Connecting AI assistants
Connect Claude or another AI assistant to your club and manage your sailing by chat.
Every club on Zeil can be connected to Claude and other AI assistants that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Once connected, the assistant works with your club on your behalf — it can find boats, book sails, manage your crew, read your Sail Brief, and (if you're an admin) handle admin tasks, all from a conversation.
The assistant acts as you: it can do exactly what you can do in the web app, and nothing more.
Connect your club
Add your club's address to the assistant
In your AI assistant, add a remote MCP server (Claude calls this a connector) pointing at your club's address:
https://yourclub.zeilapp.com/api/mcpReplace yourclub with your club's own web address.
Sign in
The assistant opens a Zeil page in your browser. If you're not already signed in, you'll sign in the usual way — with a one-time email sign-in link.
Approve the connection
An approval screen shows which app is asking to connect and what access it's requesting. Review it and choose Approve. Only an active member of the club can approve — if your account isn't a member of this club, the connection is refused.
Only approve connections you started
If the app connecting runs on your own computer, the approval screen shows an extra warning — Zeil can't verify the identity of locally-running apps. Only approve if you initiated the connection yourself, moments ago.
What the assistant can do
Everything mirrors the web app, so all the usual rules apply:
- Your role travels with you. A member gets the member tools (booking, crew, briefs); an admin also gets the admin tools (fleet, members, availability, announcements, settings). A student can browse courses but can't book sails or manage crew — same as on the web.
- Role changes take effect immediately. If you're suspended or your role changes, the assistant's access changes with it, on the very next request.
- The same safeguards hold. Skipper clearance, overlap prevention, 15-minute booking steps — the assistant can't bypass any of them.
One connection per club
A connection belongs to a single club. If you sail with more than one club, connect each club's address separately — access to one club never carries over to another.
Disconnecting
To disconnect, remove the connector from your AI assistant. A connection that goes unused also expires on its own after about 30 days, after which the assistant will ask you to approve again.