For developers

Query your team's memory
from any AI assistant.

The BrainFlow MCP server connects Claude Desktop, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot to your team's shared email memory. Ask questions in plain English. Get sourced answers in seconds. No SQL required.

Model Context Protocol

A universal plug for AI assistants

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants connect to external data sources. Instead of copying and pasting context into a chat window, the AI queries your data directly — in real time, with your permission, under your control.

BrainFlow implements MCP over SSE (Server-Sent Events). Your AI assistant sends a natural language question, BrainFlow translates it to SQL, runs it against your team's email database, and returns a sourced answer with links to the original threads.

Natural language → SQL

Ask “What did Acme Corp say about pricing?” The AI translates your question to a query, BrainFlow executes it, and returns a sourced answer.

Read-only by design

The server only accepts SELECT queries. It cannot write, delete, or modify anything. This is enforced at the code level — not by policy.

Company-scoped isolation

Every query is filtered to your company. Even if two teams use BrainFlow, their data never mixes. API keys are hashed with SHA-256 and scoped per company.

Use cases

What you can ask once connected

Sales & clients

“What's the average reply time for client Acme Corp?”

Returns avg reply time, fastest/slowest replies, and who replies fastest on the account.

“How many offers did we send last week?”

Lists every offer with value, date, client, and current status.

“Which deals are stuck longer than 14 days?”

Surfaces threads with no reply in the last 14 days, sorted by deal value.

Team activity

“Who sent the most emails last month?”

Ranked list with counts, peak days, and thread breakdown.

“Show me unresolved high-priority tasks.”

Extracts commitments with deadlines and flags overdue items.

“What did we commit to Beta Inc in March?”

Temporal search across months with direct thread links.

Documents & contracts

“Which emails mention the Alpha contract?”

Semantic search across thread content with excerpt highlights.

“Find the latest pricing document.”

Searches attachments and filenames, returns sender, date, and thread link.

Trends & insights

“How many emails did we receive this week?”

Volume breakdown by sender type, busiest day, and most active thread.

“Which clients emailed us about GDPR?”

Topic-based semantic search with client names and thread counts.

Setup guide

Connect in under 5 minutes

1

Generate an API key

Sign in to your BrainFlow dashboard, go to API Keys, and clickGenerate key. Name it (e.g., “Claude Desktop”) and copy the key — you will only see it once.

Requirements
  • ·Active BrainFlow subscription (Startup or Corporate)
  • ·At least one team member registered
  • ·Emails already in your BrainFlow memory
2

Add to Claude Desktop

In Claude Desktop, go to Settings → MCP Servers → Add Custom Server. Set the name to BrainFlow and the URL to your endpoint with the API key as a query parameter:

Claude Desktop config
Name:  BrainFlow
URL:   https://brain-flow.ai/mcp/sse?api_key=bf_mcp_YOUR_KEY_HERE

Replace YOUR_KEY_HERE with the key you generated in Step 1.

3

Restart and query

Restart Claude Desktop. You should see the BrainFlow tools available in the chat interface. Try your first query:

“What did we discuss with Acme Corp last month?”

Claude will call the BrainFlow MCP server, run the query, and return a sourced answer with direct links to the original email threads.

GitHub Copilot

Query team memory from VS Code

GitHub Copilot in VS Code also supports MCP. This means you can ask questions about client deals, project commitments, and team decisions without leaving your editor — perfect for context-switching between coding and client calls.

VS Code settings.json
{
  "mcp": {
    "inputs": [],
    "servers": {
      "brainflow": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
          "-y",
          "mcp-remote",
          "https://brain-flow.ai/mcp/sse",
          "--header",
          "x-api-key:bf_mcp_YOUR_KEY_HERE"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Tip: If your client does not support headers, use the query param URL: https://brain-flow.ai/mcp/sse?api_key=bf_mcp_YOUR_KEY_HERE

Cursor

Bring client context into your editor

Cursor supports MCP natively. Add BrainFlow to your Cursor composer and ask questions about requirements, deadlines, and client feedback while you code.

Open Cursor Settings

Cmd/Ctrl + , → MCP

Add MCP Server

Paste the BrainFlow config

Query in Composer

Ask about deals while coding

Security

Built for sensitive data

Permanently read-only

Only SELECT, EXPLAIN, SHOW, DESCRIBE, and WITH queries are allowed. No UPDATE, DELETE, INSERT, DROP, or ALTER — ever.

API key authentication

Every request requires a valid API key. Keys are SHA-256 hashed in the database. Plaintext keys are never stored.

Company isolation

Every query is scoped to your company. The WHERE clause is injected automatically. No cross-tenant data access is possible.

Audit trail

Every key usage is tracked with last_used_at timestamps. Revoke keys instantly from the dashboard if a device is lost.

Developer FAQ

Common questions

What is the BrainFlow MCP server?

It is a Model Context Protocol implementation that lets Claude, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and other MCP-compatible assistants query your team's shared email memory via natural language. The assistant sends a question, BrainFlow translates it to SQL, and returns a sourced answer.

Is the MCP server really read-only?

Yes. The query validator rejects anything that is not a SELECT, EXPLAIN, SHOW, DESCRIBE, or WITH statement. Write keywords (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, DROP, ALTER, CREATE, TRUNCATE, GRANT) are blocked with a hardcoded allow-list. There is no environment variable or setting to disable this.

Which AI assistants work with BrainFlow MCP?

Any assistant that implements MCP: Claude Desktop (Anthropic), Cursor, GitHub Copilot (VS Code), and any other tool that supports the Model Context Protocol over SSE.

Can I use the MCP server without a BrainFlow subscription?

No. The MCP server requires an active BrainFlow subscription because it queries your team's shared memory database. There must be email data in BrainFlow for the server to return meaningful answers.

How do I revoke an API key?

Go to your BrainFlow dashboard → API Keys. Click the revoke button next to any key. The key is deactivated immediately and will be rejected on the next request.

What happens if I lose my API key?

Revoke the lost key from your dashboard and generate a new one. Because keys are SHA-256 hashed, we cannot recover the plaintext. You must create a new key.

Is there a rate limit?

Yes. Each API key is subject to fair-use rate limits based on your plan. Startup plans include higher throughput than Founder plans. Contact us if you need enterprise-level quotas.

Can I self-host the MCP server?

Self-hosting is available on Corporate plans. Contact us for deployment documentation and infrastructure requirements. All self-hosted instances still require a valid BrainFlow API key for authentication.

Ready to connect?

Generate your API key in the BrainFlow dashboard and connect your AI assistant in under 5 minutes.