EasyRoutes MCP (Model Context Protocol)

This article is a quick overview of how EasyRoutes' MCP works. The MCP docs in the EasyRoutes Developer Docs have the full setup for each assistant, server details, security and troubleshooting.

Overview

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to tools and data. The EasyRoutes MCP server works with EasyRoutes for Web and EasyRoutes for Shopify, on any paid plan.

The EasyRoutes MCP server connects AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT desktop, Cursor and Codex to your EasyRoutes account. Once it’s connected, you ask your assistant for what you need in a conversation, and it calls EasyRoutes tools to do it: "What’s going out tomorrow, and who’s driving?" or "Put the orders in this email on a new route for Thursday, and give it to Jane."

What your assistant can do

  • Read your account: routes, stops, drivers and vehicles.
  • Set up routes: create them, add imported stops or Shopify orders, and set route options like the time at each stop.
  • Assign, optimize and dispatch: give a route a driver and vehicle, put its stops in their best order, and send it to the EasyRoutes Delivery Driver app.
  • Edit stops: change an address, note, time window, delivery date or stop time, or remove a stop.

It can’t message customers or drivers, show where your drivers are, or find a Shopify order from its order number (like #1203) alone. Customer notifications and driver messages still go out from EasyRoutes as they do today.

Supported assistants

The MCP server connects with your EasyRoutes API keys. These assistants support it, with setup steps for each in the MCP docs:

  • Claude Desktop
  • Claude Code
  • ChatGPT desktop (which also connects Codex on the same computer)
  • Codex
  • Cursor

Any other MCP client that supports Streamable HTTP servers with custom request headers can connect too. ChatGPT on the web, and other assistants that connect by signing in rather than with keys, aren’t supported yet.

Set up the MCP server

  1. Get your API keys. In EasyRoutes, go to Settings → API and generate a client ID and secret key. API access is included in every paid plan. See Set up API client ID and secret key.
  2. Add EasyRoutes to your assistant. Each assistant takes the same server address, https://easyroutes.roundtrip.ai/mcp , and your API keys, joined with a colon. Copy the snippet for your preferred assistant from the EasyRoutes MCP server page, or follow the step-by-step instructions in the MCP docs.
  3. Choose what it can do. Your assistant asks before every change. Once you’re comfortable, pre-allow the tools you use most, like looking up routes, and turn off any you don’t want it to use, in your assistant’s settings.
  4. Try it. Ask your assistant: "Use EasyRoutes to list my routes." If it answers with your routes, you’re connected.

Keep your keys private. Your client ID and secret key can read and change anything in your EasyRoutes account. Enter them in your assistant’s connection settings, never in a chat message. If they’re ever exposed, rotate your secret key.

Tools and the EasyRoutes API

The MCP server is built on the EasyRoutes API. Most endpoints in the API reference are available to your assistant as tools, with the same name as the endpoint’s operation ID (for example, list_routes ). Browse the reference to see what your assistant can work with.

  • Tools that only look up data are marked as read-only. All the others can make changes, so most assistants ask before running them.
  • Changes take effect straight away, just like API calls. Drivers see changes to a dispatched route right away, and dispatching a route notifies its driver.
  • Tool calls count toward the same rate limit as API requests made with your keys.

Example prompts

  • "Anything I should check before tomorrow’s routes go out?"
  • "Make a route for Friday from the shop with these orders, and plan 5 minutes at each stop."
  • "Jane’s off Thursday. Switch that route to John, in the Sprinter."
  • "Grace cancelled. Take her off Thursday’s route and reoptimize."

For more prompts, with the tools each one calls and the results from a test store, see EasyRoutes 101: Get Started with the MCP Server.

FAQs

Does the MCP server cost extra?

No. It uses the same API keys as the EasyRoutes API, which are included in every paid plan, on Web and Shopify.

Will my assistant change anything without asking?

Not unless you let it. Assistants ask before each tool that makes a change runs. You can pre-allow the tools you trust, like lookups, and turn any tool off in your assistant’s settings.

Can my assistant message customers or drivers?

No. Customer notifications and driver messages still go out from EasyRoutes as they do today. Dispatching a route does notify the driver in the EasyRoutes Delivery Driver app.

Can I see where my drivers are through the MCP server?

Not yet. Follow your drivers on the map in EasyRoutes. Your assistant can read each stop’s status and planned arrival.

My assistant can’t connect, or the EasyRoutes tools don’t appear

Restart your assistant after changing its settings, and check that your client ID and secret key are joined with a colon. An "API access not enabled for shop" message means the account isn’t on a paid plan. See Troubleshooting in the MCP docs for more.

Learn more

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