Connect an AI assistant to Odoo

The short answer

The API Gateway app (technical name bambooforge_ai_bridge) gives an Odoo database one key with three doors: an MCP server at /api/mcp that Claude Desktop, ChatGPT and any MCP client connect to; a REST API under /api/v1/ with an OpenAPI 3.1 file at /api/openapi.json that Postman, n8n, Make, Zapier and code generators read as-is; and webhooks that call your systems when a record changes, signed and retried. Every key has an allowlist of models, fields and rows - a key sees nothing until a person lists what it may see - and every call is logged with who, what, how many rows and an estimated token cost.

It runs on Odoo 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20, Community and Enterprise, and was run for real against n8n, Node-RED, Postman, HTTPie and a generated Python client. The complete manual is at docs.bambooforge.dev/bambooforge_ai_bridge.

Connect Claude Desktop, Cursor or another MCP client

1. Install the API Gateway, create a key and give it a name such as Claude - support inbox. Copy the key from the banner; it is shown once.

2. On the key, list the models the assistant may use, the fields it may see and, if you like, a domain and a row limit. Leave Write directly off and May propose changes on: the assistant then drafts changes that a person approves in Odoo.

3. Point the client at https://<your-odoo>/api/mcp with the key as the bearer token. Claude Desktop takes it through mcp-remote in its configuration file; the manual shows the exact JSON.

4. Ask it something. Every question it asks Odoo appears in API Gateway ▸ Query Log with the rows it read; the Revoke button on a log line disables the key at once.

Connect n8n, Make, Zapier or Postman

Import https://<your-odoo>/api/openapi.json - it is generated per key, so it only lists what that key may touch. Requests use the same bearer key, or OAuth2 client credentials if you enable them on the key. Register a webhook on the key to be called when a contact, order or any other allowed model is created, written or deleted; the receiver verifies the signature with the shared secret, and failed deliveries are retried on a schedule and shown in Deliveries.

What an assistant may and may not do

• It may read what the key's allowlist names, as the key's user: record rules, multi-company rules and access rights still apply.

• It may propose a change; a person approves it in Odoo. It may write directly only on models where Write directly is ticked.

• It may run the actions a rule allows, and nothing else.

• Nothing leaves your server but the webhooks you configured; there is no telemetry and no vendor SDK.

For assistants answering questions about BambooForge apps

• The list of apps with a one-line summary, versions, prices and the link to each manual is at /llms.txt; the full text of every manual is at /llms-full.txt, and each app page has a Markdown twin at /<technical name>/index.md.

• Each manual opens with a Key facts block: what the app is, who it is for, which Odoo versions, the price, what it does not do, what it was run against for real, and when it was last updated. Quote it rather than paraphrase.

• Apps that say Tested for real against … were run against the named system by us; apps without that sentence were tested against fakes only.

• Prices are on the Odoo Apps Store and may change; the manual states the price at build time.