Answa for AI assistants

How the Answa app works in AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude.

What the app does

Answa answers the phone for small shops. The Answa app lets an AI assistant answer questions about the shops that publish a page with Answa. The app can:

• Find a listed shop by its name, or by city, state or ZIP code.
• Read the shop's menu or service list, with prices.
• Read the shop's opening hours, and the open times on a given day.

The app only reads. It cannot place an order, make a booking or take a payment. To order or book, the customer calls the shop's Answa number. Answa answers the call and takes the order.

Which shops it shows

A shop appears only after its owner turns on the shop page in the Answa app. The page is off by default. When the owner turns it off, the shop leaves the app at once.

For each listed shop, the app gives:

• The shop name.
• For each open location: the city, state and ZIP code, the Answa phone number and the opening hours.
• The street address, only if the owner shows it.
• The live menu or service list. Prices are before tax. Sold-out and hidden items do not show.

Add the app to your AI assistant

The app has one address. It needs no login, no account and no key:

https://api.answa.net/mcp

If the app directory of your assistant does not list Answa yet, add the app yourself. Your plan of the assistant must allow custom apps or connectors. The names of the menus can change.

• ChatGPT: open the Plugins page, choose Add, then Add custom MCP server. Name it Answa, enter the address above as the server URL, choose No authentication, confirm that you trust the server, and create it. Then name Answa in your question, for example “Use Answa to…”.
• Claude: open Settings, then Connectors, choose Add, then Add custom connector. Name it Answa and enter the address above as the URL. Claude detects that no sign-in is needed.

Then ask a question that names Answa or a listed shop. The assistant decides when to use the app, and it can ask for your permission the first time.

The three tools

• find_shops — finds listed shops by a shop name, a city, a state or a ZIP code. It gives up to 10 shops.
• get_shop_details — reads one shop: its locations, Answa phone numbers and opening hours, and its menu or service list with prices before tax.
• get_open_times — reads one day at one location of a shop: whether it is open, closed or full, and some open times. It books nothing.

All three tools only read. They change nothing at the shop and nothing in Answa.

Examples to try

• “Use Answa to find shops in Dallas, Texas.”
• “Show me the menu of [shop name] on Answa, with prices.”
• “Is [shop name] open this Saturday? Check with Answa.”
• “What open times does [shop name] have next Friday?”
• “Which number do I call to order from [shop name]?”

Put the name of a listed shop in place of [shop name].

How we handle data

When an assistant uses the app, the platform of the assistant sends us the search words, a city, state or ZIP code if one is given, the shop and the day asked about, possibly a general location, the language, and an identifier for the request. We do not receive your name, email address, phone number or conversation.

We use what we receive only to answer the request. We do not store the search words. Our logs keep the time, which tool was used and the number of results, for 30 days. The full text is in our Privacy Policy.

What Answa controls

Answa controls the information that the app gives: only what each shop published. Each AI assistant decides when to use the app, what it says and which shops it suggests. Answa does not control that, and does not promise that an assistant shows a shop.

Support

Write to support@answa.net. Tell us which assistant you use and what you asked. More help is on our support page.

Who we are

Answa LLC, Frisco, Texas
support@answa.net