Set up your employee from Claude Code (MCP)
Optimly is an MCP server. That means you can hire and manage your AI employees directly from Claude Code, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible tool — no dashboard needed. You type what you want; your coding tool talks to Optimly.
An API key from the Optimly team. Ask us at contact@optimly.io (the dashboard UI for generating keys is coming). Everything below assumes you have that key.
Connect Optimly to Claude Code
Run this once in your terminal:
claude mcp add optimly \
--transport http \
--header "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
--url https://api.optimly.io/mcp
Replace YOUR_API_KEY with the key you received.
That's it. Verify with:
claude mcp list
You should see optimly in the list. Works the same in Cursor or any MCP client: point it at https://api.optimly.io/mcp with the X-Api-Key header.
What your tool can do
These are the tools Optimly exposes over MCP:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
list_employees | Show all your AI employees and their status |
get_employee(employee_id) | Full details of one employee |
create_employee(name, role, system_prompt) | Hire a new employee |
update_employee(employee_id, ...) | Change name, role, or behavior |
list_tools | Show the MCP tools available to connect |
assign_tool(employee_id, mcp_server_id) | Give an employee access to a tool |
list_skills | Show available skills |
assign_skill(employee_id, skill_id) | Teach an employee a skill |
test_employee(employee_id, message) | Send a test message and see the reply |
Example prompts
Once connected, just talk to your coding tool:
Hire a support employee for a clinic:
"Using Optimly, create an employee named Sofia with the Customer Support role for my dental clinic. Its instructions: warm, concise, answers questions about opening hours and treatments, and offers to book appointments. Then test it with 'Do you do teeth whitening?' and show me the answer."
Give an existing employee CRM access:
"Using Optimly, list my employees, then assign the HubSpot tool to Sofia."
Audit the workforce:
"Using Optimly, list all my employees with their status, and tell me which ones have no tools assigned."
Which route should you use?
| You are... | Use |
|---|---|
| A business owner who wants it done today | The dashboard — see Hire your first AI employee |
| A developer or power user living in Claude Code / Cursor | This guide — hire and manage everything without leaving the terminal |
| A company automating with AI | This guide + the API reference |
Both routes manage the same employees. Change it in the dashboard, see it in Claude Code, and the other way around.
Questions? — contact@optimly.io