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AI app access connects an AI app you already use to your Bower workspace through the Bower MCP server. You can then ask that app to find a protocol, read the voice notes from a run, or draft a note, without leaving it. The connection uses OAuth: you authorize it, you can revoke it, and it covers a single workspace. Connectors work the other way round: they let Bower search the tools your lab already uses.

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How do I connect an AI app to Bower?

The server URL for every app is:
You’ll also find it, with a copy button, in Bower under Settings > Connect external AI.
  1. In your AI app, add a new MCP server (Claude and ChatGPT call it a connector) and enter the URL.
  2. The app opens a browser tab to Bower’s sign-in page. Sign in with your Bower account.
  3. If you belong to more than one workspace, pick the one to grant access to. If you have only one, Bower selects it for you.
  4. The app reports that it’s connected and lists Bower’s tools.
The server speaks MCP specification revision 2026-07-28 and still serves apps built for the 2025 revisions.

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Cursor

Create or open ~/.cursor/mcp.json and add a bower entry under mcpServers:
Save the file and restart Cursor, or add the server from Cursor’s MCP settings.

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Zed

Add the URL as a remote MCP server in Zed’s settings, then complete the sign-in in your browser.

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What can a connected app do?

Every call runs with your own permissions in the workspace you picked. Items you can’t open are left out of results. If you’re a Guest, your app is offered only the read-only tools. A connected app can:
  • Find notes, protocols, files, images, and collections, by meaning or by exact words, names, and dates.
  • Read notes, structured protocols, attachments, collections, and recent workspace activity.
  • Follow links between items, including the captures made during a protocol run.
  • Work with files and spreadsheets: query an uploaded CSV, TSV, or XLSX file, read a Bower spreadsheet, transcribe audio and video, and turn attachments into notes.
  • Look up lab equipment and catalog new instruments.
  • Create, edit, move, copy, and link notes, protocols, and collections.
  • Delete, merge, and restore. Deleting and merging always show you a preview and wait for your confirmation. Deleted items go to Trash.
It can’t upload files or delete anything permanently. Do both in the Bower app. The server publishes its current tools, with what each one does, at app.bowerlabs.ai/mcp/tools. Your app reads the same list when it connects, along with Bower’s instructions to treat the contents of your notes and files as data, never as instructions.

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Common tasks

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How do I find the captures from a protocol run?

Ask your app for the captures from that protocol. The photos, voice notes, and videos taken during a run are linked to the protocol, and the app reads them with get_linked_entities, then fetches each file’s text or a short-lived download link. In the app, the same captures appear on Protocol runs. Some AI apps run code in a sandbox that blocks Bower’s file storage host, so your assistant may get the link but be unable to download the file. If that happens, open the capture in Bower.

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How do I read the steps in a protocol?

Your app reads a structured protocol with get_protocol: its sections, steps, and amounts in one call. It can change the protocol’s title and tags, but not its steps. A structured protocol’s text is generated from its steps, so an edit to that text is refused with PROTOCOL_TEXT_IS_GENERATED. Edit the steps in the Bower app.

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How do I get something back from Trash?

Your app restores an item with restore_artifact and the ID it got when it deleted the item. Items in Trash don’t show up in search, so ask your app to keep that ID. Restores follow the same rules as in the app (see Trash):
  • The item returns to its collection, or to the top level if that collection is also in Trash.
  • RESTORE_PARENT_FIRST means the item keeps the sharing of a collection that is still in Trash. Restore the collection in Bower first.
  • PARENT_IN_TRASH means the item is a file whose note or instrument is still in Trash. Restore that first. Only files deleted together with it come back, so restore the file again afterwards if it didn’t.
Restoring needs edit access to the item. Nothing moves when a restore is refused.

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What happens when a call fails?

A failed call carries a code, such as NOT_FOUND, LINK_CAP_EXCEEDED, or RESTORE_PARENT_FIRST, and a well-behaved app tells you what went wrong instead of retrying blindly. Each item holds at most 20 links, counting the ones Bower suggests. Transcription uses your workspace’s transcription minutes for the billing period.

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Privacy and security

  • Bower never sees your AI app’s credentials. The app and Bower exchange only OAuth tokens, issued and rotated by WorkOS AuthKit, Bower’s identity partner.
  • Access tokens last about an hour. Apps that support MCP refresh tokens renew them without asking you to sign in again.
  • A token for one workspace never returns data from another, even if you belong to both.
  • You can revoke access at any time by disconnecting Bower in your app.

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How do I switch workspaces?

Disconnect Bower in your app, reconnect, and pick the new workspace at the sign-in step.

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Troubleshooting

“Couldn’t connect”: confirm the URL is exactly https://app.bowerlabs.ai/mcp, with no trailing slash and no extra path. “Workspace not specified”, connected to the wrong workspace, or prompted to connect again: visit https://app.bowerlabs.ai/auth/workos while signed in to Bower, pick the workspace, then reconnect from your app. Access expires after about an hour: your app doesn’t renew tokens on its own. Disconnect Bower and reconnect. A tool your app expected is missing: Guests are offered read-only tools only. Ask a workspace Admin if you need to create or edit. Restricted-mode workspaces: AI app access isn’t available yet for workspaces in Restricted mode (HIPAA-ready).