Run your event by asking
Connect Picsui to the assistant you already use and manage the event in chat. “Who has not replied yet?” “Add these twelve people to the list.” “Start a photo challenge asking guests to find someone in the same colour.”
It works through the Model Context Protocol, an open standard, so Picsui is a server any MCP client can connect to rather than an integration with one company. Your key, your account, and a read-only default that makes the tools that change things invisible.
One question, one filtered call, one answer — and a struck-out column showing the field that never leaves the server.
- 1
A filter, not a scrape. rsvp_status is an enum on the tool's own schema — pending, attending or declined — so the assistant asks the database for the five, rather than pulling the whole list into a chat transcript and counting.
- 2
Seven counters, one call. get_rsvp_summary answers with invited, attending, declined, pending, heads, arrived and checkedInParties. Heads is people expected, which is not the same number as invitations.
- 3
The invite token is deleted first. It is the one credential that opens a guest's own invitation, and list_guests strips it from every row before answering. An assistant has no use for one and a chat log is a bad place to keep it.
- 4
Wrong event, plain answer. Name an event this key does not own and the reply is “No event on this account matches that id or code.” There is no id an assistant can guess its way into.
Connecting it
Three steps, and the third one is checkable before you commit to it.
- 1Ask us for a key. Keys are issued by hand today — email Support@Picsui.com and we will send you one. It arrives as pk_live_… and is shown once, because only a hash of it is stored. Say then if you want write access; a key is read-only unless you ask.
- 2In your assistant, add a new MCP server.
- 3Give it the URL below and your key as a bearer token. The assistant shakes hands, asks for the tool list, and gets 6 tools on a read-only key or 10 on a key with write access.
https://picsui.com/api/mcp
Authorization: Bearer pk_live_…A GET on that URL returns the server description, so you can check the connection before wiring anything up.
A GET on picsui.com/api/mcp returns the server description — name, version, protocol version, transport, how to authenticate, and the 6 read tools — so you can confirm the endpoint answers before you paste a key anywhere.
What it can do
The full list, not a sample — 10 tools, 6 that observe and 4 that change something. A read-only key does not get the second group greyed out. It does not get it at all.
The same account, two keys. The read-only key’s tool menu is 6 items long and stops there.
- 1
Absent, not denied. The write tools are filtered out of the tools/list response before the assistant ever sees them, so it cannot propose an action it has no tool for. 6 rows on the left, 10 on the right.
- 2
No account id anywhere. No tool on either list takes a user or account id. The key resolves to one user, every query is filtered by it, and a unit test fails the build if a tool grows such an argument.
- 3
A refusal is an answer. The read-only refusal comes back as a normal tool result flagged isError, on HTTP 200, so it reaches the person as a sentence.
- 4
Four things on neither list. Nothing here emails a guest, charges a card, refunds, or deletes. A unit test greps the catalogue for send, email, sms, charge, payment, refund, delete, remove and destroy, and fails if any tool matches.
Available on any key
list_events
List the events on this Picsui account, newest first, with their status, code, date and photo count.
get_event
Full detail for one event: dates, settings, guest and photo counts, and which features are switched on.
get_rsvp_summary
Counts for an event's guest list: invited, coming, not coming, still waiting, people expected, and how many have arrived.
list_guests
The guest list for an event, with each person's RSVP, party size and arrival status. Optionally filtered.
list_song_requests
The song requests for an event, most-wanted first, with vote counts and what has already been played.
get_photo_stats
How an event's photo collection is going: total uploaded, approved, waiting for review, and how many guests contributed.
Needs a key with write access
add_guests
Add people to an event's guest list. Accepts a pasted list — one guest per line, name first, optionally an email and how many they are invited for. Re-adding an existing email updates that person instead of duplicating them.
check_in_guest
Record how many of a guest's party arrived at the door. Pass 0 to undo a check-in.
start_game
Start a round of a guest game. The prompt is the whole game: it is what guests are asked to do.
update_event_settings
Turn event features on or off: RSVPs, song requests, games, seating, the gift registry, guest networking.
Writing, when you allow it
The write tool people reach for first is the guest list. Paste a block of names into the chat and the assistant hands it to the same parser the dashboard’s import box uses — commas, tabs or semicolons, with or without a header row. It answers with what it did, not with a shrug.
A pasted block, one guest per line, name first — the same parser the dashboard’s paste-import box uses.
- 1
Re-pasting is safe. A repeated email updates that person rather than duplicating them, and the invite token she already has is written back unchanged — so the link in the email she was sent still opens.
- 2
It says what it did. The result is four keys: added, updated_existing_guests, skipped_without_a_name, and a fresh RSVP summary — enough for the assistant to report the outcome rather than assume it.
- 3
A line with no name is skipped. Paste something with no names in it at all and the answer is “Nothing in that list had a name in it. Put the guest's name first on each line.”
- 4
Formats it already understands. Commas, tabs or semicolons, with or without a header row, and column headings like name, email, phone, party size, tags or side.
What it deliberately cannot do
Four things are missing on purpose. A connector is only worth having if the worst case is bounded. A unit test greps the tool catalogue for send, email, sms, charge, payment, refund, delete, remove and destroy, and fails the build if any tool matches — so these four cannot be added back by accident.
Send anything to your guests
An assistant with a key that lives in a chat window should not be able to email two hundred people. You send from the dashboard, where you see the recipient count before it goes.
Take a payment or issue a refund
Money moves through Stripe with you present. There is no tool for it.
Delete an event or its photos
The one action nobody can undo is the one action an assistant does not get.
See another host's account
No tool accepts an account id. Your key resolves to you, and every query is scoped to it — so there is no request an assistant could make that reaches someone else's event. Point it at an event you do not own and the answer is “No event on this account matches that id or code.”
The numbers, before you ask
Every ceiling the connector enforces, named. “Add these twelve people” is a small ask; here is where the ask stops.
- Events returned by one list_events call
- 20 by default, 100 maximum
- Guests in one pasted list
- 2,000 rows
- Song requests returned in one call
- 200
- People you can check in against one party
- 0 to 50
- Active API keys per account
- 10
Picsui’s own AI features are not available right now
The built-in Event assistant and AI Highlights are switched off, so there is no AI chat inside Picsui and no AI-picked shortlist of photos. The connector above is not affected: it runs on the assistant you already use, with your own key. For setup help, email Support@Picsui.com and a person will reply.
Questions
Which assistants can connect?
Any client that speaks the Model Context Protocol. Picsui implements the protocol rather than integrating with one company, so a client that supports MCP works without us shipping anything. The transport is plain JSON-RPC 2.0 over a single POST with a bearer token — there is no OAuth flow and no streaming channel, so a connector UI that requires either of those will not attach to it.
How do I get an API key?
Email Support@Picsui.com and we will issue one. Keys are created by hand today — there is no self-serve key screen in the dashboard, and this page used to say there was. The key arrives as pk_live_… and is shown once, because only a hash of it is stored on our side.
How do I connect it?
In your assistant, add a new MCP server with the URL https://picsui.com/api/mcp and your key as a bearer token. The assistant discovers the available tools itself. A GET on that same URL returns the server description without a key, so you can check the endpoint answers before wiring anything up.
Can I give it read-only access?
Yes, and it is the default: a key is read-only unless write access was asked for when it was issued. A read-only key exposes only the tools that observe — the guest list, RSVP counts, song requests, photo stats. The assistant literally cannot see the tools that change anything, because they are filtered out of the tool list before it is sent, so it cannot try.
What happens if it tries to change something with a read-only key?
It gets a sentence back, not a broken connection: “This API key is read-only, so it cannot add guests.” That arrives as a normal tool result flagged as an error, on a successful HTTP response, so the assistant reads it out to you instead of reporting that the server is down.
Can it reach another host's event?
No. No tool accepts a user or account id — the key resolves to exactly one account and every query is filtered by it through a single ownership check. Name an event the key does not own and the answer is “No event on this account matches that id or code.” A unit test fails the build if a tool ever grows an account argument.
Does the assistant see my guests' contact details?
It sees the guest list you created, including names and emails you entered, because that is what answering questions about your guest list requires. It never receives invitation tokens, which are the credentials that open a guest's own invitation — they are stripped from every row before the answer leaves the server.
Are there limits on how much it can pull at once?
One list_events call returns 20 events by default and 100 at most; one song-request call returns up to 200; a pasted guest list is capped at 2,000 rows; a door check-in accepts 0 to 50 people against one party, where 0 undoes it. An account can hold 10 active API keys.
Is there an assistant I can use without an API key?
Not right now. Picsui's own AI features, including the built-in Event assistant, are switched off and not available. For setup help, email Support@Picsui.com and a person will reply. The connector on this page is different: it runs on the assistant you already use, with your own key.
Do my guests get an AI assistant too?
No. Guests see the upload page, the gallery and the slideshow, with no chat bot on any guest page.
What is AI Highlights?
An AI feature that picked a shortlist of an event's best photos. It is not available right now: Picsui's AI features are switched off. Every photo can still be downloaded at full resolution, so you can pick favourites yourself.
What does this cost?
Nothing extra. The connector uses your normal Picsui plan and your own assistant subscription.
Ask your assistant who has not replied
Create an event and add your guest list, then email us for a key and connect the assistant you already use.