Use AI to manage your account

Why use this?
How it works
What you can do
Example prompts
Getting started
Disconnecting the MCP
Switching environment
Tips
Privacy and security
Troubleshooting
FAQs
Questions and feedback

Why use this?

The GoCardless MCP tool lets you connect your GoCardless account to AI assistants like Claude or ChatGPT, and to AI agents that can act on your account. You can use it to get instant answers about your payments and customers, and to take actions on your account.

It saves you a trip to the GoCardless dashboard for routine work. A few things you could ask:

"How much did I receive in payouts last month?"
"Create a £50 payment against mandate MD000ABC"
"Show me all active subscriptions for customer Y"
"Refund payment X in full"
"Do I have any cancelled mandates this week?"

How it works

GoCardless uses a technology called Model Context Protocol (MCP) to give AI tools secure, structured access to your account and a controlled set of actions. Here's what that means for you:

You choose what your AI can access. You can grant it access to all data and actions, limit it to read-only access so it can’t make changes, or limit it to specific actions (such as only allowing it to create refunds). To change what it’s authorised to access, disconnect and reconnect.
Confirmation on money-moving actions. Higher-risk write actions (for example creating a payment) show you a preview and wait for explicit confirmation before going ahead.
Sensitive data stays private. Sensitive details like email addresses are automatically masked before the AI sees them. Bank account numbers are never shared.
You sign in securely. Connect via a GoCardless sign-in page. You won't need to share any API keys or passwords with the AI.
Your dashboard user permissions apply. Users can only use the MCP to do things they have permission to do on the dashboard. So a user with read-only permissions cannot take write actions (such as creating a payment) via the MCP.

What you can do

The MCP offers Read capabilities to look up information (for example "show me failed payments") and Write capabilities to take actions ("refund payment X").

Area	What you can ask
Payments	Check payment status, find failed payments, look up specific payments. Create, retry, and cancel payments.
Payment links	Create payment links (i.e. billing request flows) to share with your customers.
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. Cancel a mandate.
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. Issue refunds.
Subscriptions	View payment dates, check subscription status, see amounts and intervals. Create new subscriptions.
Events	See the history of what happened to a payment or mandate (for example, when it was submitted, confirmed, or failed).

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Let us know what other capabilities you’d like to see.

For certain write tools, there are caps on the amount of changes your AI tool can make at once (for example, a maximum of 25 payments can be created at once).

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

Example prompts

Payments

"Show me all confirmed payments from March 2026"
"What's the status of payment PM01K44FZ685ZVKP4E6J9C3NPHJX?"
"Create a one-off £75 payment against mandate MD000ABCDEF for invoice 1234"
"Retry the failed payment from yesterday for customer CU01KNVS3PYJVAC8ZEHKK8EBZW7K"
"Set up a £29/month subscription against customer CU01KNVS3PYJVAC8ZEHKK8EBZW7K starting next Monday"
“Create a payment link for a €49 recurring payment”

Customers & mandates

"How many active mandates do I have?"
"Show me the details for customer CU01KNVS3PYJVAC8ZEHKK8EBZW7K"
"What active subscriptions does customer CU01KNVS3PYJVAC8ZEHKK8EBZW7K have?"
"Cancel the mandate for customer CU01KNVS3PYJVAC8ZEHKK8EBZW7K"

Refunds and payouts

"Refund payment PM01K44FZ685ZVKP4E6J9C3NPHJX in full"
"How much did I receive in payouts last month?"

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.
Choose the permissions you want to authorise.
You’re now 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. 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.
Choose the permissions you want to authorise.
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: 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 account, 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.
Choose the permissions you want to authorise.
You're now 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 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 (your AI tool may call this a connector or app) in your AI tool and select the option to disconnect.

If that fails, 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. 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

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. 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.
For write actions, be explicit and check the preview. "Refund payment PM01… by £20" is safer than "refund that payment". The confirmation preview shows the exact details; read it before approving.

Privacy and security

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

Powerful controls. You choose what your AI tool can access. You confirm before money-moving actions happen.
Data masking. Customer email addresses, phone numbers, post codes, and identity numbers are automatically masked before being shared with the AI. Bank account details are never shared with the AI tool.
Audit logs for write actions. All MCP actions appear in your event history in the dashboard.
Secure sign-in. No credentials are shared with the AI, so this is the most secure way of connecting your account to an AI tool. You should not paste your own GoCardless API token into an AI tool: tokens don't expire, so a leak gives full, permanent access to your account.

A note on AI provider privacy policies

Your conversations with AI tools 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 and your customers, review the provider's privacy policy and look for opt-out options in your account settings. For your data to be 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.

The AI tool says it can’t do an action, even though this guide says it’s possible.

Two possible causes:

You didn't give permission for that action when you connected. Disconnect and reconnect, and select the permissions your tool needs.
Your user permissions don't include that action. Ask an Admin to update your role in the dashboard, then reconnect.

A write action ran but I didn't expect it to.

Check your event history in the dashboard to see exactly what was sent. If you confirmed it but the parameters were wrong, you can sometimes reverse it (such as cancelling a payment). If you believe you didn't confirm it, revoke MCP access from your dashboard (see Disconnecting the MCP above) and contact us.

FAQs

Why have I been disconnected from the MCP?

To ensure your account remains secure, we require you to sign in again periodically.

How do I change what my AI tool is authorised to access, or revoke access completely?

To revoke access, disconnect the MCP from your AI tool (see Disconnecting the MCP above). If you want to change what it can access, reconnect, then choose a different set of permissions during the sign-in journey.

What if my AI tool makes a mistake?

Money-moving actions will display a preview and require confirmation before they are carried out. It is important to check the preview to catch any mistakes.

Ultimately, you are responsible for actions taken via your AI tool. To minimise the risk of a mistake, we would recommend only connecting an AI tool from a reputable provider. You can also limit the capabilities your AI tool has access to, and create a free Sandbox account for testing purposes.

Can I see a history of actions taken through my AI tool?

Yes. All actions taken via the MCP are recorded in your event history and can be viewed in the dashboard. Their source will be App (GoCardless MCP). Go to Developers > Events to view them.

What if an unauthorised third party gets access to my AI tool?

Revoke MCP access from the dashboard (see Disconnecting the MCP above). You are responsible for keeping your AI tool secure. We recommend following strong account security practices with your AI tool to minimise the risk of unauthorised access, including a strong password, and the use of two-factor authentication/SSO where available.

What's an AI agent?

An AI tool that can take actions on its own without a human reviewing each step. You can connect an AI agent to the MCP, but we would emphasise extreme caution, as you are responsible for any actions an AI agent carries out on your account.

Questions and feedback

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