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Building Stack MCP server

Overview

The Building Stack MCP server lets an AI assistant, such as Claude or ChatGPT, work with your Building Stack data. You ask in your own words. The assistant looks up your buildings, units, tenants, leases and renewals and, if your admin allows it, adds and updates buildings, units, tenants and leases for you. Renewals are look-up only.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the open standard AI assistants use to connect to other software. This feature is in beta. Building Stack is a Rentsync product. The Claude and ChatGPT listings are named Building Stack, and Rentsync is the company behind them.

How to connect

  • Before you start: Building Stack support turns MCP on for your company, and then your account admin switches on your server (see "For admins" below).
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  • Server address: https://api.buildingstack.com/mcp.
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  • From Claude: once the listing is published, find Building Stack in Claude's connectors directory and select Connect. Until then, add it as a custom connector in Claude's settings, under Connectors, and paste the server address. On a Team or Enterprise plan, an organization Owner adds it once, and each person then connects with their own login.
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  • From ChatGPT: once the listing is published, find Building Stack in ChatGPT's apps directory and select Connect. Which ChatGPT plans can connect, and whether your workspace admin has to allow it, is set by OpenAI and your workspace settings. Until then, ChatGPT can connect only as a custom app in developer mode, where your plan offers it and your workspace admin allows it.
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  • Sign in: a sign-in page opens. Use your own Building Stack email and password, then select Authorize. If you sign in to Building Stack with Google, first set a password with Forgot password.
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What it can do

Look things up (on by default):

  • Find buildings, units, parking and storage, including what's vacant and at what listed rent.

  • Show a tenant's details and active leases, and their contact details if your role allows it.

  • Show a lease, what's being charged for each space on it, and what changed on it.

  • List who's moving in or out, and which renewals are at each stage of your pipeline.

  • Check a building code or a mailing address, and work out what a new lease needs: its end date, its taxes, its deposits, and any lease already holding the same space. On a server set up before the write tools were released, an admin switches these lease checks on first (see "For admins").

Add and update (only when your admin switches it on):

  • Add buildings and floors, and change a building's details and amenities.

  • Add and update units, parking spaces and storage spaces, one at a time or up to 250 at once.

  • Add tenants one at a time, and update their details one at a time or many at once.

  • Create leases as drafts or final, finalize drafts, create many leases at once, and change rent.

That's enough to set up a new property from a rent roll: building, floors, spaces, tenants and leases, in one conversation.

Send feedback. The assistant can send a bug report or product suggestion to Building Stack. See "Who sees what" below.

What each toolset covers is under "Toolsets" below

What it can't do

  • Delete anything. Updates can still overwrite existing details, one record or many at once.

  • Undo a change. A lease's history shows what changed on it, but earlier details of units, parking, storage and buildings aren't kept, so review a change before the assistant makes it.

  • Turn a final lease back into a draft.

  • Work with photos and documents. They can't be set when it adds a unit, or changed when it updates a unit, parking space or storage space.

  • Work with balances, payments, transactions, deposits or recurring charges. It can tell you which deposits the web app would add, so you can add them there. If your account requires leases to track their balance, a final lease the assistant creates gets its rent charges as one created in the web app does. The assistant can't change the rent on a lease that tracks its balance; change it in the web app.

  • Work with inquiries, leads, tickets or messages.

  • Work for tenants. It's for property management staff with a manager login.

Try asking

Use your own names. The names below are made up. These only look things up, so they work with the default settings.

  1. "Which two-bedroom units are vacant under $2,000?"

  2. "Who is moving out of Maple Court in the next 30 days?"

  3. "When does Jane Smith's lease on unit 3B end, and is it up for renewal?"

Who sees what

  • The assistant acts as you. It sees and changes only what you can in Building Stack. If your role can't do something, the assistant can't either.
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  • Changes are made in your name. Anything the assistant adds or updates shows as done by you, the same as a change you make in the web app. It isn't marked as made through the assistant.
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  • Your AI provider receives the answers. What that provider does with them is set by its terms and your plan with it. See "Security and privacy" below.
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  • The assistant can send feedback to Building Stack, and may do so without asking first. It's instructed to tell you that it did. A report holds what the assistant writes in it and can include an example of what a tool returned, such as tenant details. It doesn't attach your conversation, though what the assistant writes can describe it.
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  • Some actions reach outside Building Stack. When the assistant checks a mailing address, that address is sent to Google. When it changes a tenant's sign-in email, Building Stack can email the tenant an invitation. When a lease becomes final, its tenants are treated as they are when a lease is made final in the web app, which can include a portal invitation. Changes reach your connected systems, such as an accounting integration or webhooks, the same way web-app changes do.
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  • What it reads can steer it. Text stored in Building Stack, such as names or notes typed by other people, reaches the assistant like anything else it reads. Keep your AI tool set to ask you before it runs tools that change data.

For admins

  • Turn it on or off. Account settings > MCP Server > your server > Access & authentication > MCP access.
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  • Choose what it can use on the Toolsets tab:

    • Read toolsets, on by default: Buildings, Spaces, Tenants, Leases, Reference data.

    • Write toolsets, off by default: Building operations, Space operations, Tenant operations, Lease operations. Switching one on also switches on the read toolsets it needs, which then can't be switched off under it: Building operations needs Buildings, Space operations needs Spaces and Buildings, Tenant operations needs Tenants, and Lease operations needs Leases.

    • The identity check and the two feedback tools are always on.
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  • Cut off access. Turn off MCP access, or deactivate the Building Stack user. Turning off MCP access takes effect at once. Deactivating a user stops their sign-in within about six minutes, even if their AI tool still holds it, and stops their API keys at once. Revoking an API key stops it at once.
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  • Who can connect. Everyone with a manager login on your account can connect to your server, from any AI tool, including a personal account, each with their own role's permissions. You can't limit it to certain people, so check your roles before you switch on a write toolset: someone who can edit one unit in the web app can change 250 in one request.
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  • Write tools and roles. Once a write toolset is on, its tools are listed for everyone who connects. If a person's role can't make a change, the tool refuses it.
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  • When changes apply. A change to the toolsets applies to the assistant's next request. Some AI tools take a reconnect, or up to about 20 minutes, to show new tools.
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  • Older servers. Servers set up before the write tools were released keep the tools they had on. The four tools that help prepare a lease (checking for conflicting leases, deposit settings, the end date and tax options) start off on those servers. Add them on the Toolsets tab, or switch on Lease operations, which adds them. The Toolsets tab also lets you switch single tools off, such as the one that changes a tenant's sign-in email, by unticking them in its Add tools drawer and saving, except read tools a switched-on write toolset needs.
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  • API keys are for tools that can't use the sign-in page. The tool sends the key as a bearer token to the server address. Only someone who can edit account settings can create one, and a server can have up to five. A key acts as the person who created it, with their permissions, and changes made with it are recorded under that person. It works only on its own server and doesn't expire, so revoke it when it's no longer needed. It stops at once if it's revoked, its creator is deactivated, or MCP access is turned off. Keep keys secret, like a password.
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  • Who counts as an admin. These settings need a role that can edit account settings. Anyone with that role can see and revoke every key on a server.

Toolsets

An admin picks the toolsets for each server. The read toolsets are on by default for a new server. The write toolsets are off until an admin switches them on. Each write toolset needs its read toolsets, so switching one on also switches on the read toolsets it needs. Three tools are always on. Each tool has a display title and the standard MCP labels. Read tools are labelled read-only. Tools that update data, and the tools that finalize a draft lease or create a final lease, are labelled destructive, meaning they can overwrite data or can't be undone; Claude and ChatGPT can use that label to ask you before such a tool runs, depending on your settings. Other tools that only add data aren't labelled destructive. The feedback tools aren't labelled read-only. The tool that checks a mailing address and the tool that changes a tenant's sign-in email are labelled as reaching outside Building Stack. In the bulk tools each record is saved on its own, so some can succeed while others fail, and the result says which. Running a bulk create again can add duplicates.

Buildings

Read toolset. On by default. Lists and finds your buildings, and shows a building's details, floors and features. Checks a building code or a mailing address; the address is sent to Google to look it up. Finds bookable amenities, such as a party room or guest suite, and shows their booking rules and schedule.

Spaces

Read toolset. On by default. Finds units, parking spaces and storage spaces by name, building, maximum rent, vacancy or current tenant, and units by bedrooms too. Shows one in full, including its listed rent, vacancy and availability dates, features, tags and most recent leases.

Tenants

Read toolset. On by default. Finds tenants by name and shows a tenant's details, status, tags and active leases, with contact details and emergency contacts if your role can view them.

Leases

Read toolset. On by default. Finds leases by building, status and dates, and shows a lease in full, with what's being charged for each space and what changed on it. Lists upcoming move-ins and move-outs, and the renewals at each stage of your pipeline. Helps prepare a new lease: its end date, its tax options, the deposits the web app would add, and any final lease already holding the same space. On a server set up before the write tools were released, an admin switches these lease checks on first (see "For admins").

Reference data

Read toolset. On by default. The assistant uses these to match what you type for a building, tenant, tag or owner to the right record, and to list your renewal pipeline stages. A building can be matched by its name or building code, and a tenant by name, or by email or phone number if your role can view tenants' personal information.

Building operations

Write toolset. Off until an admin switches it on. Needs Buildings. Adds buildings and floors, changes a building's details, and switches its amenities on or off. Changes the bulk-editable amenities and rent-day settings for up to 250 buildings at once. A building's address can't be changed here.

Space operations

Write toolset. Off until an admin switches it on. Needs Spaces and Buildings. Adds and updates units, parking spaces and storage spaces, one at a time or up to 250 at once. Tags on parking and storage spaces can be changed only one space at a time.

Tenant operations

Write toolset. Off until an admin switches it on. Needs Tenants. Adds a tenant, who starts inactive and isn't sent an invitation, and updates tenants' details, one at a time or up to 250 at once. As in the web app, a one-at-a-time update to a tenant who has no active lease marks them inactive. Changing the email a tenant signs in with is a separate tool: the tenant may have to set a new password, and Building Stack may email them an invitation if they're active. The assistant is told to confirm the new address with you first; that's an instruction to the assistant, not a check Building Stack enforces.

Lease operations

Write toolset. Off until an admin switches it on. Needs Leases. Creates leases as drafts or final, one at a time or up to 250 at once. Overlapping leases are allowed, as in the web app: creating or finalizing a lease isn't refused because another final lease already holds the same space for those dates, so have the assistant check first. A draft doesn't occupy its spaces or move its tenants in until it's finalized. Finalizing a draft works as Mark as final does in the web app: its spaces become occupied and its tenants move in, and this can't be undone. Changes the rent of one space on a lease, recording the change in the lease's history, or of up to 250 lease spaces at once.

Always on

On for every server, and can't be switched off. An identity check shows which Building Stack user the assistant is acting as. Two feedback tools send a bug report or a product suggestion to the Building Stack product team; the assistant may send one without asking first, and is instructed to tell you that it did.

Security and privacy

Access

  • Off until you turn it on. Building Stack support turns MCP on for your company, and then your account admin switches on your server.

  • Each person signs in as themselves. They use their own Building Stack email and password. The one exception is an API key, which acts as the person who created it (see For admins).

  • The same permissions as the app. The assistant sees and changes only what the signed-in person can in Building Stack. Tenant contact details appear only if that person's role can view them.

  • Managers only. Tenants can't connect.

  • Write tools are off until an admin switches them on. Nothing can be deleted, but updates can overwrite existing details.

  • An admin can't switch the feedback tools off. So an admin can't stop the assistant sending a report to Building Stack without asking first. A report can include an example of what a tool returned, such as tenant details. It doesn't attach the conversation, though what the assistant writes can describe it.

  • Access can be cut off. Turning off MCP access, or deactivating a person's Building Stack user, stops their AI tool's access: turning off MCP access at once, deactivating a user within about six minutes.

  • No activity view. Changes made through the assistant look the same as web-app changes in Building Stack's history, and admins can't see who has connected.

Where your data goes

  1. Building Stack. Building Stack's copy of your data stays where it already is. Building Stack also keeps its own records of each tool call and of any errors. For where it hosts data, see the Trust Center, linked below.

  2. The sign-in service. When someone connects, they sign in on a Rentsync-branded sign-in page run by Logto, a third-party sign-in service. It handles their email and password and, after they click Authorize, it shares their name, profile and email address with the AI tool (the standard openid, profile, email and offline_access sign-in scopes; offline access keeps them connected without signing in again).

  3. Your AI provider. The answers to each question go to the AI tool the person connected, such as Claude or ChatGPT, which may process them outside Canada. How that provider stores and uses them, including for training, is set by its terms and your plan with it. Review its data and retention policies.

  4. Google, for one tool. When the assistant checks a mailing address, that address is sent to Google.

  5. Building Stack's feedback service, for feedback. The assistant can send a bug report or product suggestion without asking first. It holds what the assistant writes in it and can include an example of what a tool returned, such as tenant details. It doesn't attach the conversation, though what the assistant writes can describe it. Building Stack adds only the report type, IDs (for the report, your account, your user and any API key used), the time and your AI app's name. It doesn't add your name or email, but what the assistant writes can include names and other personal details, from your conversation or from what a tool returned.

For what Building Stack's records hold, how long it keeps them (including feedback reports), and which other service providers it uses, see its privacy policy, linked below.

Trust Center and privacy policy

For Building Stack's security and compliance information, see its Trust Center at trust.buildingstack.com.

Privacy policy: app.buildingstack.com/t/privacy

Report a security issue

Email [email protected].

Troubleshooting

If something doesn't work, find the message or symptom below. If it isn't listed, contact support.

  • "MCP access is not enabled for this account": ask Building Stack support to turn MCP on for your company.

  • "MCP server is disabled": your admin needs to switch on MCP access for your server.

  • "This identity belongs to several accounts": your login is on more than one Building Stack account. The general address doesn't accept it. Contact support.

  • "Access token is not linked to a BuildingStack user" or "This Logto account is not linked to a BuildingStack identity": sign in with the email of your Building Stack manager login. Tenant logins can't connect.

  • "Incorrect account or password": if you sign in to Building Stack with Google, first set a password with Forgot password. Otherwise, contact support.

  • A tool is missing: its toolset isn't switched on for your server, or your AI tool hasn't refreshed its list yet. Reconnect, or wait up to about 20 minutes.

  • A change is refused: the assistant's reply gives the reason. Often your role in Building Stack can't make that change; ask your admin. Building Stack also refuses some changes for everyone, such as changing a detail that's synced from another system, or adding a space beyond a plan or unit limit. A rent change on a lease that tracks its balance is always refused; make it in the web app.

  • A bulk change only partly worked: each record is saved on its own. Ask the assistant which records failed and why, and check before retrying, so nothing is added twice.

  • To disconnect, remove Building Stack from your AI tool's connectors or apps settings.

Get help

Email [email protected], or chat with us Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 Eastern.

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