Connect Tuna to Your AI Chat App

Last updated

Your pantry, in the chat app you already use

If you already spend your day in an AI chat app, you can manage your pantry from there. Tuna works with any AI chat app that supports custom connectors. Connect it once, and you can ask about your pantry and update it in plain language:

  • "What in the fridge needs eating this week?"
  • "Add two pounds of ground beef and a dozen eggs."
  • "Freeze the rest of the ground beef."
  • "The spinach went bad."
  • "We made the sheet pan salmon tonight. Six servings, four eaten."
  • "We ordered three large Domino's pizzas, one bacon, one black olive, one extra cheese. Everyone had a slice."
  • "Our neighbors brought over a pan of lasagna."
  • "What can I make with the chicken before it expires?"

The chat app reads the same pantry you see in the Tuna app, with the same amounts and dates, and writes back to it the way the app would. Your AI chat app already knows how to talk. Tuna gives it something true to say: your pantry with real amounts and dates, kept current by your receipts, your cooking, and what you mark as gone.

What you need

Tuna's connector is a remote MCP server, the standard way AI chat apps connect to outside tools. You'll need:

  • An AI chat app or plan that lets you add a custom connector (sometimes called a remote MCP server).
  • The connector URL: https://mcp.tuna-app.com/mcp
  • The same account you use in the Tuna app.

Connect any AI chat app

The steps differ a little from app to app, but they all follow the same shape:

  1. In your chat app's settings, find Connectors (or a similar section for tools, apps or integrations).
  2. Add a custom connector. Name it Tuna and enter https://mcp.tuna-app.com/mcp.
  3. If the app asks how to authenticate, choose OAuth. Tuna doesn't use API keys.
  4. Connect. A Tuna page opens in your browser.
  5. Sign in with Google, or enter your email and we'll send you a 6-digit code. Use your Tuna account.
  6. Review what the chat app will be able to do, then tap Allow access.

The page hands you back to your chat app, and Tuna's tools show up in its list.

Claude

Tested with Tuna. Works on claude.ai and in the Claude desktop app.

  1. Open Settings and go to Connectors.
  2. Tap Add, then Add custom connector.
  3. Name it Tuna and enter https://mcp.tuna-app.com/mcp.
  4. Tap Add, then Connect, and sign in on the Tuna page that opens.

Claude's free plan allows one custom connector. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds the connector in admin settings first, and then each member connects it from their own Connectors settings.

ChatGPT

Not yet tested with Tuna. These steps follow ChatGPT's own documentation, and custom connectors need a plan that includes developer mode.

  1. Open Settings, then Apps & Connectors, and turn on developer mode.
  2. Add a new connector. Name it Tuna and enter https://mcp.tuna-app.com/mcp.
  3. Set authentication to OAuth, confirm you trust the connector, and sign in on the Tuna page that opens.

What happens when you ask it to change something

Some changes take effect right away, because they're the same changes you'd make in the app with a tap:

  • Adding food to the pantry
  • Adjusting an amount
  • Freezing something
  • Recording what went bad
  • Creating a food that isn't in the catalog

Several pantry changes at once work a little differently. Say "we finished the milk, tossed the spinach, and put eggs on the list," and the chat app lists the changes first and asks. Nothing is saved until you say yes, and then they're saved together, grocery list items included. In the app, the same thing is Say What You Have.

Meals and cooks work differently. When your chat app logs what someone ate or records a cook, it lands in Tuna as a plan waiting for you to confirm, exactly like a meal you planned yourself. Nothing counts toward anyone's day until you confirm it.

Is this right?

After the chat app records something, it shows you a short card: who ate what, and what your pantry gained or used. Check it against what actually happened.

  • Yes, that's right confirms everything on the card in Tuna. It's in your log and pantry from then on.
  • No, something's off lets you say what's wrong, like "Sam had two slices, not one." The chat app fixes it, then shows you the card again. Leave the note empty and it asks you instead.

Only your tap confirms. The chat app can't confirm anything on its own, and it can't change your goals. The card shows in Claude on the web and in the desktop app. Where it doesn't show, including Claude on your phone, confirm in the Tuna app as before.

Takeout, orders and dishes from friends

For chains Tuna knows, like a build-your-own pizza, the chat app records the order the way you built it, toppings and all, and the pizza lands in your pantry as leftovers. The toppings don't show up as separate pantry items.

For anything Tuna doesn't have, like a neighbor's lasagna or fried rice from the place down the street, the chat app describes it to Tuna and Tuna estimates it, the same way adding food that isn't in the catalog works in the app. A whole pan comes in as the servings it feeds.

Managing the connection

  • Disconnect anytime from the same Connectors settings where you added it. Access stops immediately.
  • One connection per person. Each household member connects with their own Tuna account and sees the household the way they do in the app.
  • Signing out of Tuna everywhere, for example after a password change, ends the connection. Reconnect afterward.

Troubleshooting

"Subscription required" when connecting. The connector is part of Big Tuna. If your household subscribes, make sure you're signing in with your account in that household.

The sign-in code didn't arrive. Check spam for a "Sign in to Tuna" email. Codes expire quickly, so request a fresh one if you've been waiting.

The chat app asks permission before using Tuna. That's normal. Reading your pantry never changes it, so allowing the reading tools is safe.