You can connect your AI assistant to Elements in a few minutes. Once connected, your assistant can use the skills described in 'What you can do with Elements in your AI assistant' to answer questions about your Salesforce Org.

Elements runs in more than one location, so the address your assistant connects to depends on which one your Org uses. Match the URL shown in your browser when you're logged into Elements; never guess based on where you or your company are located.

In the steps below, replace <your-api-host> with the host from the right-hand column above, for example api.q9elements.com.

The recommended route installs the Elements skills and the MCP server together as a plugin. Inside Claude Code, run:

Then run /mcp, choose 'elements', and approve access in the browser tab that opens.

If you only want the MCP server, without the skills:

If you don't see 'Add custom connector', your Claude plan or organization settings may not allow custom connectors; check Anthropic's current documentation.

On Claude Desktop, you can add the Elements skills as well with npx skills add -g Q9Elements/elements-mcp-server. On claude.ai the connector alone is enough; your assistant uses the tools directly.

Add the Elements skills with npx skills add Q9Elements/elements-mcp-server.

The recommended route installs the Elements skills and the MCP server together as a plugin:

Then install 'elements' from the list, and run codex mcp login elements to sign in.

If you only want the MCP server, without the skills:

The first time you connect, Elements opens a browser tab and asks you to sign in with your existing Elements account. After signing in, you choose which Space or Spaces the connection can use, then approve.

If your account only has access to one Space, Elements selects it automatically. You can change which Spaces a connection can use at any time; see 'MCP security & admin controls'.

Ask your assistant something like "What Elements Spaces can you see?" or "Search my org for a field called…". If you get a real answer back, you're connected.

Then try a first real question:

Some of these depend on your Space's plan and licenses; see 'Supported tools in the Elements MCP server' for what each needs. The full menu of capabilities, with example prompts, is in 'What you can do with Elements in your AI assistant'.

Next, read 'How the Elements MCP server works' to understand what it can access, and 'MCP security & admin controls' to see how to manage or revoke a connection. If anything didn't work along the way, see 'MCP troubleshooting' at the end of this article.

The Elements MCP server lets your AI assistant securely query your Elements and Salesforce architecture data, using the Elements permissions you already have. This section explains what happens behind the scenes when you connect.

Your assistant talks to a single Elements address over a secure, authenticated connection. The connection itself stores nothing beyond the sign-in authorization you approved; your password is never shared with your assistant, and no copy of your data is created. There's no separate app or plugin to install on the Elements side; the connection is built into your account.

Diagram: your AI assistant (Claude, Codex, Cursor, or any OAuth 2.1 + PKCE MCP client) connects over MCP/HTTPS to the Elements MCP server, which checks your identity, approved Space(s), and role/plan/licenses on every call before reaching your Space. Your Space holds Salesforce metadata synced one-way, read-only, from your Salesforce org. There is no path between your AI assistant and your Salesforce org, ever.

A connection never gives your assistant more access than you already have in Elements. Every request is checked against your Elements role, plan, and permissions at the moment it's made, so if your access changes, what your assistant can see changes with it.

When you connect, you choose which Space or Spaces your assistant can use. It only works in the Spaces you've selected, and a Space must be enabled for the MCP server by Elements before it can be used at all.

Today, your assistant can read your Salesforce metadata and architecture data through Elements: objects, fields, flows, dependencies, permissions, and org-health analytics such as automation, technical debt, compliance, and governance. The only things a connection can create or change are a new Space and a saved metadata view (a filtered metadata list saved under a name); everything else is read-only. It does not delete data, and it never overwrites your synced Salesforce metadata.

The Elements MCP server works with any AI assistant whose MCP client supports remote MCP servers with the MCP standard's secure sign-in (OAuth 2.1 with PKCE). It has been tested with Claude, Codex, and Cursor; see 'Connect your AI assistant to Elements' for setup steps.

This section explains how the Elements MCP server keeps your data safe and how you can govern and audit your connections. It's the section to share with your security team.

Elements stores Salesforce metadata and configuration only: things like object and field definitions, flows, Apex classes, validation rules, and permission sets. It never stores Salesforce business records (accounts, contacts, opportunities, transactions), so nothing your AI assistant does through Elements can reach them either.

The MCP server never connects to your Salesforce org, and nothing it does can change your Salesforce org: Elements reads Salesforce metadata, it never writes it. When your assistant creates something, it creates it inside Elements only: a new Space or a saved metadata view.

You sign in with your existing Elements account using OAuth 2.1, an open, secure sign-in standard used across the industry. The sign-in flow uses PKCE, an additional safeguard that prevents an intercepted request from being reused by anyone else. You never share an Elements password with your AI assistant; you sign in through your browser, directly with Elements.

When you approve a connection, you're shown the client (for example, Claude Code) and what it will be able to do; the choice you make is which Space or Spaces it can use. Elements controls which Spaces are licensed for MCP access, and your Space administrator controls the Elements permissions you have, which determine what will actually work. A connection only ever reaches the Spaces you selected; new Spaces are never added to an existing connection automatically.

Elements turns on MCP access for each Space individually; it is a licensed feature. A Space that hasn't been enabled can't be selected when you connect, and Elements checks this again on every single request, so disabling a Space takes effect immediately, even for connections that were approved earlier.

A connection only ever works inside the Spaces you granted it; it can't be used to reach any other Space, tenant, or customer's data. Behind the scenes, each access token is cryptographically tied to the Elements MCP server, so even if a token were somehow exposed, it couldn't be replayed against any other Elements service.

Access tokens are short-lived and refresh automatically in the background, so you don't need to sign in repeatedly. Elements never stores a token in plain text; only a hashed version is kept, the same way passwords are protected.

You can review and revoke your own connections at any time: open your Elements profile, select the 'Connected apps' tab, find the connection, and click 'Revoke'. Each connection shows the client, the Space(s) it can use, its scope, and when it was last used. Revoking takes effect immediately. In the GA release, Space administrators will also be able to review and revoke connections into their Space.

Every action your assistant takes through Elements is logged: who made the request, which Space it ran in, what it asked for, and whether it succeeded. Sign-ins, approvals, and revocations are logged too. These records are kept in secure, tamper-resistant storage operated by Elements and used for security monitoring and incident investigation. They aren't currently visible inside the Elements app; if you need a connection's activity investigated, contact Elements support. What you can see yourself, at any time, is every active connection, what it's allowed to do, and when it was last used (on the 'Connected apps' tab of your profile).

Each connection is limited to a safe rate of requests, and every request is checked against a strict, predefined set of allowed inputs before it runs, so it can't be used to send unexpected commands. Results are screened on the way back, too: hidden characters that could be used to smuggle instructions to an AI assistant are stripped from every response, and AI-generated explanations are checked and clearly marked so your assistant treats them as information to read, not instructions to follow.

Almost everything is read-only: the only things a connection can create are a new Space and a saved metadata view. Creating them still requires your own Elements permissions. Your assistant acts as you: it can never do more than your Space administrator has already allowed you to do yourself, and approving a connection never raises your own permissions. It cannot delete, export, or overwrite your data.

One tool uses AI to produce its answer: the one that explains in plain language what an automation does. It runs through the same licensed AI features Elements already offers in the web application; connecting an assistant doesn't add any new AI integration or send your data anywhere new. Only the metadata needed to answer the question is sent, never Salesforce business records, which Elements doesn't hold.

The MCP server runs on the same platform as the rest of Elements. Our platform-level security documentation (including SOC 2, ISO 27001:2022, and our Data Processing Agreement) is available at trust.elements.cloud.

Your AI assistant uses a set of underlying tools to answer questions through Elements. This section lists them for reference; you don't need to call them by name, since the skills described in 'What you can do with Elements in your AI assistant' choose the right one automatically.

Every tool respects your existing Elements permissions; a tool never returns more than you could already see in the Elements app. The set of available tools grows over time as Elements adds new skills.

Only two tools write anything (create_space and save_metadata_view), and both are additive: nothing in this set deletes, exports, or overwrites your data.

Some tools are only available on certain Elements plans, such as Pro or Enterprise. A tool your Space isn't licensed for won't appear in your assistant's tool list at all; if you try to use an available tool that your Elements permissions don't allow, your assistant lets you know.

Elements connects to your AI assistant so you can ask questions about your Salesforce Org in plain language, right inside the tools you already use. Seven built-in skills turn a plain-language request into the right Elements lookup, so you get an answer instead of digging through screens.

Each of these seven skills is built to recognize the kind of question you're asking and call the right Elements lookup automatically; you don't need to learn any special commands. But each capability is a named skill, and if your client has the Elements skills installed (the install steps in 'Connect your AI assistant to Elements' cover this for Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor), you can also invoke one directly by name: the slash form shown with each example. On claude.ai, just ask in plain language.

Ask your assistant which Elements Space it's currently using, switch it to a different Space, or create a new one for a project.

"What Space are you working in right now? Switch to the Acme Corp space."
or directly: /elements-spaces switch to Acme Corp

Ask about a specific object, field, flow, trigger, or Apex class: what it is, what it depends on, and what it does.

"What does the LoyaltyPointsFlow do, and what does it depend on?"
or directly: /elements-metadata LoyaltyPointsFlow

Ask which Profiles, Permission Sets, Permission Set Groups, or Groups can read or edit a field or object, and how many users each one reaches.

"Who can edit the Credit Limit field on Account, and how many people does each permission reach?"
or directly: /elements-access Credit Limit on Account

Ask for a filtered list of metadata that matches specific criteria, and save it as a named, reusable view.

"List every screen flow still on an old API version, and save that as a view called 'Flows to upgrade.'"
or directly: /elements-metadata-query screen flows on old API versions

Ask for a full health check of your org (structure, automation, technical debt, compliance, and governance) in one pass, with a ranked summary of where to look first.

"Run a health check on my org and tell me where to look first."
or directly: /elements-org-diagnostic

Ask what changed in your org over a given period, broken down by metadata type, with unusual spikes or deletion waves flagged.

"What changed in my org this week, and was anything unusual?"
or directly: /elements-change-briefing last 7 days

Ask for a ranked list of what to fix or remove first, based on risk, how many other components depend on it, and how recently it changed.

"What should I clean up first, and why?"
or directly: /elements-tech-debt

Elements is extending the MCP server in two further steps: Model & decide (evaluate and design automation changes) and Deliver the change (turn decisions into diagrams and stories). New skills for both will appear here as they ship.

If your AI assistant can't connect to Elements, or something isn't behaving as expected, start here. Click any question below to expand it.