Connect an AI assistant (MCP)
The First Six Knowledge Base runs a Model Context ProtocolAn open standard that lets AI assistants call tools on a server, such as searching a documentation site, in a consistent way. (MCP) server. Add it to an AI assistant and the assistant can search and read this site directly, so your procurement team, your IT team or a developer can ask questions about First Six and get answers that cite the article they came from.
https://knowledge.firstsix.com.au/api/mcpThe server reads exactly what this site publishes and nothing else. It has no access to student records, to your institution's data, or to any First Six database, and it needs no account or key. If a page is not on this site for anyone to read, the server cannot return it.
This is the public server. The console has a separate one for staff, which acts as the signed-in staff member and can write drafts: see Connect an AI assistant to the console.
What it can read
Five tools, all read-only:
| Tool | What it returns |
|---|---|
search_knowledge_base | The most relevant passages from across the site for a question, each with its article title and URL. Optionally limited to one section (students, staff, institutions, developers, guides, reference). |
get_article | The full text of one article as Markdown, with its URL and last-reviewed date. |
list_articles | Every article by section and category, with a one-line description. |
get_trust_summary | The current security and compliance position: each standard and the real status against it, the open items, and the documents a security review asks for. |
get_release_notes | Recent release notes, newest first. |
Subprocessors are deliberately not copied into any tool. The trust summary points at the subprocessor register, and the assistant reads that article, so there is one copy and it is always current.
Connecting a client
The server speaks MCP over Streamable HTTP and holds no session, so any client that supports remote MCP servers can use it.
- Claude (claude.ai and the desktop app)
Open Settings, then Connectors, choose Add custom connector, and paste the URL above. No authentication is needed. On a Team or Enterprise plan an owner may need to add it for the organisation first.
- Claude Code
Run one command in your terminal:
claude mcp add --transport http first-six-kb https://knowledge.firstsix.com.au/api/mcp - Other clients
Most clients accept a JSON entry like this one. The exact file and key names vary by client, so check its documentation for where remote servers go.
{ "mcpServers": { "first-six-kb": { "type": "http", "url": "https://knowledge.firstsix.com.au/api/mcp" } } }
Calling it directly
MCP is JSON-RPC 2.0 over a single POST. You rarely need to call it by hand, but
it is useful for checking connectivity from inside a network:
curl -s https://knowledge.firstsix.com.au/api/mcp \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-H 'accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call",
"params":{"name":"search_knowledge_base",
"arguments":{"query":"who can see a student check-in","limit":3}}}'The response is a single JSON object, never a stream. GET returns 405,
because the server never opens a stream back to the client and never issues a
session id. It supports protocol versions 2025-11-25, 2025-06-18,
2025-03-26 and 2024-11-05.
Limits
Each IP address can make 300 requests a minute. Over that, the server
returns 429 with a Retry-After header. The limit is per address, not per
person: a hosted assistant such as Claude on the web calls from its provider's
servers, so everyone using it shares that provider's allowance, which is why the
number is generous. Requests over 256 KB are refused with 413, and a single
tool result is capped at 100,000 characters.
Batching several calls into one request is not part of the current protocol and
is refused for clients that say they speak 2025-06-18 or later. Older clients
may batch up to 10 calls, and each one counts against the limit.
Answers come from your assistant, not from us
The server returns our published text; the assistant you connect writes the answer. It can misread a page or combine two in a way neither says, so treat the answer as a pointer and check the cited article before you rely on it, especially for anything you will put in a procurement response or a contract. The server asks every assistant to cite its sources and to answer only from what the tools return, but it cannot make an assistant comply.
Common questions
Can it see our students or our institution's data?
No. It has no database connection and no credential for any First Six data. It reads the same files this website is built from, and nothing else.
Do we need an API key?
No. Everything it serves is already public on this site, so there is nothing to authenticate. There is no key to request and nothing to sign up for.
Will it answer questions about cost?
No. First Six pricing is set per institution and shared directly rather than published, and the server tells the assistant not to state or estimate a price. Book a demo at firstsix.com.au, or email support@firstsix.com.au, and we will take you through it.
Is it always up to date?
Yes. It reads the same content as the pages you are reading, from the same deployment, so it changes the moment an article does. The server reports the current release number as its version.
Does using it send anything to First Six?
Only the tool calls themselves: the search terms and article paths your assistant asks for, plus the IP address the request comes from, which is used for the rate limit. With a hosted assistant that address is the provider's server, not yours. Your conversation with the assistant stays with the assistant's provider.
Related
The fastest answer is usually one question away.