What you can ask
Once it’s connected, ask in your own words. For example:
- “Might I be able to take two weeks off in December?”
- “How much holiday have I got left?”
- “Who’s off on Friday?”
- “When is Priya back at work?”
- “Can I pick up the open shift on Thursday night?”
- “Book me the 14th off as annual leave.”
Managers and HR can also ask:
- “How many days has Chloe had off sick this year?”
- “What’s the total holiday taken by the kitchen team this year?”
- “Give me a rundown of shifts at Harbour Street next week.”
- “What holiday requests are waiting for approval?”
- “Who on my team is most at risk of fatigue next month?”
- “Were more people off sick the day after the big matches this summer?”
- “Post a message to everyone: the car park is closed on Monday.”
You can name people by their first name, and teams and locations by name. A team and a location work the same way, so “the kitchen” and “Harbour Street” are both fine. If a name could mean two people, the assistant asks which you meant.
Holiday and sickness are counted in working days, the same as your Calendar in RotaTiger. A fortnight away is 10 days, not 14, and a half day counts as half.
Planning time off
Ask when you could take a stretch off (a week, two weeks, a number of days) in a month or between two dates. The assistant tries every start date and, for the best few, tells you what it would cost, your balance afterwards, how many of your team are already off, any days the team would be short, and your company’s rules (notice, blackout days, how many can be off at once). Each gets a verdict: approved straight away, likely, possible but your approver may say no, or can’t be booked, with the reason. It’s a guide, not a decision: your approver still decides, and nothing is booked until you ask for it.
Open shifts and fatigue
Ask about open shifts you could pick up. If taking one would mean too many nights in a row, too little rest or another fatigue check, the assistant tells you, the same warnings as in RotaTiger. They don’t stop you taking it, and your manager sees them too.
If your company has fatigue checks on, managers and HR can ask who’s most at risk among the people they plan for, and why. Staff can’t see fatigue ratings, their own or anyone else’s.
Sickness patterns
Managers and HR can compare how many people were off sick on chosen dates (the day after a big match, say) with a usual day: the same weekday in the weeks before. It gives counts, never names. It only includes people whose sickness you can see in RotaTiger, and needs at least 5 of them. Days when fewer than 5 were working aren’t shown, so a count can’t point at one person. A pattern across a group isn’t evidence about anyone in it.
What it can do depends on who you are
The assistant signs in as you, so it can only see and do what you can in RotaTiger:
- Everyone can ask about their own leave, balance and shifts, plan and book or cancel their own time off, and take open shifts. They can also ask when the people on their wallchart are off, the same as the wallchart shows it: private types such as sickness appear as Away, and anything the team wasn’t told about is left out. Not their balances or requests.
- Managers can also report on their team’s leave and sickness, see fatigue risk for the people they plan for, compare sickness on chosen dates, see pending requests, approve or decline them, and book time off for their team.
- HR and owners can do all of that for the whole company, and post company messages.
Someone covering a manager’s approvals can approve for that manager’s team, but sees private types as Away, as in RotaTiger.
It asks before it changes anything
Booking, cancelling, approving or declining, taking an open shift and posting a message all take two steps:
- The assistant asks RotaTiger, which says exactly what would happen (the dates, what it costs, any warnings) and does nothing yet.
- The assistant shows you. Only if you say yes does it go back, with a one-time code for exactly those details, and RotaTiger does it.
The code works once, for ten minutes, and only for what you were shown. If anything changes in between (the dates, or someone else approves it first), it’s refused and the assistant has to ask you again. Each connection can make at most 30 changes an hour. Anything it changes is recorded in your company’s audit log.
RotaTiger can make sure the app comes back before anything happens, but not that it really asked you. If you want to be certain, connect it for questions only: it can look up everything you can, but can’t change anything.
The assistant never sees the notes people write on requests and shifts, so nobody can slip it instructions in a note. Open the request in RotaTiger to read its note.
Before you start: turn it on (admins)
AI assistants are off until an admin turns them on:
- Open Settings and choose Integrations.
- Under AI assistants, switch on Let people connect AI apps.
- Optionally, switch on Questions only. AI apps can then look things up but not book, cancel, approve, take shifts or post messages, for everyone in your company.
The section then shows RotaTiger’s server address with a Copy button, the steps below for each app, and every app people have connected.
If your company asks for two-step verification, it applies to AI apps too: someone who hasn’t turned it on can’t connect one until they do.
Connect Claude
- In Claude, on the web, desktop or mobile app, open Settings → Connectors and choose Add custom connector.
- Name it RotaTiger and paste this address:
https://app.rotatiger.com/api/mcp. Choose Add. - Choose Connect. RotaTiger opens in your browser. Sign in if you need to.
- Tick the companies to connect. Tick Questions only if you’d like. Choose Connect. You’re sent back to Claude.
RotaTiger shows where access is going (claude.ai for Claude, chatgpt.com for ChatGPT). If it says it doesn’t recognise this app, and you didn’t start connecting it yourself, choose Cancel: a link or email may be trying to get access to your account.
On Claude Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds the connector once in Organization settings → Connectors. Each person then connects it for themselves.
Connect ChatGPT
- In ChatGPT, open Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced settings and turn on Developer mode.
- Back in Apps & Connectors, choose Create. Name it RotaTiger, paste
https://app.rotatiger.com/api/mcpas the server address, and pick OAuth for authentication. - Sign in to RotaTiger when asked, tick the companies and choose Connect.
On ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, an admin may need to allow custom connectors first.
Connect Claude Code and other apps
In Claude Code, run:
claude mcp add --transport http rotatiger https://app.rotatiger.com/api/mcp
Then type /mcp, choose rotatiger and sign in in your browser.
Other apps, such as Cursor, VS Code and Gemini CLI, can add a remote MCP server (sometimes called “streamable HTTP”) with the same address. They open RotaTiger for you to sign in. No API key is needed.
More than one company
If you work for more than one company in RotaTiger, tick each one when you connect. Ask about anyone by name and the assistant finds them in whichever company they’re in. For questions about yourself, such as booking leave, it asks which company you mean, or you can say: “Book me Friday off at Harbour Café.”
Each company’s admin decides for their own company. If one turns AI assistants off, the others keep working.
Disconnect
- From your AI app: remove or disconnect the RotaTiger connector.
- In RotaTiger: open your Profile. Under Connected AI apps, choose Disconnect beside an app you no longer use or don’t recognise.
- Admins: open Settings → Integrations. Under Connected apps, choose Disconnect beside any app and confirm. It stops working in your company straight away.
- Everyone at once: switch off Let people connect AI apps. Every connection stops until it’s switched back on.
Connections also stop by themselves when you change or reset your password, turn off two-step verification, or leave the company, and when your company starts asking for two-step verification and you haven’t turned it on.