Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about TengineAI, MCP servers, and connecting AI assistants to external services
Frequently Asked Questions
What is TengineAI?
TengineAI is a hosted remote MCP (Model Context Protocol) server platform that connects AI assistants to external APIs and services. Instead of building your own MCP server from scratch, TengineAI provides a production-ready platform that handles OAuth flows, API key management, project-scoped access control, and all the infrastructure needed to connect AI assistants to services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Ticketmaster, Reddit, and more.
What is MCP (Model Context Protocol)?
MCP is an open standard that provides a standardized way for AI models and assistants to interact with external tools and data sources. Think of it as a universal interface that allows AI to access APIs and services through a consistent protocol. MCP uses a client-server architecture where MCP clients (like Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) or programmatic clients (using MCP SDKs) connect to MCP servers (like TengineAI) to access tools and resources.
How can I connect to TengineAI?
You can connect to TengineAI in two ways:
- Through MCP clients: Claude Desktop (using Custom Connectors in paid plans), Cursor, and VS Code. These desktop applications connect to TengineAI's MCP server.
- Programmatically: Using official MCP SDKs (Python, Java, C#) to integrate TengineAI into your own applications.
Both methods allow you to access TengineAI's tools and services through the MCP protocol.
How is TengineAI different from building your own MCP server?
Building your own MCP server requires:
- Implementing the MCP protocol specification
- Session management
- Authentication
- OAuth flows
- Credential storage
- Production infrastructure
TengineAI provides all of this out of the box:
- Production-ready FastMCP implementation
- Built-in OAuth handling for Google, Microsoft, Reddit
- Secure credential management with encryption
- Project-scoped access control
- Tool permission system
- Scalable infrastructure
All without any code you need to write or maintain.
How is TengineAI different from other MCP server solutions?
TengineAI is a fully managed hosted service, so you don't need to deploy or maintain any infrastructure. It offers:
- Usage-based subscription pricing with flexible tiers (Free, Hobby, Pro, Business)
- Real-time usage tracking with automatic limit enforcement
- Project-scoped multi-tenant architecture for team collaboration
- Comprehensive pre-built integrations (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Ticketmaster, Reddit, Weather)
- Enterprise features (rate limiting, monitoring, secure credential management)
- Coming soon: the ability to build your own tools for custom APIs
How is TengineAI different from direct API integrations?
Direct API integrations require learning each API's specific authentication, endpoints, and documentation.
TengineAI provides MCP protocol standardization - a unified interface for AI to interact with any API. It includes:
- Pre-built tools for popular APIs (so you don't need to implement each one)
- Tool discovery and documentation that AI assistants can understand
- Coming soon: custom tool creation for any API endpoint, making your own APIs accessible to AI through MCP
Who should use TengineAI?
TengineAI is for:
- Developers using AI tools (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code) who want to connect their AI assistants to external services without building MCP servers
- Developers building applications who want to integrate MCP functionality programmatically using MCP SDKs
- Teams building AI-powered applications that need API integrations but want to avoid implementing MCP protocol, OAuth flows, and credential management from scratch
- Developers who want to make their own APIs accessible to AI (coming soon: build your own tools feature)
What AI assistants/clients does TengineAI support?
TengineAI works with any MCP-compatible client. This includes desktop applications like Claude Desktop (via Custom Connectors in paid plans), Cursor, and VS Code. You can also connect programmatically using official MCP SDKs for Python, Java, and C#. Any application or service that can act as an MCP client can connect to TengineAI.
What services/APIs can I connect to?
TengineAI provides pre-built tools for:
- Google: Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Contacts
- Microsoft: Outlook, Calendar, OneDrive
- Ticketmaster: Event discovery and ticketing
- Reddit: Posts, comments, discussions
- OpenWeather: Weather data
Coming soon, you'll be able to build your own tools for any REST API, including your own internal APIs and services.
What's the difference between OAuth tools and API key tools?
TengineAI supports three authentication methods:
- OAuth tools (like Gmail, Calendar): Require user authorization. Users grant permission through an OAuth flow, and tokens are stored securely with automatic refresh.
- API key tools (like OpenWeather): Use project-scoped API keys that you provide. Simpler setup but less granular access control.
- Platform tools (like Ticketmaster): Use shared credentials available to all users when enabled.
TengineAI handles all three authentication methods securely.
What is project-scoped access?
Project-scoped access means that tools, credentials, and permissions are tied to projects, not individual users. This enables team collaboration - multiple team members can work within the same project with shared access to tools and credentials. It also provides security isolation - each project's credentials and permissions are completely separate from other projects.
Is TengineAI open-source?
No, TengineAI is a closed-source commercial product. It's a hosted service that you connect to - you don't need to deploy or maintain any code. The MCP protocol itself is open-source, and TengineAI implements the open MCP standard, but TengineAI's platform and infrastructure are proprietary.
How does TengineAI handle security and credentials?
TengineAI uses enterprise-grade security practices:
- Zero-knowledge architecture where possible
- Enterprise-grade encryption for API keys and sensitive data using hardware security modules and cloud-based key management
- Complete project isolation with granular permissions
- Session-based authentication
- Tool-level access control
- Production-grade infrastructure with real-time security monitoring
- Comprehensive audit logging
- Advanced request validation for compliance
OAuth tokens are stored securely with automatic refresh.
What are the pricing tiers?
TengineAI offers:
- Free: 20 calls/day, 600/month
- Hobby: $9/month, 100 calls/day, 3,000/month
- Pro: $29/month, 10,000/month + $0.004/call overage
- Business: $99/month, 40,000/month + $0.003/call overage
All tiers include access to all pre-built tools, OAuth handling, API key management, and project-scoped access control.
No credit card required for the free tier.
Can I build tools for my own APIs?
Coming soon! You'll be able to create custom tools that call your own REST APIs, making your internal systems and custom integrations accessible to AI assistants. These will be private tools for your own use (not a public marketplace), enabling custom integrations without building MCP servers from scratch. This feature will significantly lower the barrier for making your own APIs accessible to AI.
How does TengineAI work?
TengineAI works as a remote MCP server. Here's how it works:
- Connect to TengineAI (via MCP client or programmatically via SDK)
- Create a project
- Enable the tools you want to use (Gmail, Calendar, etc.)
- Configure authentication (OAuth or API keys)
Once connected, your AI assistant or application can use TengineAI's tools through the MCP protocol to interact with external services.
TengineAI handles all the OAuth flows, API calls, credential management, and infrastructure behind the scenes.
What is a remote MCP server?
A remote MCP server is an MCP server hosted in the cloud (vs. running locally on your machine). TengineAI provides a hosted MCP server that clients connect to via URL, eliminating the need to run and maintain your own server infrastructure. This means you get production-ready infrastructure, automatic scaling, security updates, and monitoring without managing servers yourself.
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