Chat with your venue data in Claude or ChatGPT
Alba can connect to Claude or ChatGPT so you can ask questions about your venue in plain language. Instead of opening reports and filtering by hand, you can ask "What's my revenue this month, broken down by category?" and get an answer back in seconds.
This connection is read-only. The assistant can answer questions and build reports from your data, but it can't create, change, or cancel anything in Alba.
This is an experimental feature. AI assistants can make mistakes, so double-check anything important before you act on it.
What you can use it for
Once connected, you can ask things like:
Today at a glance
- How many bookings do I have today?
- Walk me through today's calendar.
- How much did I take in today?
Revenue and money
- What's my revenue this month, broken down by category?
- Compare this week's revenue to last week.
- What's the difference between my booking value and my revenue this month?
Customers
- Who were my best customers in March?
- How many customers this month are returning versus new?
How busy you are
- What's my occupancy this week?
- Which weekday is busiest this month?
- How does this month compare to last month?
You can find a longer list of example questions inside Alba on the same page where you set up the connection. Tap See example questions.
What is an MCP?
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It's a standard way to give an AI assistant safe, controlled access to a specific source of data, in this case your venue's data in Alba.
Think of it as a secure bridge between Alba and the assistant. It doesn't get a copy of your database or free rein over your account. It can only see what the connection allows. For the Alba connection, that means reading bookings, revenue, and customer data so it can answer questions and put together reports.
How to set it up
Setup takes a few minutes and only has to be done once per venue. You'll need a Claude or ChatGPT account, depending on which tool you prefer.
Get your connector link in Alba
- In Alba, open your venue admin and go to Statistics, then Connect to AI.
- At the top of the page, choose Claude or ChatGPT. The step-by-step guide on that page matches the tool you picked.
- When you reach the step to paste a link, copy the Connector link shown on that page. The link belongs to that specific venue.
Note: Super-admin accounts can't connect from this page. Use a normal venue admin account that already has access to the venue.
Set up Claude
- Open Claude and go to Customize, then Connectors.
- Click Add. Hover over Custom, then select Web. If you see Add custom connector instead, choose that.
- Name the connector Alba and paste your connector link. Click Continue.
- Choose Sign in now. Under OAuth client, choose Register automatically. Leave Request headers empty, then click Add.
- Sign in to Alba when asked and approve access for your venue.
- In a chat, click +, hover over Connectors, and turn Alba on. To skip approving every question, open the connector under Customize, then Connectors, and set tool permissions to Always allow.
Set up ChatGPT
- Open ChatGPT on the web and go to Plugins.
- Click the + button, then Add custom MCP server.
- Name it Alba. Under Connection, paste your connector link into Server URL.
- Set authentication to OAuth. Leave the client ID and client secret blank so ChatGPT can register itself.
- Check I understand and want to continue, then click Create as a plugin.
- Sign in to Alba when asked and approve access for your venue.
- Install the plugin. In a chat, type @ and select Alba.
What the assistant can access
Claude or ChatGPT connects as you, and can only read data for the venue you connected, limited to what your Alba account already has access to. If you don't have access to revenue figures in Alba, the assistant won't see them either.
To disconnect:
- Claude: Customize, then Connectors.
- ChatGPT: Plugins.