This page answers the questions we hear most about the Amilia SmartRec Connector.
Questions are grouped by topic, so you can jump to what you need. For step-by-step instructions, see How to set up the Amilia SmartRec Connector. For ready-made prompts, see Example prompts and Playbooks. If you can’t find your answer here, see Troubleshooting.
❓ FAQs sorted by category
🧪 About the beta
The Amilia SmartRec Connector is in a free open beta. These answers explain who can join and what to expect.
What should I expect during the beta?
The Amilia SmartRec Connector is in a free open beta. Here is what that means:
Cost. The beta is free until at least early 2027. Your AI assistant may charge credits or tokens, depending on how much you and your team use it. Your AI provider sets those costs, so talk with your IT team.
Scope. The beta covers programs and activities. You can ask questions about them, update program prices and descriptions, and take attendance.
Access. The beta is open to admins from organizations that complete the eligibility form and are accepted (see Step 1 of How to set up the Amilia SmartRec Connector).
Support is self-serve during the beta:
Read the resources. Check the setup, example prompts, playbooks and the troubleshooting articles.
Ask your AI assistant. Rephrase your request, narrow it down, or ask the assistant to show how it got its answer.
Send feedback to Amilia. We review all feedback, but we can’t act on every item.
🎗️ Copy this into your AI assistant to send feedback: Send feedback to Amilia: I asked for [what you asked], got [what you received], and expected [what you expected].
If you can't connect, first check that the connector is activated, you have both permissions, and the connection is authorized and turned on. Then start a chat with the Amilia team, using Cecilia. Include your AI assistant and plan, your organization ID, the date and time, your prompt, and the error.
Who can join the beta?
The beta is for Amilia customers whose teams already use an AI assistant and want to connect it to SmartRec on their own. Amilia starts with organizations that:
Use an AI assistant on a paid or corporate license.
Have admins who are comfortable setting up and using AI assistants.
Want answers and insights about programs and activities for their admins and managers.
Not every organization will be eligible. Your answers on the eligibility form help Amilia decide which organizations are eligible for the open beta.
Who should complete the eligibility form?
Your main admin (admin with account owner permission) completes the form for your organization. The form asks for your name, work email, role, organization name and Amilia store login page URL, and a few questions about your AI assistant.
You can find the eligibility form here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T76BG6Z
For more information on completing the eligibility form, click here.
What happens after I submit the form?
Amilia reviews your answers. If your organization is a good fit, Amilia activates the connector and emails you a link to resources. This can take up to 2 weeks.
If your organization isn’t activated, you won’t receive an email. Amilia may contact some organizations later.
What do I agree to when I join the beta?
The form asks you to confirm that:
The connector has limits for now, covering programs and activities mainly, and it will change quickly based on feedback.
Amilia’s support teams aren’t available during the beta, so you’ll use the documentation and your AI assistant. Your AI provider, not Amilia, sets AI costs and user limits.
Connecting an AI assistant gives it access to your SmartRec data, which may include participant records, information about children and payment details. Your organization decides whether that’s allowed, and getting approval may delay your access.
You’ll give feedback during the beta, such as short surveys and reports of problems.
Can I join the beta while my organization is being onboarded?
No. The beta isn’t available to organizations that are being onboarded. It’s open to Amilia customers only.
🚀 Getting started and access
These answers cover what you need to connect, who can do it, and how access works.
Can I connect more than one AI assistant?
Yes. You can connect more than one AI assistant. You’re not limited to one AI assistant per admin.
Separate connections. You connect each AI assistant on its own, from that assistant, and sign in with your SmartRec admin account each time. This works with Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini.
Permissions are checked on every request. No matter which AI assistant you use, the connector confirms two things:
You have the Use the Amilia SmartRec AI connector (MCP server) permission for the organization.
You have the SmartRec permission the task needs, such as View programs and activities to read, or Modify activities to update.
Can I sign in with my personal AI assistant?
It depends on your AI assistant’s plan and on your organization’s rules, so check both before you connect.
Plan. Each AI assistant decides which plans can add a connector, and Amilia doesn’t control that. Some plans may not allow it.
Data. Data returned by the connector passes through your AI assistant’s provider. With a personal account, that data is covered by your personal agreement with the provider, not your organization’s. We recommend a paid or corporate account that your organization manages.
Approval. Your organization decides whether admins may connect an AI assistant. Check with your IT team or your main admin first.
Does the email I use in my AI assistant have to match my SmartRec email?
No. When you connect, your AI assistant sends you to the Amilia login page, and you log in there with your admin account. The email you use for your AI assistant doesn’t have to match your SmartRec email. Amilia can’t require the two to match, so give the connector permission only to admins you trust.
What if my organization doesn’t have an IT team?
Connecting to a Microsoft AI agent may require intervention from your organization's IT team.
If you’re the only person who manages your AI assistant and your Microsoft licenses, you’re also the person who approves the setup. You can follow the setup steps yourself, as long as your plan allows adding a connector.
What does my IT team need to connect Microsoft Copilot Studio?
If someone else manages your Microsoft licenses, your IT team may need to approve or complete the setup. Give them these details:
Server URL: https://mcp.amilia.com/mcp
Connection type: Streamable HTTP, the type Copilot Studio supports.
Authentication: OAuth 2.0. Each admin signs in with their own Amilia account, and the connector never shares that login with Microsoft.
Where it’s added: In Copilot Studio, on the agent’s Tools page. Select Add a tool, then New tool, then Model Context Protocol.
Access: The connector can only do what the admin’s SmartRec permissions allow.
You can send your IT team this request: Please add the MCP server at https://mcp.amilia.com/mcp to Copilot Studio and give our agent access.
How do shared admin accounts that use a PIN work?
An admin who uses a PIN has their own login and their own permissions. The PIN is only for workstations such as the front desk or point of sale. To use the connector, log in with your own admin account, not the shared one. The connector then follows the permissions in your own permission group.
If someone logs in with the shared account instead, the connector follows that account’s permissions.
Does the connector work with networks or multiple locations?
Yes. The connector can work across the organizations your admin account can access, including the branches of a network. If you only want results for one branch, name it in your request. If you don’t, your AI assistant may look across all the branches you can access. It's best to be specific!
🔑 Permissions
These answers explain which permissions you need and how the connector uses them.
Which permissions do I need to use the connector?
At a minimum, an admin needs two permissions:
Use the Amilia SmartRec AI connector (MCP server), in the Organization settings section of a permission group. This is required to connect an AI assistant to your organization’s SmartRec data.
View programs and activities, in the Programs and activities section. This is required to see programs and activities. Without it, an admin can’t ask about them or edit them.
To edit an activity’s price or description, an admin also needs Modify activities. Other permissions give an admin more access. For more detail, see Step 3 of How to set up the Amilia SmartRec Connector.
Does the connector permission give an admin new rights in SmartRec?
No. The connector permission only lets an admin connect an AI assistant to your organization’s SmartRec data. It doesn’t give the admin any new rights. The connector can only do what the admin is already allowed to do in SmartRec.
Who can give admins access to the connector?
An admin who can manage permissions. By default, only your main admin (admin with account owner permission) can manage permission groups, and they can give other admins the Manage permissions permission.
If an admin doesn’t have access and thinks they should, they need to ask someone in your organization who can manage permissions. Amilia’s Customer Care can’t change your organization’s permissions.
How do I give the connector to some admins and not others?
An admin can have only one permission group, and changes to a group apply to every admin who has it. To give the connector to some admins and not others, create a new permission group that includes the connector permission and every permission those admins already need, then assign it to them.
Will the connector only show me data I have permission to access?
Yes. The Amilia connector uses your Amilia account, so it can only return the information your role and permissions allow you to see. It cannot give you data you cannot already access in Amilia.
When you ask what the connector can do, the answer describes the connector’s general capabilities. It does not check your individual permissions. Some of the listed features may not be available to you.
If you request something outside your permissions, the connector returns an error or no results.
⚠️ Changes made through the connector, like updating an activity price or recording attendance, also requires SmartRec permission to do so.
⚠️ Changes made through the connector, such as updating an activity price or recording attendance, also require that your account has permission to make them.
Can I give my AI assistant read-only access?
Yes, but you do it with SmartRec permissions, not on the consent screen. The consent screen lists both reading and updating data, and you can only authorize or cancel.
The connector can only do what an admin’s SmartRec permissions allow. For read-only access:
Give the admin the connector permission and View programs and activities, but not Modify activities. They can ask questions, and any request to change an activity is refused with an error.
Your AI assistant may also let you turn off specific actions for a connector. Check its connector settings.
To cut off access completely, remove the connector permission from the admin’s permission group.
How do I remove an admin’s access?
You can remove access in two ways:
Disconnect from your AI assistant. You can disconnect the connector in your AI assistant at any time.
Remove the connector permission. An admin who can manage permissions removes Use the Amilia SmartRec AI connector (MCP server) from the admin’s permission group. Without it, the connector returns an error and nothing is read or changed.
🔏 Security and data
These answers explain how the connector signs you in, what data it returns, and who is responsible for what.
How does the connector sign me in, and is it secure?
When you connect, your AI assistant sends you to the Amilia login page. You log in there, then authorize access. Your credentials stay with Amilia and never reach your AI assistant.
For your IT team:
The connector uses OAuth 2.0 with the authorization code flow and PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange). PKCE protects the sign-in, so an authorization code that someone intercepts can’t be used on its own.
Each admin signs in with their own account. The connector can only do what that admin’s SmartRec permissions allow.
To cut off an admin’s access, remove the connector permission from their permission group.
What data does the connector return?
Only the information each request needs. The connector reads your SmartRec data when you ask a question, so what you get depends on your request and your permissions.
It returns personal information, such as a contact’s email address or phone number, only when a request needs it, for example to build an outreach list. Some sensitive fields, such as health insurance numbers, are never returned.
What does Amilia record when I use the connector?
Amilia keeps technical records of when the connector is used, to secure the platform, provide support and maintain an audit trail. These records don’t include your conversations, your prompts or the data SmartRec returns.
Is my data safe once it leaves Amilia?
Once the connector returns data to your AI assistant, how it’s kept and used depends on your AI provider. Your organization chose the AI assistant and uses it under its own agreement with the provider, so Amilia doesn’t control it.
Before you connect, review your provider’s terms on how it keeps and uses data. Check that connecting fits your organization’s policies, including those for minors and public records.
Does my AI assistant use my data to train its models?
That depends on your AI provider and your plan, and Amilia doesn’t control it. Review your provider’s terms on retention and training. Plans that your organization manages may have different terms than personal accounts, so talk with your IT team.
Will the connector change things without asking me?
It depends on how you ask. Whether your AI assistant asks you to confirm before it changes something is controlled by your instructions to the assistant, not by the connector. If you tell it to update a price, it will.
What Amilia enforces is permissions. If an admin doesn’t have the matching SmartRec permission, the change is refused. Your AI assistant may also ask for permission before it uses the connector.
🎗️ Ask your AI assistant to show you the changes and wait for your confirmation before it saves anything. You can also ask the AI assistant to revert any changes it makes.
How do I check where an answer came from?
Ask your AI assistant to explain it. For example, ask which information it used and how it got to a number, or which registrations make up a count. It will usually show what it pulled from SmartRec and the dates or filters it used.
Your AI assistant writes the final answer, so check the results before you make a decision or publish anything.
🔌Using the connector
These answers explain what the connector can do, what it can’t do yet, and how to get the most from it.
What can the connector do today?
The connector covers programs and activities. It’s for admins, and what you can do depends on your permissions.
Ask questions
Review your store programs and activities, including schedules, pricing, capacity and open spots.
Check registrations and rosters, and summarize registrations, cancellations, unique participants and net sales for your activities.
Check activity attendance.
Look up the ledger account linked to an activity.
Find a person or a billing account by ID or email address.
Hand off updates
Update the price and description of an activity.
Record attendance for an activity.
For ready-made ways to do these, see Example prompts and Playbooks.
What can’t the connector do yet?
The connector is still growing, so some things aren’t possible yet. For example, it can’t:
Register people, even for a $0 activity.
Put registered people into groups.
Show member versus non-member information.
Be used by participants or members. It’s for admins only.
If your AI assistant says it can’t find something you can see in SmartRec, the connector may not cover it yet. Ask your AI assistant to check what it can do, and send feedback about what you need.
How do I find out what the connector can do right now?
Ask your AI assistant. The connector gains new capabilities over time, so this gives you the most current list. Try: What can I do with the Amilia SmartRec Connector? Some features may not be available with your permissions.
What’s the difference between example prompts and playbooks?
Example prompts are single prompts for common jobs. Copy a prompt, replace the text in brackets, and paste it into your AI assistant.
Playbooks are step-by-step prompts for bigger jobs, such as a program scorecard or a targeted outreach list.
Do I need special commands or technical names in my prompts?
No. Write your request in plain language, the way you’d ask a colleague. The example prompts and playbooks are written so you can copy and paste them as they are.
Will using the connector add to my AI assistant costs?
It may. The requests you make with the connector are lightweight, but your AI assistant may charge credits or tokens depending on how much you and your team use it. Your AI provider sets those costs, and Amilia doesn’t control them.
Amilia can’t give an estimate, because the cost depends on the AI assistant and model you use, how you phrase your requests, and what else is in the conversation.
To get a real number, run a few of your typical requests and check the usage in your AI assistant. Talk with your IT team if you have questions.
Will my AI assistant use the Amilia Help Center?
That depends on your AI assistant and how you set it up. The connector returns your SmartRec data, not Help Center articles. Amilia doesn’t control what your AI assistant reads or searches. You can give it instructions to refer to Help Center articles to help inform its answers and give it context if necessary.
Does the connector work in French?
Yes. The connector can return program and activity details in English or French. Tell your AI assistant which language you want.
* Last updated in November 2026