MCP notes/limitations
What to know before you rely on the MCP Connector, including what data it can reach and its current limits.
The MCP Connector brings your reporting into an AI conversation, and there are a few things to know about what it can and cannot do.
What data is available
- Dashboard data only. The connector reads what is already on your dashboards. It does not go back to your connected platforms for anything that is not in a widget.
- Current values, by period. The connector returns the current values of your widgets for a reporting period you choose, and it can compare against the previous period or the previous year.
- How your dashboard is built. Your assistant can ask which widgets a dashboard holds, which sources feed them, and which periods it covers. Deleted sources are left out, so it will never name a source you no longer have.
- Your comments. Text from comment widgets comes back with the numbers, so your assistant can build on the recap you already wrote instead of starting from scratch. If your commentary is saved per period, your assistant also knows which period it was written for, so it will not reuse an older note.
What it can change
The MCP Connector reads your dashboards, and it makes a change only when you ask for one.
- Comments. Your assistant can write the commentary for one of a dashboard's periods into a comment box. It asks before it replaces a comment that is already there.
- Dashboards. Your assistant can create a dashboard once you approve its proposal.
- Data sources on a dashboard. Your assistant can add one of your data sources to a dashboard, and it asks you first. A source that is not on any of your dashboards yet takes one of your plan's sources, and nothing is added if that would go over your plan's limit. To connect a new platform, your assistant gives you a link. You open it in your browser, sign in to DashThis if asked, then sign in to the platform or fill in its connection form there, never in the conversation. Nothing is connected until you finish. Google Sheets, and connections made with a service key, are still connected in DashThis.
- Existing dashboards. Apart from comments and data sources, your assistant cannot change a dashboard that already exists. Its layout and settings stay as you set them in DashThis.
- Write access. To make changes, the connection needs write access. If you connected before comments were available, disconnect DashThis in your assistant, connect again, and approve "Create and change dashboards & data".
Current limitations
- Widgets that carry no readable metric. Most widgets return their values through MCP. A few still do not, because there is no metric value for the connector to read: headings, and widgets whose display format shows no metric. Your assistant is told when a widget cannot be read and why, so it will not report that widget as empty. Nothing changes in your dashboard, which displays normally.
- Dashboards and widgets with no title. A dashboard or a widget you never named is still read normally, and your assistant refers to it as “Untitled dashboard” or “Untitled widget.” If you have several untitled items, give them names so your assistant can tell them apart when it answers.
- Periods. If you do not ask for a period, your assistant uses the dashboard's own reporting period, so the numbers match what you see in DashThis. On a dashboard with flexible periods, a widget that has its own period is read at that period, and your assistant tells you which one it used. A period you ask for applies to every widget. You can also ask for another one: a month, a quarter, a year, a single day, or a preset such as last 7 days, last 30 days, this month, last month, this year or last year. A period you name has to be one the dashboard actually reports on, since a dashboard's month is not always a calendar month, and when it is not, your assistant is told which periods it can ask for instead. For any other window, ask for exact dates, like January 1 to January 31, 2026. Two limits apply: nothing is read past yesterday, and exact dates reach back two years.
- Dashboards your assistant creates. A dashboard created through the MCP Connector uses your account's Language-Currency and a monthly reporting period. You can ask your assistant for another language and currency, or to turn on flexible periods so the dashboard has a date picker. Your assistant cannot choose its reporting period or its dashboard group. To add the dashboard to a group, drag it into that group in your dashboard manager.
- Dashboard PDFs. Your assistant can turn a dashboard into a PDF and give you a link to it. The link works for one hour, so save the file if you want to keep it. The PDF always covers the dashboard's own reporting period. Change the period in DashThis first if you need another one.
- Usage limits. To keep the connector fast for everyone, there are fair-use limits on how often and how much it reads at once.
- Staying connected. Your connection lasts one hour and refreshes on its own while you keep using the assistant. After 90 days without use, you sign in and approve access again. The MCP page in DashThis shows when each assistant was last active, and tells you when a connection has expired.
- Very large dashboards. Your assistant reads big dashboards in batches, behind the scenes. Very long widget tables may be shortened, so you may not see every row. You still get one combined answer.
- Slow data sources. When a data source answers slowly, DashThis stops reading the dashboard after a time limit, and your assistant tells you the sources are slow right now instead of reporting the dashboard as empty. Nothing on your dashboard changes. Try again in a minute or two, or ask about fewer widgets.
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