Install
Add Open Ecology to your AI assistant
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is the open standard AI assistants use to call outside tools. Add the Open Ecology server once, and your assistant can look up lots, areas, councils and coordinates from government data, with the source named in each answer.
https://openecology.com.au/mcpIf your organisation has an Open Ecology account, use the URL you were given at signup in place of the free one.
01Choose your assistant
- ChatGPTPlus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu, through developer mode.
- Claudeclaude.ai, Claude Desktop and Claude Code. All plans, including Free.
- Microsoft 365 CopilotAs a tool in a Copilot Studio agent, published to Copilot and Teams.
- GitHub Copilot in VS CodeOne entry in .vscode/mcp.json. Any Copilot plan.
- GeminiGemini Enterprise (admin) and Gemini CLI.
- CursorOne entry in mcp.json.
- PerplexityPro, Max and Enterprise, as a custom remote connector.
- Mistral VibeFormerly Le Chat. A custom MCP connector in Vibe Work.
Not supported yet
- ChatGPT Free: developer mode, which adds MCP servers, needs Plus or a higher plan.
- The Gemini app at gemini.google.com: custom MCP apps are only offered to personal accounts in the United States.
- The Microsoft Copilot app for personal accounts: we found no way to add your own MCP server. Use Microsoft 365 Copilot instead.
If your assistant has no connector option at all but can open a web page, it can still read a plain-text lookup such as openecology.com.au/lookup/1SP287539.
02Test it
After installing, start a new chat and ask:
What lot is 12 Sunbury Drive, Peachester, and how big is it?A correct answer names lot 55 on SP168934, a recorded area of about 2.17 ha and Sunshine Coast Regional Council, and cites the Queensland Government cadastre as the source.
03Troubleshooting
- The tools are missing or out of date
- Assistants keep a copy of the tool list from when you added the server. Refresh the connector (in ChatGPT, open the app and select Refresh; in VS Code, restart the server) and start a new chat.
- There is no option to add a connector
- Either your plan does not include custom MCP servers, or your admin has switched them off. Each client page lists the plans and the admin setting to ask for.
- It connects at home but not at work
- A corporate firewall or proxy may block the server. Open openecology.com.au/mcp in a browser: if you see the list of tools, the server is reachable from your network. If not, ask IT to allow HTTPS to openecology.com.au. For web assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude, the vendor's servers make the call, so your network only matters for desktop and command-line tools.
- The assistant searches the web instead
- Start the prompt with "Use Open Ecology to" and check the connector is switched on for that chat.
- It says the daily allowance has been used
- The free tier has a daily allowance of site lookups. The allowance resets at midnight UTC, which is 10 am in Queensland.
Instructions checked 5 October 2026 against each vendor's documentation, which is linked at the foot of each client page.