Ask AI about Hawk's Bay

Connect the Hawk's Bay website to an AI assistant like Claude or ChatGPT so you can ask it about our estate — events, local services neighbours recommend, guides and news — in plain English.

You can now plug Hawk's Bay straight into an AI assistant and just ask it things about the estate — "what's coming up on the calendar?", "who do neighbours use for a plumber?", "how does the bin collection work around here?" — and get answers drawn from this website.

It works through something called an MCP server (Model Context Protocol) — a small, standard doorway that lets assistants like Claude and ChatGPT read our public pages on your behalf. You don't need to be a techie to set it up; it's a one-time copy-and-paste, and there's nothing to install and no password to create.

What you can ask it

Once it's connected, you can ask your assistant things like:

  • "What's on in Hawk's Bay over the next few weeks?" — it reads the events calendar.
  • "Who do neighbours recommend for a plumber / electrician / gardener near the estate?" — it searches the local-services directory and the notes neighbours have left.
  • "How does bin collection work where we live?" or "What are my options for broadband?" — it pulls up the relevant guide from our Knowledge library.
  • "Any recent news I should know about?" — it checks the news feed.
  • "Find me the estate info page" — it can look up standalone pages like Estate Info.

The assistant searches by meaning, not just keywords, so you can ask in your own words. When it finds something, it can open the full guide, listing or event and summarise it for you.

Good to know

  • It's read-only. The assistant can read our public pages — it can't post, change or delete anything, and it never touches private resident information or anyone's login.
  • Only public content. It sees exactly what any visitor to hawksbaywicklow.com can see: published guides and pages, the events calendar, the directory, and news. The Noticeboard and anything behind a login are not included.
  • No account or key needed. Because it only serves public information, there's nothing to sign in to. You just point your assistant at the address below.
  • Independent estate resource. This is the residents' community site, run by neighbours and independent of the developer/estate-agent site (hawksbay.ie). The assistant only ever reads from our pages.

How to connect it

The address to give your assistant is:

https://mcp.hawksbaywicklow.com/mcp

Exactly where you paste that depends on which app you use. The wording in these apps changes from time to time, so treat the steps below as a guide — look for the words "Connectors" or "Custom connector" in your settings. Custom connectors are generally a paid-plan feature (free plans are usually limited to a single one).

Which method is most reliable? If you use the Claude desktop app, the config-file (mcp-remote) method below is the most dependable — it "just works". The web/in-app Connectors screen also works, but it can be fussy about using the tools even after it connects (see the tips below if Claude connects but won't answer).

Claude on the web (claude.ai)

  1. Open Settings → Connectors (on Pro/Max it may read Customize → Connectors).
  2. Click Add → Add custom connector.
  3. Paste the address above as the remote MCP server URL and leave the OAuth fields blank (Hawk's Bay needs no login).
  4. Click Add.
  5. Turn it on in your chat (this step is easy to miss): in the message box, click the "+" button (bottom-left), hover "Connectors", and toggle "Hawk's Bay" on. Now ask your question.

If Claude connects but still won't use it — it says the connector is "available" but it "can't query it", talks about "tool limitations", or offers to build an Artifact — first make sure the toggle in step 5 is on, then ask it plainly to use the tool, e.g. "Use the Hawk's Bay connector — search for heat pump maintenance." Naming the connector usually does it. If the web app keeps refusing, use the desktop app config-file method below, which doesn't have this quirk.

On Team/Enterprise, an owner has to add the connector once under Organization settings → Connectors before members can enable it.

Claude desktop app

The desktop app has a Connectors screen too (Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector), and pasting the URL there works on recent versions. If it won't accept the URL or just doesn't recognise it, use the config-file method instead — it's the most reliable on desktop:

  1. In Claude, open Settings → Developer → Edit Config (this opens claude_desktop_config.json).

  2. Add the entry below (if the file already has an mcpServers block, just add the "hawksbay" part inside it):

    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "hawksbay": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.hawksbaywicklow.com/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

  3. Save the file and fully quit and reopen Claude. Hawk's Bay will appear as a connector.

This route uses a small helper called mcp-remote to bridge to our web address, so it needs Node.js installed on your computer (it provides the npx command). If you don't have Node, the web version above is the easier path.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT can connect to custom MCP servers where your plan enables it (look under Settings → Connectors, or turn on Developer mode for custom connectors). Add a new connector and paste the same address. If you don't see that option, your ChatGPT plan may not include custom connectors yet.

Other assistants and developer tools

Any MCP-capable client — Cursor, VS Code, and similar — can use it. Clients that support remote servers take a small config entry like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hawksbay": {
      "url": "https://mcp.hawksbaywicklow.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Clients that only support the older command style use the same mcp-remote bridge shown in the desktop section above.

For the curious — the technical bits

  • Endpoint: https://mcp.hawksbaywicklow.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP). A legacy /sse endpoint is also available for older clients.
  • Auth: none — public, read-only content only.
  • What it can do: search across all our content, plus fetch or list events, news, knowledge guides, directory listings, standalone pages, and the directory/event categories.
Ask about…The assistant uses…
Anything, in your own wordssearch_hawksbay
Eventslist_events, get_event
Newslist_news, get_news_item
Local services directorylist_directory, get_directory_listing, list_directory_categories
Knowledge guideslist_knowledge, get_knowledge_article
Standalone pageslist_pages, get_page

There's a fair-use rate limit to keep things running smoothly for everyone; normal back-and-forth conversation stays well within it.

If something isn't working

  • Claude says Hawk's Bay is "available" but won't use it (or wants to build an Artifact, or mentions "tool limitations"). First switch it on for the chat: click "+" in the message box → Connectors → toggle Hawk's Bay on. If it still won't, ask it plainly — "Use the Hawk's Bay connector to search for…". The web app can be stubborn about this even when connected; the desktop app's config-file method is the reliable way round it.
  • You don't see a "Connectors" or "Custom connector" option. Custom connectors are usually a paid-plan feature and aren't in every app yet — check your app's help for "custom connector".
  • The Claude desktop app won't accept the URL. Use the Edit Config method in the desktop section above instead of the Connectors screen — it's the reliable route on desktop. It needs Node.js installed, and you must fully quit and reopen Claude after saving.
  • The assistant says it can't reach Hawk's Bay. Double-check the address was pasted exactly, including https:// and the /mcp at the end.
  • Answers seem out of date. The assistant reads the live site, but it only knows what's published — if a guide or event isn't up yet, it won't appear.

Questions or trouble getting set up? Get in touch through the estate's usual channels and a neighbour on the committee will try to help.