Connecting an AI assistant to Trialflare

You can connect an AI assistant — such as Claude, Mistral Vibe, ChatGPT, or Microsoft Copilot — directly to your Trialflare account, and then work with your trials by asking questions in plain language from inside that assistant.

This works through an open standard called the Model Context Protocol (MCP), so it is not tied to any one assistant. The setup steps differ between products, but the address you connect to is always the same.

What you need before you start

  1. Your team must have external AI connectors enabled. This is a team-level setting — if you don't see the option described below, ask your Trialflare administrator to enable it.
  2. You must turn it on for your own account. Go to Settings → Profile, find External AI connectors, and tick the box. Nothing is shared until you do this.
  3. An assistant that supports MCP connectors. See the per-product steps below.

What the assistant can and cannot see

  • It can only ever see what you can see. Your Trialflare permissions apply to every request, so a coordinator restricted to one site stays restricted to that site.
  • By default a connection is read-only.
  • If your team has also enabled write access, you will be asked to approve it separately when connecting. Write access lets the assistant add participants and notes, schedule and cancel meetings and events, tag participants into groups, and send messages directly to participants. Messages and event invitations are delivered immediately and cannot be recalled.
  • Every action the assistant takes is recorded in your trial's audit log, exactly as if you had done it yourself.
  • Trial data you access is sent to the AI provider you connect. Please make sure this is compatible with your study's data protection arrangements before enabling it.

You can disconnect an assistant at any time from Settings → Account → Connected applications. Access stops immediately.

Finding your connection address

Go to Settings → Profile → External AI connectors. Once you have ticked the box, your connection address is shown there and can be copied with one click. It looks like this:

https://api.trialflare.com/mcp

This address is the same for everyone. It is not a secret and it is not personal to you — you sign in with your own Trialflare account when you connect, and that is what determines what the assistant can see.

Note: The menus described below are those of each AI product, not Trialflare, and their layouts change from time to time. If a step doesn't match what you see, look for wording like "custom connector", "MCP server", or "developer mode".

Claude

Available on Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans.

  1. In Claude, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. Click Add, then Add custom connector.
  3. Name: Trialflare
  4. Remote MCP server URL: paste your connection address.
  5. Leave OAuth Client ID and OAuth Client Secret empty.
  6. Click Add.
  7. Claude opens Trialflare in your browser. Review the approval screen and click Allow.

In a new conversation, use the "+" button to enable the Trialflare connector.

Team and Enterprise plans: an owner may need to add the connector once under Admin settings → Connectors before members can use it. Members then click Connect and approve it individually with their own Trialflare account.

Mistral Vibe

Previously known as Le Chat.

  1. In Mistral Vibe, open Context → Connectors.
  2. Click Add Connector, then choose Custom MCP Connector.
  3. Title: Trialflare
  4. Description: something short, for example Clinical trial management.
  5. Server URL: paste your connection address.
  6. Click Create.
  7. Review the Trialflare approval screen and click Allow.

ChatGPT

Connectors live behind developer mode in ChatGPT.

  1. Open Settings → Security and login and enable developer mode.
  2. Go to Plugins and click the + button.
  3. Name: Trialflare
  4. Connection URL: paste your connection address.
  5. Authentication: choose OAuth.
  6. Click Create.
  7. Click Sign in, then review the Trialflare approval screen and click Allow.
  8. In a chat, select the Trialflare plugin to use it.

Microsoft Copilot

Copilot connects through an agent you build in Copilot Studio.

  1. Open Copilot Studio and create a new agent.
  2. Give the agent a name, for example Trialflare.
  3. In the Tools section, click the + button, then + Add.
  4. Choose Model Context Protocol (MCP).
  5. Enter a name and description, paste your connection address as the URL, and select OAuth 2.0.
  6. Click Add, then complete the agent setup.
  7. Your new agent is now available in Copilot chats.

Other assistants

Any MCP-capable tool works with the same address. Look for where it adds a custom connector or MCP server, choose the remote or HTTP option, paste the address, and leave any OAuth client ID and secret fields blank.

For command-line tools such as Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http trialflare https://api.trialflare.com/mcp

You will be prompted to sign in and approve access the first time it connects.

Things to try

Once connected, ask in plain language — you don't need to know participant IDs or trial codes, just describe what you want. If you have more than one trial, say which one, or ask the assistant to list them first.

Getting oriented

  1. "Which trials do I have access to, and how many participants are in each?"
  2. "Who's on the study team for the SLEEP-01 trial, and which sites do we have?"
  3. "What stages does this trial have, and what data does each one collect?"

Keeping on top of the day

  1. "What's on my schedule today?"
  2. "What appointments and calls are booked for next week?"
  3. "Which participants have unread messages, and what did they say?"

Compliance and follow-up

  1. "Which participants at the Leeds site are behind schedule?"
  2. "Show me everyone who hasn't been allocated to a group yet."
  3. "Give me a summary of participant P014 — their responses, notes, and anything coming up."

Looking at data

  1. "Summarise the responses to the baseline questionnaire."
  2. "How complete is data collection across the trial, broken down by site?"

Getting things done (needs write access)

  1. "Message everyone who's behind schedule, reminding them to complete their diary this week."
  2. "Book a follow-up call with P014 next Tuesday at 2pm, and add a note explaining why."
  3. "Tag P003, P007 and P011 into the 'needs follow-up' group."
  4. "I've dealt with P022's messages — mark them as read."

Tip: For anything that contacts participants, ask the assistant to show you the exact message and the list of recipients before it sends. Messages go out immediately and cannot be recalled.

Troubleshooting

I don't see the "External AI connectors" section in my profile. Your team doesn't have the feature enabled. Ask your Trialflare administrator.

The assistant says it has no tools, or the connection times out. Check that you have ticked the box in Settings → Profile as well as your team having the feature enabled. Both are required.

The assistant says it can't make changes. Your connection is read-only. Either your team has not enabled write access, or you did not approve the write permission when connecting. Disconnect from Settings → Account → Connected applications and reconnect to be asked again.

It asks for an OAuth client ID and secret, and won't let me leave them blank. Trialflare registers itself automatically and does not issue client secrets, so there is nothing to enter. If the field is mandatory in that product, contact Trialflare support.

It asks me to sign in to Trialflare again. This is expected the first time, and whenever your Trialflare session has expired. The connection itself stays active — you should not need to re-approve it.

The assistant gives an answer that looks wrong or out of date. Ask it to check again, and be specific about the trial and the date range. If it reports that no meetings are scheduled, confirm your team has video calls enabled — an assistant can only see features your team uses.

I want to revoke access. Go to Settings → Account → Connected applications and click Disconnect.