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Connecting AI Assistants

By Trio Team · Updated

Screenshot of Connecting AI Assistants

You can connect an outside AI assistant, such as Claude or ChatGPT, to your Trio studio. Then you can ask the assistant questions about your studio in plain language, for example "Which families have overdue invoices?"

Trio uses MCP (Model Context Protocol) for this connection. MCP is a standard way for an AI assistant to read data from another app. Ask Trio, the assistant inside Trio, needs none of this setup. See Ask Trio Assistant.

What you need

  • The Max plan. On other plans, the owner sees Upgrade to Max on the AI tab and in AI Connections, and an admin sees "Ask your studio owner to upgrade." See Trio Plans and Your Subscription.
  • The owner turns it on. Only the studio owner can turn on the MCP server switch.
  • An owner or admin connects. Teachers and staff cannot connect an assistant.

Turn on AI assistant access (owner)

  1. Open Owner Settings and click the AI tab.
  2. In the AI Assistant Access card, turn on MCP server.
  3. Read Enable AI assistant access?, tick the box to confirm that you have permission from your families to share their data, and click Enable.

The switch is off until the owner turns it on. See Owner Settings.

Connect an assistant (owner or admin)

  1. Open Settings and click the AI Connections tab.
  2. Under Connect an AI assistant, click Copy next to the Trio MCP server URL.
  3. In your AI assistant, open its connector or MCP server settings and add a new server with that URL.
  4. The assistant sends you to Trio. Sign in if Trio asks.
  5. On Connect an AI assistant to Trio, check the list of data, tick the permission box, and click Approve.

The connection is for the studio you are in when you click Approve. To connect a different studio, switch to it first. See Working in More Than One Studio.

What the assistant can see

The connection is read-only. The assistant can read students, families, lessons, attendance, invoices and payments, messages, lesson notes, your team and their availability, practice logs and makeup credits. It works with your own sign-in and role, so it never sees more than you can. It cannot read another studio's data.

The assistant cannot create, change or delete anything, such as sending a message or charging a card.

Review and revoke access

Settings > AI Connections lists each connected assistant under Connected assistants, with the date it connected, when it was last used, and its recent activity.

  • The owner sees every connection in the studio and can revoke any of them.
  • An admin sees and revokes only the admin's own connections.

To remove access, click Revoke access, then Confirm revoke. The assistant stops at once. To use it again, connect it again.

When the owner turns off MCP server, Trio revokes every connection in the studio.

A privacy note

Data that the assistant reads goes to its provider, under the provider's terms and privacy policy. Trio has no control over how they store or use it. Connect only assistants you trust.

Troubleshooting

  • You cannot see Connect an AI assistant. Check that your studio is on the Max plan and that you are an owner or admin.
  • The connection is refused. Ask the owner to check that MCP server is on in Owner Settings > AI.
  • The assistant cannot reach your studio. The connection may be revoked. Check AI Connections and connect again.

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