Goal

Install the Altera connector inside ChatGPT (or Claude) so you can ask the assistant to export, edit, and re-import data from your Shopify store without leaving the chat. The assistant calls Altera's tools on your behalf, you review the results, and Altera applies the changes through the same APIs the web app uses.

Altera also works with Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and other AI tools that support MCP. The setup for each tool is in the app under Settings > MCP connections, and in the article "Connect Altera to Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and other MCP clients".

Prerequisites

An Altera account with at least one Shopify store connected.
Permission on the Altera account to create OAuth grants (any owner, admin, or staff role).
A ChatGPT plan that supports custom MCP servers in developer mode, or a Claude account. To create exports and imports from ChatGPT, you need a Business, Enterprise, or Edu plan (see the note in Add the connector in ChatGPT). Altera is listed in the Claude connector directory, so Claude does not need custom connector access.

Add the connector in ChatGPT

In ChatGPT, Altera is added as a plugin from a custom MCP server. Custom MCP servers work in ChatGPT on the web.

In ChatGPT on the web, open Plugins (chatgpt.com/plugins), click the + button, and select Add custom MCP server. If you don't see this option, turn on Developer mode under Settings > Security and login first. On a Business, Enterprise, or Edu workspace, an admin may need to enable developer mode for you.
Enter a name (for example, Altera) and a short description.
Under Connection, enter the server URL: https://mcp.getaltera.com/mcp.
Select OAuth as the authentication method, review the warning, and select I understand and want to continue.
Select Create as a plugin. ChatGPT redirects you to Altera to sign in.
Sign in with your Altera credentials, choose the shop you want to authorize, and click Authorize.
You're redirected back to ChatGPT. To use Altera in a conversation, start a new chat, type @ in the message box, and select the Altera plugin.

The grant is per-shop. If you want ChatGPT to act on more than one shop, repeat the steps above and authorize each shop separately.

Note: ChatGPT limits what custom MCP servers can do on some plans. On Business, Enterprise, and Edu plans, the assistant can use all of Altera's tools. On Plus and Pro plans, ChatGPT allows only read tools, so the assistant can look up jobs, fields, and documentation, but it can't create exports or imports. Use Claude if you need full access on a personal plan.

Add the connector in Claude

Altera is listed in the Claude connector directory, so you do not need to enter a connector URL:

Open the Altera listing in the Claude connector directory. You can also find it in Claude under Customize > Connectors > Browse connectors by searching for Altera.
Click Connect. Claude redirects you to Altera to sign in.
Sign in with your Altera credentials, choose the shop you want to authorize, and click Authorize Claude.
You are redirected back to Claude. The listing now shows Connected, and Altera appears under Customize > Connectors.

The directory connector works in the Claude web app, desktop app, mobile apps, Claude Code, and Claude Cowork.

Connect more than one shop

Each authorization grants access to a single shop, and the directory connector can be connected only once. To let Claude act on additional shops, add a custom connector for each extra shop. Claude Free plans can add only one custom connector. Claude identifies each connector by its URL, so give every extra shop a distinct URL by appending a query parameter (Altera ignores the value and still resolves the shop from the authorization step):

In Claude, open Customize > Connectors, click + Add, and select Add custom connector. Enter a name (for example, Altera second store) and a URL like https://mcp.getaltera.com/mcp?shop=second-store, click Continue, and finish the steps to sign in and authorize the second shop.
Repeat for any other shops, giving each a distinct value (any label works, for example a store nickname).

The directory connector and the custom connectors then appear separately in Claude, and each one acts on the shop you authorized it against.

Allow file uploads in Claude Cowork

If you want Claude Cowork to upload files from your computer (product images, videos, PDFs) to Shopify through Altera, it also needs network access to Altera's upload host:

In Claude Cowork, open the Capabilities settings.
Go to the Network access (network egress) section.
Either allow all domains, or add mcp.getaltera.com to the allowed domains.

You don't need this for regular imports and exports. It's only required when Claude uploads local files, because the upload itself is an HTTP request to mcp.getaltera.com rather than a connector tool call.

Choose what the connection can access

By default a new connection can read and write all of your store data. On the authorization screen you can scope it to specific resources instead:

Expand Data access and review the resource list.
Check Read to allow exports of a resource, or Write to allow imports. Tick a Read or Write column header to select the whole column at once, then adjust individual rows.
Leave everything unchecked to keep full access. Resources that are export only (such as Activity and Payouts) can't be granted write access.
Finish authorizing. The connection then shows a Full access or Limited badge in Altera under Settings > MCP connections.

Read access maps to exports and write access maps to imports. Permissions are set when you authorize and can't be edited afterward, so to change them you disconnect the AI tool and reconnect, choosing the new set of permissions on the authorization screen.

Try it out

Open a new conversation and ask:

Use Altera to show me my five most recent jobs.

The assistant calls whoami to discover the shop, then list_jobs and reports the result.

To check which store and which account a connection uses, ask "Which store is Altera connected to?". whoami returns the store (name, domain, and Shopify shop ID), the credential (the connected app's name for an OAuth connection, or the key preview for an API key, with its creation and expiry dates), and the name of the user who authorized the connection or created the key.

For a write example:

Export the first 10 active products from my store as a CSV.

The assistant creates an export job, polls for completion, and returns the file: small CSV, JSON, and XML exports come back inline so the assistant can read them directly, while larger or binary files come back as a time-limited download link you can save locally.

What the assistant can do

The connector exposes tools in three groups:

Discovery: whoami, list_shops, list_jobs, ref_resources, ref_fields, ref_filters, ref_operators, ref_metafields, taxonomy_search, taxonomy_browse, taxonomy_validate, search_docs, read_doc.
Shop reads: shop_metafield_definitions, shop_metaobject_definitions, shop_markets, shop_locations, shop_customer_segments, and lookup. (lookup returns a few records in the chat, for example to check an import, without a job or a file.)
Jobs and files: export_create, request_upload_url, upload_file_data, request_media_upload_url, import_create, job_status, job_run, job_cancel, job_download_url. (upload_file_data sends a small file's contents inline, for assistants that can't upload to a URL.)

Read tools run automatically. Write tools (import_create in particular) prompt you to confirm before changing data on the store.

Permissions and safety

Each connection can be limited to specific resources when you authorize it (see Choose what the connection can access). A scoped connection shows a Limited badge under Settings > MCP connections.
The connector also inherits whatever data permissions you've configured for your Altera account. Both layers apply, so the assistant gets a permission error if either the connection's own scope or your account permissions disallow an action.
Imports that change data require explicit confirmation in the chat UI. The assistant can't apply an import silently.
Every tool call is logged in your Altera account's audit log with the timestamp, tool name, and arguments.

Disconnect

To revoke the assistant's access:

In ChatGPT: open Plugins, select the Altera plugin, and remove it. In Claude: Customize > Connectors, open the Altera connector, and disconnect it.
In Altera: Settings > MCP connections > find the matching connection and click Revoke (this also revokes the underlying OAuth grant).

Doing both is the safest path; the Altera-side revocation invalidates the access token immediately.

Connect Altera to ChatGPT or Claude