How to Connect Claude or ChatGPT to Business Central Through the MCP Server

Quick Answer (TL;DR)

To connect Claude or ChatGPT to Business Central, activate an MCP server configuration in Business Central, register an app in Microsoft Entra ID with the Financials.ReadWrite.All permission, then add https://mcp.businesscentral.dynamics.com to your AI client with your tenant, environment and company details. The default configuration is read-only, and every action follows the signed-in user's permissions.

Key Takeaways

• The Business Central MCP server is a Microsoft-hosted endpoint for Business Central online. Microsoft names Claude and ChatGPT as examples of supported AI clients.
• You need three things: an active MCP server configuration, a Microsoft Entra app registration, and an AI plan that allows custom MCP connections. A certified Business Central partner can set up all three.
• The built-in default configuration is read-only. Create, modify, delete and action tools only work after an admin turns on Unblock Edit Tools and allows them for each API.
• Claude Code is the route Microsoft documents for Claude. Claude's web and desktop connector also works when the Request headers option is available on your account.
• ChatGPT needs developer mode. Full read and write support is in beta for Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces.
• Most failed connections trace back to Entra settings or to missing environment and company details.

Finance and operations teams already ask AI assistants for help with reports, emails and analysis. The next step is letting those assistants read live ERP data instead of pasted exports. Microsoft now makes that possible through the Business Central MCP server, and this guide walks through the full setup for Claude and ChatGPT, including the parts that commonly go wrong.

What Is the Business Central MCP Server?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that defines how AI applications talk to data sources and tools. An MCP server exposes an application's data and actions. An MCP host, such as Claude or ChatGPT, discovers those tools and calls them during a conversation.

Microsoft runs one MCP server for Business Central online at https://mcp.businesscentral.dynamics.com. According to Microsoft's MCP overview, supported hosts are Visual Studio Code with GitHub Copilot, Copilot Studio, and other clients that follow the MCP specification, with Claude and ChatGPT given as examples.

Three points matter for finance and IT leaders:

• It applies to Business Central online. Microsoft's documentation does not cover on-premises deployments.
• Sign-in runs through Microsoft Entra ID. The server uses OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, so the AI client never sees a password.
• Every action runs as the signed-in user. The assistant can only do what that person is already permitted to do, and the audit trail shows who performed each action.

This is different from the assistant built into the product. If you want to compare the two, see what Copilot actually does in Business Central. For the wider picture on autonomous agents, read our guide to agentic AI in Business Central.

What You Need Before You Start

Requirement	Detail
Business Central	An online environment. Use a sandbox for the first test.
Business Central permissions	The MCP - Admin permission set, or equivalent, to create configurations.
Microsoft Entra ID	The Application Developer role to register the app, plus a tenant administrator to grant consent.
Connection details	Tenant ID, environment name, company name and, optionally, the configuration name.
Claude	Custom connectors are available on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. On Team and Enterprise, only Owners can add them. Claude Code also works.
ChatGPT	Developer mode on the web. Full MCP support with write actions is in beta for Business, Enterprise and Edu. Pro users get read and fetch access only.

The AI client signs in as a real Business Central user, so check that the people you plan to enable have the right licenses and permission sets. Our guide to Dynamics 365 licensing changes explains the current options.

Step 1: Configure the MCP Server in Business Central

A configuration decides which APIs an AI client can reach and what it may do with them. Microsoft's configuration guide lists every field. The short version is below.

1. Search for and open the Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server Configurations page.
2. Select New, then enter a name and description. Pick a name that says who it is for, such as SalesTeamConfig.
3. Leave Active turned off while you work. An active configuration cannot be edited.
4. Under Server Features, activate API Tools.
5. Under Available APIs, choose Select APIs, Add All Standard APIs or Add APIs by API Group.
6. For each API, tick the operations you want to allow: Read, Create, Modify, Delete or Actions.
7. Turn on Unblock Edit Tools only if this configuration should write data.
8. Select Validate, fix any warnings, then turn on Active.
9. Select Advanced, then Connection String, and copy it. It holds the server URL plus your tenant, environment, company and configuration values.

Which server features should you turn on?

Feature	What it does	When to use it
API Tools	Exposes the API pages and API queries you select.	Always. The other API features depend on it.
Dynamic Tool Mode	Lets the assistant search for tools at runtime instead of loading every tool up front.	When you expose many APIs. Microsoft notes that Copilot Studio has a 70-tool limit.
Data Query Tools (Preview)	Runs read-only queries against Business Central tables.	Analysis scenarios, after testing. It is in preview and may change.

If a connection does not name a configuration, Business Central uses the default one. The built-in default allows read-only discovery of the API pages and queries the signed-in user can already use.

One limit to plan around: API pages of the ListPart and CardPart subtypes cannot be added as tools. If the standard APIs do not expose a field or table you need, a custom API page built through Business Central development closes the gap.

Step 2: Register an App in Microsoft Entra ID

Visual Studio Code and Copilot Studio use an app that Microsoft has already registered. Claude and ChatGPT do not, so you register one yourself. The MCP standard lets clients register automatically, but Microsoft Entra ID does not support that method. You can reuse one registration across several AI clients.

These steps follow Microsoft's guide for connecting non-Microsoft hosts.

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center and go to App registrations, then New registration.
2. Enter a clear name, for example BC MCP - Claude.
3. Set Supported account types to Multiple Entra ID tenants and select Allow all tenants.
4. Select Register and copy the Application (client) ID.
5. Open Authentication, select Add Redirect URI, and choose Mobile and desktop applications.
6. Enter the redirect URI for your AI client from the table below.
7. Open API permissions, select Add permission, then Dynamics 365 Business Central, then Delegated permissions.
8. Tick Financials.ReadWrite.All and add it.
9. Have a tenant administrator select Grant admin consent.

Which redirect URI does each client need?

AI client	Redirect URI
Claude Code	http://localhost:<port>/callback, for example http://localhost:33418/callback
Claude web and desktop connector	https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback. Administrators who have this working also add https://claude.com/api/mcp/auth_callback.
ChatGPT	The redirect URL shown on your app's management page in ChatGPT. It follows the pattern https://chatgpt.com/connector/oauth/{callback_id}.

Redirect URIs change over time, so confirm them in each vendor's documentation before you save.

Why the platform choice matters

Registering the redirect URI under Mobile and desktop applications creates a public client, which needs no client secret. If you register it under Web instead, Entra treats the app as a confidential client and rejects the sign-in unless a client secret is supplied. Administrators on Anthropic's public connector tracker reported this exact failure in September 2026, with error code AADSTS7000218.

You can also record the client ID inside Business Central. On the MCP Server Configurations page, select Advanced, then Entra Applications, so colleagues can find it later. If your team has no Entra administrator available, our Azure consulting services cover app registration and consent.

Step 3: Connect Claude to Business Central

Claude offers two routes. Claude Code is the one Microsoft documents. The custom connector in Claude's web and desktop apps suits business users, with one condition explained below.

Option A: Claude Code

Add the server to your Claude Code MCP configuration. Replace the placeholder values with your own.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "businesscentral": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.businesscentral.dynamics.com",
      "headers": {
        "TenantId": "<your-tenant-id>",
        "EnvironmentName": "Production",
        "Company": "<your company name>",
        "ConfigurationName": "SalesTeamConfig"
      },
      "oauth": {
        "clientId": "<your-app-client-id>",
        "callbackPort": 33418
      }
    }
  }
}

Two details prevent most errors:

• The callback port must match the port in the redirect URI you registered in Entra.
• A company or configuration name with non-ASCII characters, such as ø or å, must be Base64 encoded in the format Microsoft specifies.

Option B: Claude web and desktop custom connector

Anthropic's custom connector guide describes the general process. For Business Central it looks like this.

1. Open Settings, then Connectors, and select Add custom connector. On Team and Enterprise plans, an Owner does this for the organization.
2. Enter https://mcp.businesscentral.dynamics.com as the remote MCP server URL.
3. Open Advanced settings and paste your Entra client ID. Leave the client secret blank if you registered a public client.
4. In Request headers, add EnvironmentName, Company and ConfigurationName with your values.
5. Select Add, then Connect, and sign in with an account from the tenant that owns the Business Central environment.
6. In a chat, enable the connector from the plus menu under Connectors.

The condition is step 4. Request headers are a beta feature with staged availability, so the section may not appear on your account yet. Administrators on Anthropic's tracker confirmed in September 2026 that the three Business Central header names are accepted where the feature is available.

If you do not see Request headers, use Claude Code instead. Some teams bridge Claude Desktop through a local proxy, but Microsoft's sample proxy is unsupported, so treat it as a test tool only.

A connector cannot be edited after creation. To change a header value or add a secret, remove it and add it again.

Step 4: Connect ChatGPT to Business Central

ChatGPT connects to remote MCP servers through custom apps in developer mode. OpenAI's developer mode article is the reference for plan rules, which have changed several times.

1. Turn on developer mode. On Business plans, an admin goes to Settings, Apps, Advanced settings. On Enterprise and Edu, an admin first grants access under Permissions & Roles.
2. Go to Apps and select Create.
3. Enter https://mcp.businesscentral.dynamics.com as the MCP server endpoint and add a name.
4. Choose OAuth as the authentication method and supply your Entra client ID.
5. Copy the redirect URL ChatGPT shows for the app and add it to your Entra app registration.
6. Select Scan Tools, complete the Microsoft sign-in, then select Create.
7. Test the draft app in a new chat. It appears with a Dev label.
8. When it is ready, an admin publishes it from Workspace settings, Apps, Drafts.

What to know before you rely on ChatGPT

• It is web only. OpenAI states that MCP apps are not available on mobile.
• Allow refresh tokens with offline_access. OpenAI warns that without refresh tokens, users may need to sign in again when the first authorization expires.
• Tool lists are frozen at approval. If you later change the Business Central configuration, an admin must refresh the app's actions in workspace settings.
• Check how your workspace sends the environment and company. Microsoft says these headers are required unless the host supports leaving them out. OpenAI's article does not describe a field for custom request headers, so test in a sandbox first.

If your workspace cannot send those values, there are two practical options. One is a small gateway that adds them before forwarding requests to Microsoft's endpoint, which our Business Central integration team can build. The other is Copilot Studio, which has built-in Business Central support.

What Can You Ask Once It Is Connected?

What the assistant can do depends on the APIs and operations in your configuration. Typical prompts look like these.

• "List the ten customers with the highest balance due."
• "Show open sales orders for customer 10000 created this month."
• "Which vendors have invoices due in the next seven days?"
• "Create a new customer called Northwind Traders in Houston." This needs Allow Create.
• "Update the phone number on customer 20000." This needs Allow Modify.

Behind the scenes the assistant calls tools. With Dynamic Tool Mode off, each allowed operation is its own tool, such as List_Customers_PAG30009. With it on, the assistant uses three general tools to search, describe and invoke actions.

Use this for ad hoc questions and quick updates. For recurring dashboards, Power BI remains the better fit. To see how this sits beside the product's own assistants, read our overview of AI features in Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Security and Governance Best Practices

An AI assistant with ERP access deserves the same care as a new integration user. These practices keep the rollout controlled.

1. Start read-only in a sandbox. Prove the value with questions before you allow any writes.
2. Create one configuration per team. Give sales, finance and warehouse users only the APIs their work needs.
3. Keep Discover Read-Only Objects off unless a team truly needs to browse every API.
4. Unblock edit tools deliberately. Allow Modify without Allow Delete is a sensible first step for most teams.
5. Rely on permission sets. A user needs permission to run the API object and read its table data, so the assistant can never exceed that person's access.
6. Keep human approval on. Claude asks before it runs a tool, and ChatGPT may ask for confirmation on write actions. Avoid always-allow settings for tools that change data.
7. Review data handling. Records returned to a chat are processed by the AI provider, so check your plan's data terms against your compliance needs.
8. Connect only to the official endpoint. Both Anthropic and OpenAI warn about prompt injection from untrusted MCP servers.

Permissions and configurations drift as teams change. A periodic review under a Business Central support plan keeps access aligned with roles.

Troubleshooting Common Connection Errors

The AI client usually shows one generic failure message for very different causes. This table draws on Microsoft's documentation and on administrator reports from Anthropic's public connector tracker.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Microsoft sign-in succeeds, but the AI client reports that authorization failed	The redirect URI sits under the Web platform and no client secret was supplied	Register it under Mobile and desktop applications, or supply the secret when you create the connector
A 401 response with no detail	Environment, company or configuration values are missing	Add the headers, or use a client that can send them
"Environment does not exist"	The environment name is wrong	Copy the exact name from the connection string
"Access is denied to company"	The user has no access to that company	Grant access or change the company value
"MCP Configuration was not found or not active"	The name is wrong, the configuration is inactive, or no default is set	Activate it, or select Set as Default
"The current permissions prevented the action"	The user has no permission set covering that API page	Assign a permission set that includes it
"Approval required" at sign-in	The account belongs to another tenant, or admin consent is missing	Sign in with an account from the Business Central tenant and grant consent
Tools missing in ChatGPT after a change	The app uses a frozen tool list	Ask an admin to refresh the app's actions
First call is slow after a long idle period	The environment is waking up	Retry once before you investigate

Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot Studio: Which Should You Use?

	Claude Code	Claude web and desktop	ChatGPT	Copilot Studio
Setup	Entra app plus a JSON configuration	Entra app plus a custom connector	Entra app plus a developer mode app	Built-in Business Central support, no app registration
Environment and company values	Sent as headers in the configuration	Sent through Request headers, a beta feature	Not described in OpenAI's documentation	Selected in the tool setup
Plans	Any Claude Code setup	Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise	Business, Enterprise, Edu for write actions	Copilot Studio licensing
Best for	Consultants, developers and power users	Business users already working in Claude	Workspaces standardized on ChatGPT	Building reusable agents inside the Microsoft stack

If your company is committed to Microsoft tooling, Copilot Studio is the lowest-friction route, and our Power Apps services team builds agents on it. If your people already work in Claude or ChatGPT every day, connecting those tools meets them where they are.

FAQs

Does Business Central have an official MCP server?

Yes. Microsoft hosts it at https://mcp.businesscentral.dynamics.com for Business Central online, and administrators control it from the MCP Server Configurations page.

Can Claude or ChatGPT change data in Business Central?

Only if you allow it. The default configuration is read-only. Writes require Unblock Edit Tools, the matching Allow permission on each API, and a user who holds the right Business Central permissions.

Does the MCP server work with Business Central on-premises?

Microsoft's documentation applies to Business Central online only. On-premises customers need a different integration approach.

Do I need Copilot Studio to use the MCP server?

No. Copilot Studio is one supported host. Visual Studio Code, Claude, ChatGPT and other MCP-compliant clients connect to the same endpoint. For a view on the built-in assistant, see our article on Business Central Copilot features.

Is it safe to connect an AI assistant to ERP data?

It can be, with controls. Access is tied to each user's sign-in and permission sets, and admins choose which APIs are exposed. Start read-only, limit each configuration, and review your AI provider's data terms.

Why does the connection fail after a successful Microsoft sign-in?

The two most common causes are a redirect URI registered under the wrong platform and missing environment or company values. The troubleshooting table above covers both.

Final Thoughts

The Business Central MCP server turns Claude and ChatGPT from general assistants into tools that can answer questions from live ERP data. The technology is ready, but the setup spans three admin areas: Business Central, Microsoft Entra ID and the AI client. Most delays come from the handoffs between them.

A careful rollout starts with one read-only configuration in a sandbox, a single pilot team, and a clear list of questions the assistant should answer. Add write access later, one API at a time.

If you are also planning your next update, our rundown of the BC29 features worth switching on first covers what else is new. Trango Tech is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner that configures, secures and supports these connections. To plan yours, talk to our team.