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Buildkite MCP connector

The Buildkite connector lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and the Elaichi Agent read and update your Buildkite pipelines, agents, clusters and queues through one governed endpoint, with every call running as the person who signed in.

  • How it connects. Connects over OAuth. The credential goes into a vault nobody reads back.

  • One address. https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp, the same for every user.

  • Their own access. An agent never gets more than the person it acts for.

How to connect

How to connect Buildkite to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor

Two steps, about a minute.

1

In Elaichi

Connect Buildkite once

  1. Open Connections, choose Add connection, and pick Buildkite.

  2. Optionally set Share with to give a team access, then press Connect.

  3. Approve it in Buildkite. Buildkite's own window opens. Whoever approves it decides what this connection can reach.

The credential is vaulted. Nobody reads it back, not even the AI.

Add connection

Choose a connector.

buildkite
Buildkite
Argo CD
Codefresh
Hashicorp Terraform Cloud
Render
Vercel
2

In your AI client

Point it at one endpoint

Everyone in the organization uses the same address, and each person only ever reaches what their own account allows.

Buildkite MCP connector for Claude

  1. 1

    Open Customize, then Connectors.

  2. 2

    Press Add.

  3. 3

    Name it, paste the MCP server URL, then Continue.

    https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp
  4. 4

    Sign in and approve.

On Team and Enterprise, an Owner adds it once. Everyone else turns it on for themselves.

Buildkite MCP connector for ChatGPT

  1. 1

    Open Plugins, then press the + button.

  2. 2

    Name it and paste the endpoint into Server URL.

    https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp
  3. 3

    Leave Authentication on OAuth, then tick the risk acknowledgement.

  4. 4

    Press Create, then sign in and approve.

Works on the web today. The plugin directory lives at chatgpt.com/plugins.

Buildkite MCP connector for Cursor

  1. 1

    Open ~/.cursor/mcp.json.

  2. 2

    Add the endpoint under mcpServers.

    https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp
  3. 3

    Reload Cursor, then sign in and approve.

~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elaichi": {
      "url": "https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Set up per machine, so repeat it on each computer you work from.

Connect Buildkite to any MCP client

  1. 1

    Add the endpoint as a remote MCP server.

    https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp
  2. 2

    Sign in and approve.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elaichi": {
      "url": "https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The Elaichi Agent already has these tools, with nothing to set up.

Use cases

What teams do with Buildkite through Elaichi

Every one of these runs inside the access the person already has, and lands in the same audit log.

  • Platform

    Check which agents are online before a release

    Ask which agents are connected to a cluster and what they are running right now. Spot a queue with nothing picking up jobs before the release train reaches it.

  • Infrastructure

    Pause a queue during a maintenance window

    Pause dispatch on a cluster queue while you patch the hosts behind it, then resume it when they are back. Nobody has to find the right screen in Buildkite at midnight.

  • Engineering

    Set up a pipeline for a new repository

    Create the pipeline, point it at the right cluster and describe how it should be configured in one plain request. Update the description or default branch later the same way.

  • Release

    See what is scheduled to run tonight

    List the pipeline schedules across the organization and check which ones fire overnight. Confirm the nightly build is still on before you sign off.

  • Security

    Add a cluster secret without opening a ticket

    Store a new cluster secret and confirm which secrets a cluster already holds. The audit log records who created it and when.

  • Developer experience

    Answer why a build is stuck in a minute

    Find the queue a pipeline dispatches to, see whether dispatch is paused and check how many agents are serving it. Give the developer an answer instead of a link.

Try asking

  • “Which agents are online in the production cluster right now?”
  • “Pause dispatch on the deploy queue while we patch the hosts.”
  • “List the pipeline schedules that fire tonight.”

See all 50 Buildkite tools below

Compare

Elaichi vs Zapier MCP vs Composio for Buildkite

All three can connect Buildkite to an AI assistant, and all three have admin controls. They differ in where access lives and how you pay.

Elaichi compared with Zapier MCP and Composio for Buildkite, by what to check
What to check Elaichi Zapier MCP Composio
Where the AI connects One address for the whole organization. https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp A server per member, created at sign-in. An MCP endpoint per team, or an SDK.
Control over Buildkite tools Allow or restrict single Buildkite tools, per role or user. App and action restrictions on the account. Role permissions, down to the action.
Record of calls One audit entry per Buildkite call. A History tab of tool calls. A log of every tool call.
Single sign-on SAML or OIDC, plus SCIM, on Gold. SAML on Enterprise. SAML and OIDC on Enterprise.
Price $15 per user per month. 2 tasks per successful call. Billed per tool call.

Sources: Zapier MCP docs, security, usage; Composio docs, gateway, enterprise, pricing. Checked September 2026.

Longer take: Zapier MCP alternative and when you don't need an MCP gateway.

AI tools

Buildkite tools for your AI agents

50 tools are ready to call through Elaichi's MCP endpoint the moment you connect Buildkite, governed by the same roles, restrictions, and audit log as everything else in Elaichi. Buildkite builds and runs these tools.

See it in Elaichi

What connecting Buildkite gets you

6 screens from the product, each doing one job for your Buildkite account.

The agent

Ask about your pipelines in plain language.

Get answers from live Buildkite pipelines, agents and queues without opening a dashboard.

  • pipelines
  • agents
  • clusters
  • queues

Ask Elaichi to work across your apps.

Which agents are online in the production cluster right now?

Pause dispatch on the deploy queue while we patch the hosts.

List the pipeline schedules that fire tonight.

Also runs in Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor

MCP clients

One endpoint, every client, no shared key.

Use Buildkite from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor through one governed org endpoint, no SDK.

ElaichiMCP clients
Claude ChatGPT Cursor

Copy the endpoint

https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp
Client Connected by Status Last used
Claude
E

Emily Carter

• Connected 4 minutes ago
Cursor
M

Megan Brooks

• Connected 2 hours ago
ChatGPT
R

Ryan Hayes

• Connected Yesterday

Tool catalog

50 Buildkite tools, no custom code required.

Pipelines, agents, clusters, queues, secrets and schedules are covered out of the box.

  • Access token
  • Current user
  • User token organization
  • List clusters
ElaichiTools
Tool Action Description
Access token Action Uses the Get the current token REST API endpoint to retrieve information about the current API access token, including its scopes and UUID.
Current user Action Uses the Get the current user REST API endpoint to retrieve details about the user account that owns the API token, including name, email, avatar, and account creation date. Required token scope: read_user.
User token organization Action Uses the Get an organization REST API endpoint to retrieve details about the Buildkite organization associated with the user token used for this request. Required token scope: read_organizations.
List clusters List Uses the List clusters REST API endpoint to list all clusters in an organization with their names, descriptions, default queues, and creation details. Required token scope: read_clusters.
Get cluster Get Uses the Get a cluster REST API endpoint to retrieve detailed information about a specific cluster including its name, description, default queue, and configuration. Required token scope: read_clusters.

Toolboxes

Every team gets its own Buildkite toolbox.

Platform keeps clusters and queues, release gets pipelines and schedules, each scoped to its team.

  • Platform
  • Release
  • Infrastructure
  • Security
ElaichiToolboxes
Name Source template Tools Created

Platform toolbox

Buildkite · clusters and queues

Buildkite starter 18 Mar 4, 2026

Release toolbox

Buildkite · pipelines and schedules

— 9 Mar 2, 2026

Infrastructure toolbox

Buildkite · agents and capacity

— 24 Feb 27, 2026

Security toolbox

Buildkite · cluster secrets

Buildkite starter 6 Feb 19, 2026

Developer experience toolbox

Buildkite · pipeline setup

— 31 Jan 30, 2026

Mobile toolbox

Buildkite · iOS and Android pipelines

— 12 Jan 22, 2026

Shared connections

Share a connection, never share a token.

Teammates work through one Buildkite connection without ever seeing the credential behind it.

  • Platform
  • Release
  • Production cluster
  • Staging
ElaichiConnections
Connection Scope Status Access
BU

Buildkite (Platform)

Connected by Emily Carter

Personal • Active 1 team · 6 members
BU

Buildkite (Release)

Connected by Jake Morgan

Organization • Active 3 teams · 24 members
BU

Buildkite (Production cluster)

Connected by Megan Brooks

Organization • Active 2 teams · 11 members
BU

Buildkite (Staging)

Connected by Tyler Reed

Personal • Needs re-auth 1 team · 3 members
BU

Buildkite (Mobile)

Connected by Ryan Hayes

Personal • Active Not shared
BU

Buildkite (Security)

Connected by Ashley Parker

Personal • Active 2 teams · 9 members

Audit log

Know who paused the queue and when.

Every call lands in an append-only log with who, what, type and resource.

  • When
  • Who
  • What happened
  • Type
ElaichiAudit log
When Who What happened Type

2 minutes ago

Mar 6, 2026, 3:10 PM

E

Emily Carter

[email protected]

Restriction Created Access

8 minutes ago

Mar 6, 2026, 3:04 PM

J

Jake Morgan

[email protected]

Restriction Updated Access

14 minutes ago

Mar 6, 2026, 2:58 PM

M

Megan Brooks

[email protected]

Role Assigned Access

20 minutes ago

Mar 6, 2026, 2:52 PM

T

Tyler Reed

[email protected]

Buildkite Users Updated MCP

26 minutes ago

Mar 6, 2026, 2:46 PM

R

Ryan Hayes

[email protected]

Buildkite Pipelines Created MCP

32 minutes ago

Mar 6, 2026, 2:40 PM

A

Ashley Parker

[email protected]

Buildkite Pipelines List Toolbox

Launching soon

From answering questions to doing the work

A person no longer has to ask. A trigger starts the work, inside the same permissions and the same audit log as everything else. Automations and live dashboards are launching soon, on the Black plan.

Automations

A schedule starts the work, people approve it.

Fetch Buildkite pipelines nightly, group them, draft a digest, approve it, post it back.

Buildkite digest

Run 418 · started 2 minutes ago · on behalf of Emily Carter

  1. ✓

    Schedule

    Every weekday at 8:00 AM

    0.2s
  2. ✓

    Fetch pipelines

    Buildkite

    1.4s
  3. ✓

    Group by owner

    Transform

    0.1s
  4. ✓

    Draft the digest

    Agent step

    Ran with 4 tools, returned a structured summary

    6.2s
  5. Approve the digest

    Needs approval

    Assigned to Michael Brennan

    Approve
  6. Post the digest

    Buildkite

    Queued

Collections and dashboards

Buildkite health numbers that arrive on schedule.

Four metrics, 14 days of pipelines created, and a breakdown by team, computed without a model.

Buildkite health

Refreshed 4 minutes ago · every 15 minutes · from the pipelines collection

Live

Pipelines

1,284 ↓ 12%

Agents

96 ↓ 8%

Needs attention

3 ↑ 2

Updated this week

412 ↑ 9%

Pipelines created

Last 14 days

By team

Share of activity

Platform 34%

Release 27%

Production cluster 21%

Staging 18%

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How do I connect Buildkite to Claude?

Connect Buildkite in Elaichi first: pick it from the catalog and sign in with your Buildkite account over OAuth. There is no OAuth application to register and no client ID or secret to generate. Then open Claude, go to Customize, then Connectors, then Add, and paste https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp. Claude signs you in to Elaichi and your Buildkite pipelines, agents and clusters are available in the chat.

Does Buildkite work with ChatGPT and Cursor as well as Claude?

Yes. Once Buildkite is connected in Elaichi, the same endpoint, https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp, works in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, any other MCP client and the Elaichi Agent. You connect Buildkite once and every client uses it.

What can an AI agent actually do with my Buildkite data?

It can list and look up Buildkite pipelines, agents, clusters, cluster queues, cluster secrets and pipeline schedules, and it can create or update pipelines, clusters and queues, pause or resume dispatch on a queue, and add a cluster secret. In practice you ask things like which agents are online in the production cluster or whether the nightly schedule is still set. Short concrete asks like these work better than long sentences.

Does connecting Buildkite give the AI access to my whole organization?

No. Every call runs inside the Buildkite access of the person who signed in, so the AI sees the organizations, clusters and pipelines that person can already see in Buildkite and nothing more. Elaichi can narrow that access further with roles and restrictions, and it never widens it.

Can my team share one Buildkite connection?

Yes. One person connects Buildkite and shares the connection with a team in Elaichi, and nobody else handles a token or sees a credential. Each teammate still signs in to Elaichi as themselves, so the audit log names the actual person who paused a queue or updated a pipeline.

Can I stop an agent from changing or pausing things in Buildkite?

Yes. Restrictions in Elaichi apply per action, so you can allow reading Buildkite pipelines and agents while blocking creating pipelines, updating clusters or pausing queue dispatch. A restricted action is never advertised to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor at all, so no prompt can reach it.

What happens to a Buildkite connection when someone leaves?

Offboarding that person in Elaichi ends their access to Buildkite through every client at once. A Buildkite connection they shared keeps working for everyone else on the team. If you ever want to remove Buildkite entirely, disconnecting it once in Elaichi removes it from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and every other client.

Does the Buildkite MCP connector work with Gemini, Codex, Claude Code or other MCP clients?

Yes. Buildkite is reached over the same MCP endpoint every client uses, so anything that speaks MCP can call it — Gemini, Codex, Claude Code, Windsurf, Cline, Zed and OpenCode among them — alongside Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and the Elaichi Agent. The tools on offer and the access behind them are identical whichever client asks. Only the setup screen differs.

Is Elaichi an alternative to Zapier MCP for Buildkite?

Yes. Both let Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor use Buildkite. Zapier MCP fits a team that already automates in Zapier, since each person signs in and acts as themselves in that account. Elaichi fits when IT wants one address for the whole company, per-tool rules by role, and a record of every Buildkite call.

How is Elaichi different from Composio for Buildkite?

Composio gives AI agents tools and sign-in handling across 1,000+ apps, for developers building agents or people using an assistant, billed per tool call. Elaichi gives a company's own people governed access to Buildkite: one address, restrictions per role or user, and $15 per user per month. Both have role permissions and a log of every call.

Put Buildkite in front of your team

14 days on Gold, no credit card. Connect it once and pick what each team can call.

Works with
Claude ChatGPT Cursor and any other MCP client, or the Elaichi Agent.
When the trial ends
Nothing is deleted. Connections, roles and the audit log stay where they are, so subscribing picks up exactly where you left off.