AI Assistant Integration (MCP)

Connect your AI assistant to HomeGadgets Canadian prices using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Ask your assistant for the best current price on a TV, laptop, appliance, or camera and it can look it up across Canadian retailers — in CAD, with ratings and a buy link. Canada only.

Two ways to connect

There is a hosted connector (nothing to install) and a local server (one install) that adds live prices. Most people start with the hosted connector and add the local server when they want up-to-the-minute prices.

What your assistant can do

Search the catalog. Find products and get the best current CAD catalog price, how many Canadian retailers carry them, and the aggregate rating.

Look up one product. Give a model number and get the best in-stock catalog offer, the offer count, the price range, and the rating.

Get a live price (local server only). Ask for a price fetched right now and the local server returns the best live Canadian price with a per-retailer breakdown — the current price, not a cached one. Because it runs on your own machine, it reaches retailers a hosted service can’t and it stays free.

The free live allowance

Cached catalog lookups are unlimited. Live “price now” lookups are limited to 5 per day per install at no cost — enough for the moments you want a real-time price. The allowance resets at local midnight; when it’s used up, your assistant falls back to the cached catalog price automatically.

Option A — Hosted connector (zero install)

Add the hosted HomeGadgets connector to any MCP-capable client that supports remote servers. It serves cached catalog prices and ratings — no install, no configuration.

Connector URL:  https://mcp.homegadgets.ca/mcp

This connector does not include live “price now.” For that, add the local server below.

Option B — Local server (adds live prices)

The local server is a small package you run on your own computer. It handles catalog search and ratings and the live “price now” lookup. For Claude Desktop, add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "homegadgets": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:/path/to/basketbrain/mcp-local/src/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Use the absolute path to the installed package and restart the client. Full install steps, prerequisites, and configuration options are in the package’s README (mcp-local/).

No accounts or credentials. The local server ships with no keys and asks for none — there is no database login to configure. It gets what it needs from our public catalog and, for live prices, from your own machine.

Notes & limits

Canada only, prices in CAD. The tools are read-only — they report prices, ratings, and buy links; they do not place orders. Prices are the lowest in-stock value observed and are not a guaranteed “cheapest” — always confirm at the retailer before buying. Coverage varies by product; a given product may return a subset of Canadian retailers.

Questions or access help? Reach us via homegadgets.ca/contact.