# Connect an assistant to Crowd Factory

Crowd Factory provides a public website and an MCP integration for catalogue discovery, product configuration, price estimates, cart review links and contributor workflows.

## Without a plugin

Assistants can read the [Shop catalogue](https://www.crowdfactory.shop/en/products), indexed product HTML and Product JSON-LD, the [Apply site](https://apply.crowdfactory.shop/en), [Shop guide](https://www.crowdfactory.shop/ai/shop.md) and [participation guide](https://apply.crowdfactory.shop/ai/apply.md). Product pages contain official images and catalogue facts. Fresh configured quotations require the pricing tool; HTML preview prices are not a final checkout quote.

## MCP connection

- Endpoint: https://api.crowdfactory.shop/mcp
- Transport: Streamable HTTP, using the host's MCP client protocol.
- Public tools support anonymous use. The endpoint also supports authenticated account capabilities through OAuth.
- MCP discovery uses initialize and tools/list; tools/call invokes an available tool. A browser GET of the endpoint is not a catalogue API. Hosts differ in whether they support custom MCP connections or anonymous tools.

## Crowd Factory plugin

In hosts with an app or plugin directory, search for Crowd Factory and check that the provider is Crowd Factory Ltd and the website is https://www.crowdfactory.shop. Availability depends on the host and account; a public directory listing is not asserted here. If the listing is unavailable and the host supports custom MCP connections, the endpoint above is the integration address. Otherwise the public website remains usable.

Connecting is a user action in the host. These documents do not install a plugin, grant permissions or guarantee inclusion in search or AI answers. A user can browse public information without connecting an account.

## Public and authenticated capabilities

Without authentication: customer_search_products, customer_get_product, customer_get_tier_quotes, customer_prepare_cart, customer_open_checkout, application_get_requirements, application_get_designer_options and application_get_maker_options.

Guest recovery tools guest_get_order, guest_get_order_missing_info and guest_get_custom_tracking require the original order secret or tracking token. They do not provide public order search.

Account workflows require authentication and the permissions returned by account_get_capabilities. These include private application status and submission, account/profile data, designer catalogue management, maker onboarding and assigned work. Contributor and administrator tools depend on roles and scopes; connecting an account does not grant administrative access.

## Pre-launch boundaries

Shop and Custom orders are not open. Public catalogue reads, quotations, cart preparation and application information remain available. A cart review link is not a browser-cart addition, accepted order, production reservation or payment. Cart confirmation belongs to the customer in the browser. Publishing, sending, account changes and other consequential operations follow their separate permissions and confirmation requirements.

## Public resources

- [Shop discovery index](https://www.crowdfactory.shop/llms.txt)
- [Apply discovery index](https://apply.crowdfactory.shop/llms.txt)
- [Shop robots](https://www.crowdfactory.shop/robots.txt) and [sitemap](https://www.crowdfactory.shop/sitemap.xml)
- [Apply robots](https://apply.crowdfactory.shop/robots.txt) and [sitemap](https://apply.crowdfactory.shop/sitemap.xml)