Ask Hortis is a plugin that connects your plant collection data to an AI assistant. Once connected, you can use natural language to analyse your collection and make changes to it directly.
When you install the plugin (AKA Connector), every interaction is carried out on your behalf and limited by your account's permissions. It cannot access or change anything that you couldn't already do yourself. What Ask Hortis adds is speed and reach: instead of digging through multiple records, cross-referencing data, or making a series of manual edits, you can do it in a single request.
Connecting Ask Hortis to your AI assistant
Ask Hortis is designed to work with a range of AI assistants. If you currently do not have a paid account with any AI provider, we recommend starting with Claude.ai which has a free tier that allows you to install one custom connector. Alternatively, if you already have an AI subscription, you should be able to connect it there too by following that provider's instructions for adding an MCP connector.
Connecting Ask Hortis with Claude.ai
You can use Claude on the web, as a desktop app, or on your phone and once the connector is installed, you will be able to use it on all devices.
If you have Claude Team or Enterprise plan, please get in touch with your administrator.
To install the connector:
Click on your profile or the Settings/Customize menu, and go to Connectors.
Click Add custom connector (or the + icon).
Enter a descriptive name (e.g. "Ask Hortis") and the URL: https://mcp.hortis.com/mcp
Leave the advanced settings blank.
Click Add.
Once the connector has been added, click Connect. Enter your Hortis subdomain and sign in to Hortis.
You're now ready to start using Ask Hortis in your conversations with Claude.
Tip: By default, the connector will ask for permission before executing every operation. You can adjust this in the connector settings — either blocking specific operations entirely, or allowing certain ones to run without asking for permission each time.
Connecting Ask Hortis with ChatGPT
To install Ask Hortis on ChatGPT, please follow these steps:
In ChatGPT, go to Settings → Security and login and turn on Developer mode.
Select Plugins from the left-hand menu, towards the top.
Click the plus (+) button on the right-hand side.
Enter the following details:
Name: Ask Hortis
Connection URL: https://mcp.hortis.com/mcp
Tick the confirmation box to confirm that you’re happy to continue.
You’ll then be taken to Hortis to sign in and enter your organisation’s Hortis subdomain.
Once authenticated, return to the plugin page and make sure Ask Hortis is installed.
Click Try in chat and ask a simple question about your collection to check that it’s working.
Trying out Ask Hortis
The many ways you can interact with Ask Hortis are difficult to summarise, especially once you start joining your collection data with other data sources or start uploading spreadsheets. The best place to start is by copying the prompt below into your AI assistant and reading the response.
I'm new to the Ask Hortis connector — can you explain what it can do, then show me a couple of real examples from our [your primary site name] collection site? I have [admin/editor/read-only] permissions, so I'd also like to learn how I could put this to use given my access level.
Need more help?
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or helpful feedback. We are looking forward to hearing how you are getting on.