🔗 April release: Circle MCP, AI agent upgrades, and more

We’ve built Circle with three tenets in mind: be powerful, be flexible, and be open.

It turns out these tenets are ripe for the AI era, since they’re now the default expectation for all software.

In this new world, the sky is the limit.

As a Circle customer, you’ve picked the right platform for this era ☑️

You’re about to benefit from 5+ years of investments into an open API, and powerful paradigms to build on top of like spaces, access groups, paywalls, and workflows.

The MCP launch today is just the beginning. I’m truly excited about what we have in store for you next quarter!

Let’s dive in.

Circle MCP

You can now monitor and manage your community with your AI tool using the Circle MCP.

An MCP is a standardized way for an AI client, like Claude or ChatGPT, to talk to a platform that holds your data.

By adding the Circle MCP to your AI tool, you can now create a fully connected workspace in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or a tool of your choice.

What's possible

Circle MCP is built on top of our Admin API, which means it comes with the full range of admin capabilities.

• Query live data. Ask about members, spaces, events, or engagement and get real-time answers. "How many members joined last month versus the month before?" "Which spaces have the lowest engagement this week?"
• Build and take action in your community. Invite members, create spaces, send DMs, update access groups, or bulk-create tags from a prompt. "Create 50 member tags from this list with this color and icon format applied to each."
• Connect your stack. Use Circle alongside Notion, Figma, and other tools in one conversation. "Grab the event graphic from Figma and use it for this week's live Q&A."

All actions are taken on behalf of the admin who connected. Your LLM asks for approval before making changes unless you configure it otherwise.

Getting started

1. Open your LLM's connector or app settings and add Circle as a new connector
2. Paste the Circle MCP URL: https://app.circle.so/api/mcp
3. Select your community and read-only or full read and write access

Availability

Circle MCP is available today on Business plans and above (plans with Admin API access). Only community admins can authorize and connect, and each connection supports one community at a time.

Free to use through April 30th. All MCP usage is free for the first two weeks. No API credits consumed. Starting May 1st, MCP requests count toward your Admin API credit limits.

To learn more about Circle MCP, check out our guide here.

AI agents now respond with member context

AI agents can now reference member profile fields, both default and custom, when composing responses. Details like profession, location, interests, or any custom field your community collects are used to create more relevant, personal interactions.

A coaching community can set up an onboarding workflow where the agent sends a welcome DM that references the member's role and goals. The first touchpoint feels personal from day one.

What's included

Works across DMs, post responses, and chat sessions. The agent automatically has access to all populated profile fields in every interaction type.

Default and custom fields supported. Profession, company, location, interests, and any custom field you've created. Mention the fields you want in your AI prompt and the agent pulls in the data.

Profile context is per-member. The agent references each member's own profile fields to personalize responses in those specific instances. It does not share context about members with other members.

Available now for all communities on Circle Plus.

AI agents analytics dashboard

A new dedicated analytics dashboard for AI agents is rolling out next week.

See exactly how members are engaging with agents, where conversations are resolving smoothly, and where they might need attention.

What's included

Adoption rate and repeat conversations show how many members are starting conversations with your agents and how many are coming back for more. Rising numbers mean members are finding your agents useful and building trust in the AI.

AI resolution rate and handoff trends track how many conversations resolve without admin involvement and how that's changing over time. A drop in resolution or a rise in handoffs can signal it's time to adjust your agent prompts or expand the knowledge base.

Estimated time saved quantifies the hours saved by AI agents and AI workflows across your community.

Trends over time for conversations, messages, resolution rate, and handoff rate give you a clear view of how agent performance is evolving.

Circle's AI Copilot also has access to all of this data. Ask questions about your agent performance in conversation, or jump to the dashboard and dig in on your own.

Rollout starts the week of April 20th. Available for all communities on Circle Plus.

Restrict RSVP to specific access groups

You can now control who can RSVP to an event independently of who can see it.

Select one or more access groups allowed to RSVP while the event stays visible to everyone in the space. Use events as membership perks without hiding them from the broader community.

Members outside the allowed access groups see a disabled RSVP button with a customizable message and optional CTA, like "Upgrade to Premium" linking to your upgrade page.

What's included

Access group gating per event. Choose which groups can RSVP. Everyone else can still see the event but can't register.

Custom messaging for non-eligible members. Set a message and optional CTA that appears on the disabled RSVP button. Drive upgrades directly from your events.

Recurring event support. Each occurrence can have its own access group settings.

Admins, moderators, hosts, co-hosts, and explicitly invited members bypass the restriction automatically.

Available now for all communities.

To learn more about restricting RSVPs, check out our guide here.

Other updates

• 4 new paywall workflow triggers: Automate follow-up on upsell accepted, upsell declined, upsell abandoned, and checkout completed. Each trigger accepts a specific paywall as input for targeted sequences. Circle now offers 21 paywall workflow triggers in total.
• Chat message reporting and moderation: Members can now report chat messages in DMs, chat spaces, and live chat rooms with a reason (harassment, spam, against guidelines, or other). Admins get notified in-app and by email, and can approve or reject from Settings > Moderation, with options to restrict the member's messaging.

iOS improvements

We also shipped a few improvements toCircle’s iOS app:

• Browse and access your recent searches easily
• Course quizzes now support video content
• Quick buttons in chat to jump to first unread message or latest message
• Performance, reliability, and UI/UX improvements