Connect AI apps (MCP)
Signital has an MCP server, so an AI app you already use can work in your workspace. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or any other app that supports MCP connectors, then ask it in plain language: which displays are offline, what plays in reception tomorrow morning, add the new menu to the lunch playlist. What it may do is up to you: read only, edit drafts, or also publish to displays.
Everything starts from Settings › Connected apps in the portal. To get help inside the portal itself, without connecting anything, use Signital Assistant.
Before you start
- An AI app that supports MCP connectors with sign-in, such as Claude (web, desktop and Claude Code) or ChatGPT. On a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, an owner of your Claude organization may need to add the connector first.
- A user in the Signital workspace. The app acts as you, with your role, so a Viewer can connect an app that only reads. See Access levels.
Connect an app
Copy the connector URL
In the portal, go to Settings › Connected apps. The Connect an AI app card shows the Connector URL, https://signital.app/api/mcp. Press Copy.
Add it to your AI app
Add a custom connector in the app and paste the URL. In Claude this is under the connector settings; in Claude Code it is one command:
claude mcp add --transport http signital https://signital.app/api/mcpNo key or password goes into the app. It opens Signital to sign you in instead.
Sign in and choose what it may do
The app opens a Signital page titled Connect followed by the app's name, and says where it will return you. Sign in if you are not already, then:
- Choose the Account, the workspace the app works in, if you belong to more than one. One connection works in one workspace.
- Choose what the app may do: Read, Write or Publish. Read is selected to begin with.
Press Allow. Cancel connects nothing.
Start asking
The app is connected and lists Signital's tools. It now shows under Your connected apps on the same Settings page.
Only connect apps you trust. A connected app acts as you, with your role in the workspace you chose, until you disconnect it.
Access levels
Each connection has one level, and each level includes the one before it.
| Level | What the app may do | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Read | See your displays, channels, playlists, media and playback reports | Any role |
| Write | Also change drafts of channels and playlists, make simple widgets, stage channel changes on displays, and tidy names, tags and folders. Nothing goes live | Editor role or above |
| Publish | Also publish drafts to displays, and reload, identify or reboot them | Editor role or above, and Let AI agents control screens turned on for the workspace |
On the sign-in page a level your role cannot hold is greyed out with Needs the Editor role or above in this account. You can choose Publish while the workspace switch is off: until an Admin turns it on, the app can edit drafts but not publish.
The app's access follows your role. If an Admin lowers your role or removes you from the workspace, the app loses what you lost on its next request, with no reconnect.
The "Let AI agents control screens" switch
A workspace-wide switch on the Controlling screens card of Settings › Connected apps. It is off in every workspace until an Admin or Owner turns it on.
- On: apps given Publish access may publish drafts to displays, and reload, identify or reboot them.
- Off: no connected app can change what a display shows, whatever its level. Turning it off takes effect on each app's next request.
Users who are not Admins see a line saying whether AI agents may control displays in the workspace.
The switch is about outside AI apps only. Signital Assistant asks for your own click before every change that reaches a display, so it does not use this switch.
What a connected app can do
Press Show what connected apps can do on the Connect an AI app card for the full list, in two groups.
Reading and drafting. Nothing here changes what a display shows:
- Look things up: the workspace and its locations, displays with their status, channel, location and Screen schedule, a display's recent commands and connection events, the fleet's online and offline count, channels and playlists with when each item plays, media, widgets, and the proof-of-play report on the Business plan.
- Work on drafts: add, move, copy, edit or remove items in a channel or playlist draft, with their schedules, durations and Take over; see a draft and what differs from what is live.
- Make things: channels, playlists, and widgets of the simpler types (Website, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Slides, RSS Feed, News, Ticker, Date & Time, Weather, TV, and Display status on the Business plan).
- Tidy up: rename displays, media and widgets, set tags, locations and folders, many at once. Creating or changing a location needs the Admin role, as in the portal.
Changing what displays show. Only for apps with Publish access, and only while Let AI agents control screens is on:
- Preview a publish, then publish a channel, playlist or display, or everything staged at a location or tag.
- Reload, identify or reboot a display.
- Change a widget's settings, which applies at once wherever the widget plays.
A connected app cannot delete anything (it can archive and restore), upload images, videos or PDFs, make widgets that need you to sign in to Google or Microsoft, such as calendars and Power BI, or design a Canvas. One publish reaches at most 50 displays.
Drafts first, then publish
Every edit goes into the draft, exactly as when you work in the portal, and nothing is on a display until something is published. The app says which of the two it did. When you ask it to publish or reboot, that request is your go-ahead; your AI app may also ask you to approve the step.
Ready-made prompts
Apps that show MCP prompts, such as Claude, offer three shortcuts under the Signital connector: Weekly screen report, Why is this screen not showing what I expect?, and Check before publishing (only on a connection with Publish access).
Manage connected apps
Settings › Connected apps lists your connected apps under Your connected apps. Each row shows the app's name, its level, whose it is, where it returns you, when it was connected and when it was last used (or Never used).
- Change access opens What … may do with the same three levels. Save, and the app has the new level on its next request; there is no need to reconnect or start a new chat. The button only shows when your role can hold more than one level.
- Disconnect asks first, then the app loses access on its next request. To use it again, connect it from the app with the connector URL.
For Admins
Admins and Owners see every connection in the workspace, under Connected apps in this account, each with the name of the person it acts as. On a colleague's connection you can Disconnect it or lower its access, but not raise it: that is the colleague's own choice.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The app says it lacks access for a step | The connection's level, your role, or the workspace switch does not allow it. The app's message says which | Change the level under Change access, ask an Admin for a different role, or ask an Admin to turn on Let AI agents control screens |
| A connection with Publish says Publishing starts once "Let AI agents control screens" is on | The workspace switch is off | An Admin or Owner turns it on in Settings › Connected apps |
| Publish and Write are greyed out on the sign-in page | Your role in that workspace is Viewer | Connect with Read, or ask an Admin for the Editor role |
| Connecting AI apps is turned off right now | Connecting is paused for every workspace | Apps already connected work again once it is back on. You can still disconnect them |
| The app says it cannot reach Signital, or signs in again | It was disconnected, or its sign-in expired after a long time unused | Connect it again from the app with the connector URL |
For anything else, see Troubleshooting or write to support@signital.com.
Next
- Signital Assistant, the help built into the portal.
- Users & roles, which decide what a connected app may do.
- Publishing changes, what publishing does on a display.