Using the YAROOMS MCP Server

What is MCP?#

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI agents connect to external tools and data sources. Think of it as a universal plug that allows any compatible AI assistant to interact with services like YAROOMS.

YAROOMS publishes an MCP server at mcp.yarooms.com that any MCP-compatible AI agent can connect to. Once connected, your AI assistant can book rooms, reserve desks, check schedules, manage visitors, report on office usage, and even administer your workspace – all through natural conversation.

What the YAROOMS MCP server can do#

The MCP server gives your AI agent access to the full range of YAROOMS workplace actions.

Everyday actions

• Book spaces – search for available rooms, desks, and parking, then create bookings. Bookings can repeat daily, weekly, or monthly, be private (incognito), be made on behalf of a colleague, and include an expected attendee count
• Change or cancel bookings – move a booking to another time or space, rename it, reassign it to a colleague, or cancel it (including only some dates of a recurring booking)
• Check availability – view the day’s schedule for a floor, floor layouts, space details, and location opening hours
• Check in and out – check in to your booked space or check out when you leave
• Manage work status – set your status to work-from-home, in-office, or away for any date
• Handle visitors – register visitors, list upcoming visits, cancel registrations
• Find people – search for colleagues by name or email, view your team and teammates’ schedules, bookings, and work status
• Approve bookings – review and approve or reject pending booking requests

Reporting

• Organization bookings – list bookings across the company by date, location, space, booker, or status
• Analytics – occupancy and utilization, hybrid work (in-office, work-from-home, and out-of-office rates), services, and visitors
• Audit log – see who changed what and when

Administration

Workspace admins can also configure YAROOMS through the MCP server:

• Users, teams, and roles – create, update, invite, suspend, or deprovision users; manage teams and role permissions
• Locations and floors – create and edit locations, opening hours, floors, floor maps, capacity areas, and points of interest
• Spaces – create, update, or delete desks, rooms, and parking; manage space photos, space types, features, and space groups (booking rules)
• Maintenance – schedule maintenance windows that block bookings
• Booking rules – manage approval and other booking workflows, event types, and reminders
• Services – manage bookable services such as catering and equipment, service categories, and cost centers, and see the daily services dashboard
• Visitors – manage the visitor address book and blacklist
• Company settings – update company settings and branding, and set up booking webhooks

Each person authenticates with their own YAROOMS account, so all actions respect individual permissions and location access. Administration and reporting actions only work for users who have the matching rights in YAROOMS.

Prerequisites#

• A YAROOMS account with an active subscription
• An AI agent that supports MCP (Claude, ChatGPT, or any other MCP-compatible tool)
• For ChatGPT: a Pro, Team, Enterprise, or Edu plan

Authentication methods#

The YAROOMS MCP server supports two ways to authenticate:

OAuth (recommended)

When you connect to the hosted server at https://mcp.yarooms.com/mcp, authentication happens through OAuth. Your AI agent will prompt you to log in with your YAROOMS account, and each person gets their own session with their own permissions. There are no API keys to manage or share.

This is the recommended method for Claude, ChatGPT, and most other AI agents that support remote MCP servers.

API token (local mode)

If you prefer to run the MCP server locally, you can use an API token instead. This requires an admin to create an API key in YAROOMS (under Integrations > YAROOMS API) and pass it as an environment variable when starting the server via npx:

YAROOMS_API_TOKEN=your-api-key \
YAROOMS_BASE_URL=https://your-company.yarooms.com/api \
npx -y yarooms-mcp

Replace your-api-key with the API key from your YAROOMS account and your-company with your YAROOMS subdomain.

This mode is useful for local development or agents that only support stdio-based MCP servers. Note that all actions go through a single shared API token, so individual user permissions are not enforced.

Setup guides#

Follow the step-by-step guide for your AI agent:

• YAROOMS in Claude
• YAROOMS in ChatGPT

Other AI agents#

The YAROOMS MCP server works with any AI agent that supports the Model Context Protocol over HTTP. To connect:

1. Add https://mcp.yarooms.com/mcp as a remote MCP server in your agent’s settings.
2. Use OAuth when prompted to authenticate with your YAROOMS account.

Refer to your AI agent’s documentation for specific MCP setup instructions.

Example prompts#

Once connected, you can ask your AI agent things like:

Book me a desk for tomorrow

Find an available meeting room for 10 people on Friday afternoon

What are my bookings for next week?

Set my work status to work-from-home for Monday and Tuesday

Register a visitor named Sarah Chen arriving on April 20 at the London office

Who from my team is in the office today?

Cancel my desk booking for Thursday

How busy was the London office last month?

Block all desks on the 3rd floor for maintenance next Saturday

Invite jane@example.com and add them to the Marketing team

Your AI agent will use the YAROOMS MCP server to carry out these actions, asking for clarification when it needs more details like a preferred location or time slot.

Troubleshooting#