Use Claude With Your BetterSTR Account

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, an open standard that lets an AI assistant use real tools. Our MCP is a small connector that runs on your computer, signs in to the BetterSTR User API with credentials you create, and gives Claude a set of tools it can call on your behalf. Claude does the work in your account instead of only describing how you might do it.

Set up in three steps

You need a BetterSTR account, Node.js 18 or newer on your machine, and either Claude Desktop or Claude Code. The whole thing takes about five minutes.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "betterstr": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@betterstr/claude-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "BETTERSTR_CLIENT_ID": "bsc_your_client_id",
        "BETTERSTR_CLIENT_SECRET": "bss_your_client_secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add betterstr -- npx -y @betterstr/claude-mcp \
  --env BETTERSTR_CLIENT_ID=bsc_your_client_id \
  --env BETTERSTR_CLIENT_SECRET=bss_your_client_secret

Let Claude do the install

You do not have to touch a config file yourself. Once you have the two credentials from step 1, open Claude and ask it to set the connector up. Claude Desktop and Claude Code both know how to edit their own configuration and restart.

What Claude can do

The connector currently exposes 51 tools. Below is each area with the kind of request that works well. You do not need to name the tool; describe what you want and Claude picks the right one.

Reservations

Read-only. Claude can search by date window, property, status, confirmation code or guest name.

Payment links Stripe Connect

If your account has Stripe connected, Claude can produce a link a guest opens to pay an extra amount. Creating the link never charges anyone.

Guidebook entries

Your guidebook is a tree: a top-level menu, sub-menus under it, and content cards at the third level. Claude knows the structure and creates each level in order, showing you the plan first.

Guidebook look and settings

Colours, fonts, palettes, host details, map and weather settings, for one property or as the default for every property. Claude shows you which properties already override a setting before changing the default.

Tags

Tags group properties so a pin, a screensaver or a TV banner can apply to all of them at once. Claude can now create tags and add or remove properties.

Map locations

Pins can belong to one property, a tag, or every property. Claude looks the place up on Google first and confirms the details with you before saving.

SMS to guests Charged per message

Claude can text guests who hold a reservation on your account. It cannot text arbitrary numbers. Every send is quoted first, with the recipient list, segment count and total cost, and only goes out after you confirm.

Messages must use plain GSM characters, so no emoji. Anything sent to a reservation that has already checked out triggers an extra confirmation, even if you told Claude earlier not to ask.

WiFi status and control WiFi plan required

With a BetterSTR-managed WiFi plan (hosted UniFi, hosted Omada, or your own UniFi controller), Claude can read live network state and act on individual devices.

Fill your guide gaps New

Claude can list your open gaps by property and topic, read the exact questions guests asked, ask you for the real answer, add it to the guide in the right place, and mark the gap done. It never makes up house facts like door codes, appliance models or rules; it asks you.

If a property shows your default guide because it has no entries of its own, Claude tells you before adding anything there, because one new entry would replace the whole default guide on that property.

Android TV New

Everything a TV does is queued for its next check-in, usually within a minute, so Claude tells you a command is queued rather than done and can check back. Pairing a new TV, removing one and changing plans stay in the dashboard.

Fleet health and settings

Emergency banners and messages

An emergency banner shows over whatever the TV is playing, at one property, every property in a tag, or everywhere. It can expire by itself. A message is a one-off note on chosen TVs, like a welcome or a checkout reminder.

Smart home Premium TV

If a TV controls Home Assistant or Shelly devices on the property's network, Claude can read their state and switch them through the TV.

Screensavers

WiFi guest marketing list

Each guest record carries the property, name, email, phone, whether they ticked the marketing opt-in, whether their email was verified, first and last sign-in (in your account timezone) and how many times they have connected. You can narrow the pull by property, by a date window on either the first or the latest sign-in, by opt-in status, or by a search term, and page through as many as you have.

Pulling the same data without Claude

The MCP is a thin layer over the BetterSTR User API, so anything Claude can read, your own scripts and automation tools can read too, with the same credentials. The guest list endpoint is the one most hosts ask about, because it feeds a CRM or email platform on a schedule.

curl -u "bsc_your_client_id:bss_your_client_secret" \
  "https://api.betterstr.com/user-api/v1/wifi/guests?marketing_opt_in=true&first_seen_from=2026-08-01&format=csv" \
  -o new_guests.csv

• Zapier, Make, n8n: use an HTTP module with Basic auth on a daily schedule. Filter with first_seen_from set to your last run so each pull only brings new sign-ups.
• ChatGPT: there is no ChatGPT connector, but a Custom GPT with an Action pointed at the same endpoint and Basic auth works, as does asking ChatGPT to write the Zapier step for you.
• Spreadsheets: drop format=csv on the URL and import the file. The columns match the CSV export on the members page, with a property id column added at the end.
• Anything else: JSON is the default, and the response includes has_more plus totals so you can page cleanly.

Prose documentation with worked examples is in the API README; the guest list endpoint is under WiFi.

Guard rails

Because the connector edits live guidebooks and sends real messages, it is deliberately cautious.

• It asks which one you meant. Say "Snowmass" when you own five Snowmass units and Claude lists them and waits, rather than guessing.
• It shows the plan before writing. Creates, edits and deletes are summarised first: the target, the change, and how many properties it touches. Say "go ahead without asking" per request, or "stop confirming for this session", to skip the check.
• Deletes and multi-row changes always re-confirm. Even after blanket consent.
• Anything a guest could see is checked first. TV power, messages, banners and smart home actions are always summarised before they go out, with which TVs or devices they reach. Heating, locks and turning a TV off at an occupied property need your OK for that action, even after "stop confirming".
• SMS is quoted, never fired blind. Recipients, cost and segments come back first. Guests can reply STOP and are excluded from future sends automatically.
• Guest data is treated as personal information. Claude uses it for the task you gave it and does not volunteer it elsewhere.
• Rate limits apply per credential. Reservation and Google Places lookups have their own smaller buckets. Premium accounts get higher limits that scale with property count.

Tool reference

For the curious, or for writing your own prompts. Names are what Claude sees; you can mention them directly if you want to force a particular tool.

Source code and issue tracker: gitlab.com/icepicknz/betterstr-claude-mcp. The npm package is @betterstr/claude-mcp. The original announcement is on our blog, and the October update with the TV and guide gap tools is here.

Troubleshooting and FAQ