AI Assistants (MCP) · Beta
Availability: Enabled per organisation.
Connect Claude, ChatGPT, or any Model Context Protocol (MCP) client to CE Canvas. Once connected, you can ask your assistant to look things up across your projects — “where is the foreshore project up to?”, “what’s in the engagement canvas?” — and make additive changes like creating a project, updating a canvas section, or adding a note.
Access is always per user and scoped to your permissions: an assistant can only see and do what you can already see and do in CE Canvas.
Turning it on
AI Assistants is enabled per organisation. When it’s on, it appears under Settings → Integrations in the AI assistants category. If you don’t see it, contact support@cecanvas.com to enable it for your organisation.
Managing the integration is available to organisation owners and admins.
Connecting your assistant
- In CE Canvas, open Settings → Integrations → AI Assistants (MCP) and copy the connection endpoint.
- In your AI client, add a new MCP server and paste the endpoint URL. In Claude this is under the connectors/MCP settings; in other clients look for “MCP servers” or “connectors”.
- The first time the assistant connects, a browser window opens the CE Canvas sign-in and an authorisation screen. Sign in and approve access. After that, connecting is automatic.
You stay signed in as yourself — the assistant acts with your account and your permissions.
What an assistant can do
Read
- List your organisations and projects
- Read a project’s current state, engagement canvas, stakeholders, and tasks
- Search a project’s uploaded material (files, links, notes, participant input)
- Search the CE Canvas product documentation
Change (additive only)
- Create a project
- Update a single engagement-canvas section
- Add a project note
Not available: assistants cannot add or invite members, or grant anyone access to anything. That is deliberately reserved for people using CE Canvas directly.
Direct changes vs. approval
Each organisation chooses how assistant changes are applied, using the Require approval for changes toggle on the integration’s settings:
- Off (default): changes apply immediately. Every change is recorded with the assistant that made it, so you always have a history of what was done.
- On: changes are staged for a team member to approve inside CE Canvas before they take effect. The assistant shares a link; open it, review exactly what was requested, and Approve & apply or Deny.
Turn approval on if you’d like a person to sign off on every change an assistant makes.
Staying in control
- It’s per user. The assistant only ever has your access. Removing your access, or your account, removes the assistant’s.
- It can be switched off. An organisation owner or admin can disable AI Assistants at any time, which immediately cuts off access for that organisation.
- No access grants. Assistants can’t add people or change who can see what.
- Everything is recorded. Each change notes who made it and which assistant it came from.
- Uploaded content is treated as data. Material an assistant reads from a project is treated as information, not instructions — so a document can’t quietly make the assistant act on its own.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| The AI Assistants tile isn’t in Settings → Integrations | It isn’t enabled for your organisation yet — contact support@cecanvas.com. |
| The assistant says access isn’t enabled for an organisation | That organisation hasn’t turned on AI Assistants. Enable it in Settings → Integrations. |
| The assistant can’t find a project you expect | You need access to that project in CE Canvas — being an organisation member isn’t always enough. Check your project membership. |
| A change was staged instead of applied | That organisation has Require approval for changes turned on. Open the approval link the assistant shared, or turn the setting off. |
| The sign-in screen loops back to login | Sign in first; the request is preserved and continues afterwards. |
AI Assistants is a beta feature and is rolling out gradually. Its interface and availability may change as we learn. For access or questions, contact support@cecanvas.com.