Spend Management
Zip MCP connector
The Zip connector brings your purchase requests, approvals, vendors, departments, users and roles into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and the Elaichi Agent, so people can ask about spend and keep Zip records current from the tools they already use.
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How it connects. Connects with an API key. The credential goes into a vault nobody reads back.
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One address. https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp, the same for every user.
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Their own access. An agent never gets more than the person it acts for.
How to connect
How to connect Zip to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
Two steps, about a minute.
In Elaichi
Connect Zip once
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Open Connections, choose Add connection, and pick Zip.
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Optionally set Share with to give a team access, then press Connect.
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Paste a Zip API key. One person generates a token in Zip and pastes it once. Everyone else works through Share with, and never sees it.
The credential is vaulted. Nobody reads it back, not even the AI.
Add connection
Choose a connector.
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.
Connect Zip to Claude
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1
Open Customize, then Connectors.
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2
Press Add.
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3
Name it, paste the MCP server URL, then Continue.
https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp -
4
Sign in and approve.
On Team and Enterprise, an Owner adds it once. Everyone else turns it on for themselves.
Connect Zip to ChatGPT
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1
Open Plugins, then press the + button.
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2
Name it and paste the endpoint into Server URL.
https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp -
3
Leave Authentication on OAuth, then tick the risk acknowledgement.
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4
Press Create, then sign in and approve.
Works on the web today. The plugin directory lives at chatgpt.com/plugins.
Connect Zip to Cursor
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1
Open
~/.cursor/mcp.json. -
2
Add the endpoint under
mcpServers.https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp -
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 Zip to any MCP client
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1
Add the endpoint as a remote MCP server.
https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp -
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 Zip through Elaichi
Every one of these runs inside the access the person already has, and lands in the same audit log.
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Procurement
See where a purchase request is stuck
Ask which Zip requests are still waiting and who has not approved yet, then follow up with the right person before the deadline slips.
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Finance
Review pending approvals before month end
Pull the list of open approvals in Zip and check which ones will land in this period's numbers, without opening each request one by one.
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Procurement
Keep vendor records accurate
Add a new supplier to Zip after a sourcing call, or correct a vendor's details when their contact or payment information changes.
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Operations
Update a request after a scope change
When a team asks for more licenses or a different quantity, update the Zip request so the approvers see the real figures.
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IT
Set up and offboard Zip users
Create a Zip account for a new hire, assign their role, and deactivate the account the day someone leaves the company.
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Finance
Keep departments and roles tidy
Add a department when the org chart changes, rename one after a reorganization, and adjust which roles exist in Zip so requests route to the right approvers.
Try asking
- “Which Zip requests are waiting on approval this week?”
- “List Zip vendors added in the last 30 days.”
- “Summarize open Zip requests by requester and amount.”
AI tools
Zip tools for your AI agents
131 tools are ready to call through Elaichi's MCP endpoint the moment you connect Zip, governed by the same roles, restrictions, and audit log as everything else in Elaichi.
No tools match your search.
See it in Elaichi
What connecting Zip gets you
6 screens from the product, each doing one job for your Zip account.
The agent
Ask about Zip requests, get answers.
Plain language questions run against live Zip requests, approvals and vendors.
- requests
- approvals
- vendors
- users
Ask Elaichi to work across your apps.
Which Zip requests are waiting on approval this week?
List Zip vendors added in the last 30 days.
Summarize open Zip requests by requester and amount.
Also runs in Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
MCP clients
Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor reach Zip.
One org MCP endpoint over OAuth, no SDK and no shared API key.
Copy the endpoint
Tool catalog
131 Zip tools land ready to call.
Requests, approvals, vendors and users covered with no custom code written.
- List all Zip approvals
- List all Zip users
- Get single Zip user by ID
- Create a Zip user
Toolboxes
Every team gets its own Zip toolbox.
Procurement, Finance and AP each see the Zip toolbox scoped to them.
- Procurement
- Finance
- Accounts Payable
- IT
Shared connections
Teammates use Zip without holding credentials.
Each Zip connection shows its owner and the teams and members sharing it.
- Procurement
- Finance EMEA
- Accounts Payable
- IT Sourcing
Audit log
Every Zip call is on the record.
When, who, what happened, type and resource for each request and approval.
- When
- Who
- What happened
- Type
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 drafts your Zip digest.
Six steps fetch Zip requests, group them, draft, wait for approval, post back.
Zip digest
Run 418 · started 2 minutes ago · on behalf of Emma Laurent
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✓
Schedule
Every weekday at 08:00
0.2s -
✓
Fetch requests
Zip
1.4s -
✓
Group by owner
Transform
0.1s -
✓
Draft the digest
Agent step
Ran with 4 tools, returned a structured summary
6.2s -
Approve the digest
Needs approval
Assigned to Michael Brennan
Approve Deny -
Post the digest
Zip
Queued
Collections and dashboards
Zip request health, counted not guessed.
Four metrics, 14 days of requests created and a team breakdown, refreshed on schedule.
Zip health
Refreshed 4 minutes ago · every 15 minutes · from the requests collection
Requests
1,284 ↓ 12%
Approvals
96 ↓ 8%
Needs attention
3 ↑ 2
Updated this week
412 ↑ 9%
Requests created
Last 14 days
By team
Share of activity
Procurement 34%
Finance EMEA 27%
Accounts Payable 21%
IT Sourcing 18%
Related connectors
More from the catalog
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How do I connect Zip to Claude?
Connecting Zip to Claude takes two steps. First, connect Zip in Elaichi by pasting in an API key from your Zip account, 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 the endpoint https://api.elaichi.ai/mcp. Claude signs you in through Elaichi and Zip is ready to use.
Does Zip work with ChatGPT and Cursor as well as Claude?
Yes. Once Zip 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 Zip once and every client your team uses picks it up.
What can an AI agent actually do with my Zip data?
An agent connected to Zip can list open approvals and purchase requests, look up a single request or vendor, and update a request when the details change. It can also create and update vendors, users, departments and roles, and deactivate a user when someone leaves. Because Zip exposes a large set of actions, short concrete asks such as "show me requests waiting on finance" work better than long, multi-part sentences.
Does connecting Zip give the AI access to every request and approval in the company?
No. Every call to Zip runs inside the access of the person who signed in, so an agent sees the requests, approvals and vendors that person could already see in Zip. Elaichi can narrow that access further with restrictions, but it can never widen it beyond what Zip itself allows that person.
Can I stop an agent from deleting or changing things in Zip?
Yes. Restrictions in Elaichi work per action, so you can allow reading Zip requests and approvals while blocking vendor deletion, user deactivation or any other change. A blocked action is never advertised to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any other client, so no prompt can reach it.
What happens to a Zip connection when someone leaves?
Offboarding a person in Elaichi ends their access to Zip through every connected client at once. If they had shared a Zip connection with a team, it keeps working for everyone else. Disconnecting Zip once in Elaichi removes it from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and every other client at the same time.
Put Zip in front of your team
Fourteen days on Gold, no credit card. Connect it once and pick what each team can call.