Claude Desktop MCP Integration
rfp.ai is the first RFP automation platform to support Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling seamless integration with Claude Desktop and other AI assistants.
⚡ TL;DR — Quick Facts
Setup Time
5 minutes
Requirements
Starter plan or higher
Compatible With
Claude Desktop, any MCP client
What You Get
7 AI tools, 2 resources, 3 prompts
What is Model Context Protocol (MCP)?
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard created by Anthropic that allows AI assistants to connect to external data sources and tools. Think of it as an API that AI assistants can call to access your business data.
rfp.ai implements MCP to enable Claude Desktop and other AI assistants to:
- Search your knowledge base — Find information across all uploaded documents
- Draft RFP responses — Generate answers using your company's documentation
- Manage projects — Check status, compliance, and Q&A from your AI chat
- Automate workflows — Connect rfp.ai to other MCP-compatible tools
Real-World Use Cases
1. Quick Knowledge Lookups
What are our GDPR compliance measures?Claude searches your knowledge base and provides a comprehensive answer with source citations. No need to switch apps or search manually.
2. Draft RFP Responses
Draft a 300-word response about our incident response process using my knowledge baseClaude generates a professional, fact-based response using your uploaded documentation. Edit and refine in seconds.
3. Project Status Reports
Show me all my RFP projects and their completion statusGet instant project overviews, compliance metrics, and identify blockers without opening the web app.
4. Requirement Analysis
Analyze this RFP section and extract mandatory requirementsClaude uses pre-configured prompts to identify requirements, evaluation criteria, and potential concerns.
7 AI Tools Available
Once connected, Claude Desktop can use these tools to interact with your rfp.ai data:
search_knowledge_base
Semantic/full-text search across your organization's knowledge base. Returns relevant excerpts with source information.
ask_question
Generate AI-powered answers using your knowledge base. Includes source citations and confidence scores.
list_projects
Browse all RFP projects with pagination. See project names, status, deadlines, and answer counts.
get_project_details
Get comprehensive project information including RFP data and Q&A statistics by status.
get_rfp_questions
Extract all questions from an RFP document including sections and metadata.
get_project_qa
Access Q&A pairs with filtering by status (draft/review/approved) or search text.
get_compliance_status
Check project compliance metrics: total questions, answered count, mandatory unmet, and completion percentage.
2 Resources
rfp://kb/files
List all knowledge base files with metadata
rfp://projects/{id}
Get project details and Q&A by ID
3 Pre-built Prompts
draft_rfp_response
Generate professional RFP responses
analyze_rfp_requirements
Extract requirements from RFP text
summarize_project
Generate project status summaries
Security & Privacy
API Token Authentication
Secure Bearer token authentication. Create and revoke tokens anytime.
Org-Scoped Access
Can only access your organization's data. Complete isolation from other orgs.
Read-Only Operations
Tokens default to read-only. Write tools require explicit scopes; no MCP tool can delete data.
Rate Limiting
200–5000 MCP requests/hour by plan, plus org-wide write sub-caps (50/h approvals, 30/h KB writes).
Pricing & Plans
MCP integration is included in all paid plans at no extra cost:
| Plan | MCP Access | Rate Limit | AI Token Allowance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | ❌ Not available | - | - |
| Starter | ✅ Included | 200 req/hour | 1M tokens/month |
| Professional | ✅ Included | 600 req/hour | 5M tokens/month |
| Enterprise | ✅ Included | 5000 req/hour | 20M tokens/month |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does rfp.ai work with Claude Desktop?
Yes! rfp.ai is the first RFP automation platform with native Model Context Protocol (MCP) support. Claude Desktop can access your knowledge base, draft responses, and manage projects directly through the MCP integration.
Do I need coding skills to set this up?
No. Setup takes 5 minutes and only requires editing a JSON configuration file. We provide exact copy-paste instructions for macOS, Linux, and Windows.
Can Claude modify my RFP data?
Only if you give it a token with the matching write scope. Tokens default to read. To let Claude create projects, comment, assign Q&A, approve answers, or upload knowledge files, owners explicitly grant projects.write, qa.write, qa.approve, or kb.write per token. Every write call is recorded in the per-org MCP audit log. No MCP tool can delete projects, files, or Q&A.
Will this work with other AI assistants besides Claude?
Yes! Any AI assistant or tool that supports Model Context Protocol can connect to rfp.ai. MCP is an open standard, so integration isn't limited to Claude Desktop.
What happens if I exceed my rate limit?
You'll receive a rate_limit_exceeded error (JSON-RPC code -32003) with a reset time. Wait until the window resets, or upgrade to a higher plan for more requests. Enterprise plans have the highest parent limit (5000/hour). Approve and KB-write sub-caps are org-wide on all plans (50/h and 30/h respectively).
Is my data secure when using MCP?
Yes. MCP uses secure API token authentication. Your data is only accessible with a valid token, which you can revoke anytime. All connections are encrypted, and data is org-scoped (isolated from other organizations).
Ready to Connect Claude Desktop?
Follow our step-by-step setup guide to connect Claude Desktop to rfp.ai in under 5 minutes.