Quickstart

TL;DR — Create an account, generate an API key, connect your AI through MCP, and watch the CRM update itself while you work in Claude or ChatGPT.

1. Create your account

Go to customermates.com/auth/signup. No credit card. The first three days are free, then you can pick a plan.

2. Create an API key

Open Profile → API Keys → New key. Copy the 64-character string immediately — it is shown once and never again.

Keep the key out of source control. Set it as an environment variable:

export CUSTOMERMATES_API_KEY=your-64-character-key

3. Seed a few records

The fastest path is the UI:

• Contacts → New — create a person.
• Organizations → New — create a company.
• Deals → New — link the deal to both.

You can also do every step through MCP once connected (see step 5). Pick whichever is easier.

4. Subscribe to your first webhook

Company → Webhooks → New. For the URL paste a webhook.site endpoint. Pick at least contact.created and deal.updated. Save.

Edit one of the contacts you just made. Within a few seconds you should see the delivery show up at webhook.site with the full payload. That is your CRM telling your stack what changed.

5. Connect your AI

Pick the client you actually use:

Once connected, paste the setup prompt as your first message. The assistant will orient itself and ask what to do.

6. Ask your AI to do something useful

Try one of these to see it work:

• "Move the Acme deal to stage 'Won' and add a note that the contract was signed today."
• "Pull the last ten contacts I created. Any without an email address?"
• "Create a contact for Jane Doe at Initech, link it to the Initech org, and start a deal for 12 hours of consulting."

The assistant will tell you which tools it used and what changed. No copy-paste, no app switching.

Next

• Concepts — entities, custom columns, relations, at a glance.
• From Pipedrive — if you're migrating.
• MCP overview — what the agent can and can't do.
• Webhooks — wire Customermates to the rest of your stack.