Connecting Pigment's MCP Server to AI systems gives access to tools in two modes.
⚠️ Important
The default mode and advanced mode outlined below govern which tools are available to external AI systems. However, access to MCP tools does not supersede user access rights and permissions. Switching on MCP does not give users modeling rights that they don't have in Pigment.
For example:
If advanced mode is enabled, the AI system can see and use the tool "create_metric".
But if the user doesn't have the "Configure Blocks" permission, it just returns an error. Even if the AI can use the tool, it can't perform the action because the user doesn't have the permission.
We recommend using advanced mode with Skills (see section below).
Default mode
Public mode provides read-only tools for exploring and analyzing your Applications. For instance, public tools let you:
Find Applications, Blocks, and Boards
Understand Metric structure and dependencies
Retrieve Metric and List data
To make a Block's data accessible, you need to enable AI data access on it.
Advanced mode
Advanced mode provides read and write tools for modeling and editing your Applications. For instance, advanced tools let you:
Create Applications
Build and edit Blocks (Dimensions, Metrics and Tables)
Write formulas
Design Views and Boards
Input data
Audit performance
Each user can enable advanced mode for their account in Settings > Advanced features > Enable advanced tools on MCP server. Advanced mode is off by default.
Tool refresh
To ensure that your AI system is using Pigment’s latest tool set, ask it where you can manage tools and their permissions. For example, in Claude, head to Settings > Connectors. Under Tool permissions, check the tool you need is present and if necessary update the permission, choosing from:
Always allow
Needs approval
Blocked
Custom
Skills
Skills are domain-knowledge files that give AI systems the context they need to work effectively with Pigment. They package Pigment-specific knowledge — including formula syntax, modeling best practices and application patterns — so the AI can produce accurate, high-quality results without requiring you to explain the context yourself.
We recommend using Skills when working in advanced mode. Without them, AI systems lack the Pigment-specific knowledge needed to model reliably.
Pigment Skills are available in this public repository and can be set up in two ways:
Plugin: For Claude Code and Cursor, use the dedicated plugins available in the repository. These bundle the MCP Server configuration together with Skills, so your AI system loads and uses them automatically once installed.
Manual upload: Download the Skills files from the repository and upload them to your AI tool by following your provider's documentation (see the table below).