getting the best answers

Be specific. Instead of “show me payments,” try “show me failed payments from March 2026.” The more detail you give, the more precise the answer.
Use IDs when you have them. If you know a payment, customer, or mandate ID (e.g. PM01K44FZ685ZVKP4E6J9C3NPHJX), include it for an exact lookup.
Ask follow-up questions. You can drill into results naturally. For example: “Show me failed payments this week” followed by “What happened with the first one?”
Tell the AI to use GoCardless. Some AI assistants may try to search the web instead. If that happens, start your question with “Using GoCardless, …” to direct it to your account data.

Privacy and security

We’ve built this with data security as a priority:

Read-only access. The AI assistant can only look up data. It cannot make any changes to your account.
PII masking. Customer email addresses, phone numbers, postal codes, and identity numbers are automatically masked before being shared with the AI. Bank account details are never accessible.
Secure sign-in. Authentication uses the same GoCardless sign-in you already trust. No API keys or passwords are shared with the AI.

A note on AI provider privacy policies

Your conversations with AI assistants are subject to the privacy policy of the AI provider. Free or personal-tier plans may use your conversations for AI training. To protect yourself, review the provider's privacy policy and look for opt-out options in your account settings. For stricter data privacy where your data is contractually excluded from training, you typically need an Enterprise or Business subscription.

Troubleshooting

The AI isn’t answering questions about my account

Make sure the GoCardless MCP is properly set up in your AI assistant (see Getting Started above). Try asking your question with the phrase “Using GoCardless, …” to ensure the AI uses the MCP rather than searching the web.

I’m seeing an error when I try to connect

Check that you have a paid subscription to your AI service (free tiers typically don’t support MCPs). If the problem persists, try removing and re-adding the GoCardless MCP.

The AI gave me unexpected or incorrect information

AI assistants interpret your questions and present account data in natural language, which can occasionally lead to misinterpretation. If something looks wrong, try rephrasing your question, manually checking the calculation, or verifying the data in the GoCardless dashboard.

If it persists, please let us know here.

Questions and feedback

If you have questions, need support, or have ideas for how we can improve this tool, please let us know here.