First Connection
A connection links one platform account, such as a Google Ads customer ID or a GA4 property, to a brand in your InsightfulPipe workspace. Once it's connected, the account is available to your MCP servers and the CLI.
Before you start
- A workspace role of Owner, Administrator or Operator. Members with the User role can't connect accounts.
- A brand to own the connection. Create one under Brands with Add Brand if you don't have one yet.
- A login on the platform with access to the account you want to connect.
Connect an account
- Open Connectors in the app sidebar and pick the platform.
- Click Connect.
- If the platform offers it, choose Permissions: Read Only or Read + Write.
- Sign in to the platform and approve the requested access.
- Select the accounts to connect. Many platforms, including Google Ads, Meta Ads and LinkedIn Ads, let you select several at once.
- Confirm. Each account appears in the connections table with its status and a Read Only or Read & Write badge.
You can move a connection to a different brand later with Move to brand.
Platforms that use API credentials
Some connectors don't use a platform sign-in. You enter credentials instead:
- Shopify: a custom app. Enter the shop name, client ID and client secret.
- WooCommerce: the store URL, consumer key and consumer secret.
- Magento: the store URL and the four OAuth credentials from your Magento integration.
- WordPress: the site URL, your username and an application password.
Read Only or Read + Write?
- Read Only locks every write action for that account. If an agent tries one, it gets: "This account is connected read-only, so this action cannot be enabled for it. An owner or admin must reconnect it with Read & Write permissions."
- Read + Write lets agents run the write actions enabled for the account. Destructive actions, such as deletes, are off by default.
Start with Read Only if you only need reporting. You can reconnect with Read + Write later.
Control what agents can do
Each connection has an MCP/CLI actions button showing how many actions are enabled. Owners, administrators and operators can click it (Configure actions for this account) to turn individual actions on or off, using the All, Read only, Write and Destructive tabs. Disabled actions are hidden from agents and blocked.
Next step
Add the matching MCP server to your AI client: Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code or Cursor.