What is the TakeOn MCP connector?

It lets an AI assistant that supports the Model Context Protocol, such as Claude, read your TakeOn workspace: takeoff quantities, the priced bid, spec books, schedules and the sheets themselves. With your permission, it can also do takeoff work. The connector URL is https://app.takeonbid.com/api/mcp.

How do I connect Claude to TakeOn?

In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, and add a custom connector with the URL https://app.takeonbid.com/api/mcp. Sign in to TakeOn when the browser window opens, pick the workspaces Claude may use, and approve. In Claude Code, run: claude mcp add --transport http takeon https://app.takeonbid.com/api/mcp.

Can the assistant change my takeoff?

Only if you tick Allow editing on the consent screen. A connection is read-only by default, and a read-only connection isn't offered the editing tools at all. With editing allowed, every change to the takeoff lands in the page history, where you can roll it back.

What can an assistant never do in TakeOn?

It can't delete a project, a plan or its sheets, change sharing, manage workspace members, import workspace configuration, or restore a checkpoint. Those actions aren't exposed to the connector at all.

How do I disconnect an assistant?

Open Settings, then Connected apps, and revoke the connection. Workspace owners see and can revoke every connection into their workspace.

Does TakeOn see my chat with the assistant?

No. TakeOn receives the tool requests the assistant sends, not your conversation. What the assistant does with the data it reads is governed by its provider's policy.

Does the connector cost extra?

No. The connector is included with TakeOn. The assistant runs on your own AI subscription.

TakeOn MCP Connector: Connect Claude to Your Takeoff

What it does

The connector gives your assistant the same facts the TakeOn screens show, computed by the same code. Totals aren’t re-added by a language model. With read access, an assistant can read:

Takeoff quantities: Counts, runs and areas: every group with its template, property values and unit, by sheet or for the whole job.
The priced bid: The Bid Summary (material, labor, burden, overhead, profit, tax and sell price), bid options and change orders.
Spec books: A search over your specification PDFs that returns the matching passages and their page numbers.
Schedules: Panel, luminaire and equipment schedules you have captured, as tables.
Sheets: Sheet titles, a rendered image of any sheet, and the text on the page with positions.
Project context: Projects, documents, templates, materials and assemblies, page history, checkpoints, keynotes and comments.

It can also generate read-only documents: the branded takeoff report, the proposal PDF, the fixture count, the material list and the bid invite.

How to connect

Claude (claude.ai, Desktop and mobile)

In Claude, open Settings → Connectors and choose Add custom connector.
Paste the connector URL: https://app.takeonbid.com/api/mcp
Claude opens a browser window. Sign in to TakeOn the way you normally do.
On the TakeOn consent screen, pick the workspaces Claude may use, and tick Allow editing only if you want it to make changes.
Approve. The connector you add on the web is available in Claude Desktop and the mobile apps too.

Claude Code

Run this in a terminal, then sign in when Claude Code opens the browser:

claude mcp add --transport http takeon https://app.takeonbid.com/api/mcp

Other MCP clients

Any client that supports remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP with OAuth sign-in can connect the same way: point it at https://app.takeonbid.com/api/mcp and complete the sign-in. The client registers itself automatically (OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration and PKCE), so there is no API key to copy.

Inside TakeOn, ? → Connect your AI shows the same steps with copy buttons.

Permissions: read-only or Allow editing

You choose two things on the consent screen, and a connection can never widen them itself:

Which workspaces it can reach. It sees only the workspaces you pick, and only while you’re still a member of them.
Whether it can edit. Read-only is the default: Allow editing starts unticked. A read-only connection isn’t offered the editing tools at all, and they’re refused if it calls them anyway.

The TakeOn consent screen: Claude wants to connect to your TakeOn account, with one workspace checked, the read permissions listed, and the Allow editing box ticked — The consent screen. Allow editing starts unticked.

With editing allowed, an assistant can do takeoff work, for example:

Create a project and import a plan set from a download link
Set sheet scales and sheet names
Read a panel or fixture schedule and place the counts
Add, change or delete takeoff markups, and route homeruns
Carry the takeoff onto an addendum
Price the bid and generate the proposal

Every change it makes to the takeoff lands in that page’s history, labelled as the assistant’s, where you can roll it back. Anyone with the project open sees the changes arrive live.

What’s never exposed

Some actions can’t be undone or affect everyone on the job, so they stay with a person. With or without editing, no assistant can:

Delete a project, a plan or its sheets
Change who a project or plan is shared with
Manage workspace members
Import workspace configuration
Restore a checkpoint or roll a page back

Billing and account settings aren’t exposed either.

How to revoke access

Open Settings → Connected apps in TakeOn and revoke the connection. Access ends immediately. A workspace owner sees every connection made into their workspace, not only their own, and can revoke any of them. Removing someone from a workspace also ends their connection’s access to it.

TakeOn receives the tool requests your assistant sends, not your chat. See our privacy policy for how we handle data, including AI features and connected assistants.

Example prompts

Use your own project, sheet and panel names.

1. “How many of each light fixture type are on sheet E-101?” Read-only
2. “Roll up the whole takeoff by sheet, and flag any sheet that has no scale set.” Read-only
3. “Read the luminaire schedule and the panel schedule for panel LP-1, and list the circuits.” Read-only
4. “Search the spec book for the conduit requirements: what's allowed underground and in exposed areas?” Read-only
5. “Price the bid: show me the unpriced lines, suggest prices from our catalog, and, once I confirm, generate the proposal.” Allow editing

Limits

Unscaled sheets report raw PDF units, not feet. Set a sheet’s scale to get real lengths and areas; the assistant is told to say when a sheet has none.
Very large results are paged. claude.ai caps a single tool result at about 150,000 characters, so the very largest takeoffs come back a page at a time.
Long jobs are polled. Uploading a plan set, mapping sheets and reading a schedule run in the background; the assistant starts the job and checks back until it’s done.

Troubleshooting

The assistant says it can't make changes.: The connection is read-only. Editing tools aren't offered to a read-only connection at all. Remove the connector, add it again, and tick Allow editing on the consent screen.
A workspace or project is missing.: A connection reaches only the workspaces you picked on the consent screen. Reconnect and pick the workspace. If you were removed from a workspace, the connection loses it on the next request.
Lengths come back in odd units.: The sheet has no scale set, so it reports raw PDF units rather than feet. Set the scale in TakeOn, or ask the assistant to set it with editing allowed.
An upload, mapping or schedule read seems stuck.: Those run in the background. The assistant starts the job, then checks back until it's done. A large plan set can take a few minutes.
My MCP client can't finish connecting.: The client needs to support OAuth sign-in with an https or local (loopback) redirect. Clients that register a custom-scheme redirect, such as Cursor, aren't supported yet. Otherwise, remove the connector, add it again, and sign in when the browser window opens.

Support

Questions, problems or feedback on the connector: email contact@takeonbid.com. For a longer walkthrough, read how to connect Claude to your electrical takeoff and bring your own AI.

Connect Claude to your takeoff.