AI Assistant Integration (MCP)

The endpoint

There is one public endpoint, and it is the whole integration:

https://mcp.homegadgets.ca/mcp

It is a remote MCP server over streamable HTTP. It needs no API key, no account and no signup, and there is nothing to install. It is read-only: it reports prices and links, and it cannot place an order.

Adding it to an assistant

In any client that supports remote MCP servers, add a new server (some clients call it a connector) and give it the URL above. Leave authentication empty. The client then lists the four tools below and your assistant can call them.

Where that setting lives differs from client to client and changes often, so this page does not give per-product steps. If your client only supports local MCP servers that it starts itself, it cannot use this endpoint directly.

The four tools

search_productsSearch products

Free-text search (brand, model or name), with optional category, brand and price filters. Returns ranked matches, each with its best in-stock price and the retailer offering it. A location is optional; without one the result is national.

get_priceGet current price

The best current in-stock offer for one product, identified by a keyword, a brand and model, a manufacturer part number, or a product id. A Canadian location (province, city or postal code) is required.

compare_retailersCanadian price spread

For one product: the best price, the average, the highest, and how many retailers carry it. A location is optional; if given, offers that cannot be delivered there are left out.

server_infoServer info and capabilities

The server version and what it does and does not support. Useful for an assistant to check before promising something.

What a result contains

• The best price, with the retailer that has it named and a link to buy there. That is the one offer in a result you can follow. • The average price, the highest price, and the number of retailers carrying the product. The average and the highest are descriptive statistics over real offers. They are not offers, they name no retailer and they carry no link, so an assistant should not quote either as a price you can pay. • The product rating and review count, where we hold one. • The date each price was recorded.

New and not-new are never mixed into one number. The best price and every statistic are for new units sold by the retailer itself. If an open box, refurbished or marketplace listing is cheaper, it is reported separately, labelled with its condition, so the answer is two numbers: the cheapest we found, and the best new price.

The full list of every retailer offer for a product is not part of the free tier.

How current the prices are

These are prices we recorded, not live quotes, and each one carries the date we saw it. An offer we have not been able to confirm within 14 days is no longer returned. Always check the retailer before you buy.

The free budget

Anonymous use is free and limited: 10 requests a day per caller, inside a budget of 250 requests a day shared by all anonymous callers. Both reset at 00:00 UTC.

When either is spent the server answers HTTP 429 with a JSON body that carries an error code saying which one ran out, so an assistant can tell you when it resets instead of retrying. The public REST API shares the same budget.

Canada only

Every product and offer is from a Canadian retailer or brand store, in Canadian dollars. A request that names a location outside Canada is declined before any lookup.

Live prices, and keys

The public endpoint does not fetch a price at the moment you ask. A live lookup is a separate, keyed service: the Live tier of the HomeGadgets Price API. Keys are issued by hand to approved partners and there is no self-serve signup. The API page explains how it works and how to ask.

A version of this server that runs on your own computer and does a live lookup there exists, and it is not publicly distributed. There is nothing to download.