Via AI

Via AI's MCP server gives AI assistants access to relationship intelligence -- helping users discover connection paths, search for people and companies, and manage their professional network through natural conversation.

Features

• People Search: Find people by name, email, or LinkedIn profile across Via's professional network graph
• Company Search: Look up companies by name or domain with metadata including industry, employee count, and domains
• Connection Path Discovery: Find the strongest paths connecting you to anyone at a target company through shared work history, education, email interactions, calendar meetings, LinkedIn connections, and more
• Inner Circle Management: Organize your key contacts into circles (tags), add/remove members, and leverage your inner circle's network for warm introductions
• Path Explanations: Generate natural language descriptions of how two people are connected, suitable for email introductions

Setup

Prerequisites

• A Via AI account

Claude.ai / Claude Desktop

Add Via AI as a custom connector:

1. Open Claude and click Customize in the left sidebar.

   

2. Select Connectors, click the + button, and choose Add custom connector.

   

3. In the Add custom connector dialog, enter a name (e.g. Via AI) and the server URL https://mcp.connectvia.ai/mcp, then click Add.

   

4. Follow the OAuth flow to authorize your Via AI account.

Claude Code

Add to your Claude Code configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "via-ai": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://mcp.connectvia.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Authentication

Via AI uses OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code Flow. When you first connect, you'll be redirected to Via AI's login page to authorize access. Tokens are automatically refreshed.

Tools

Onboarding

New Via accounts must finish onboarding before any other tool will work. Tools called against an unonboarded account return a GraphQL error with extensions.code = "ONBOARDING_REQUIRED" directing the host to call the Onboard tool first.

Tool	Description
Onboard	Walks the user through Via onboarding: terms acceptance, LinkedIn profile linking, network preview, and circle creation. Each call advances the conversation by one user turn — relay assistantMessage back to the user, then call again with their reply. State is keyed per user; a reset flag exists but is rarely needed because the workflow fast-forwards past completed steps.

GetAuthenticatedUser and SubmitAgentFeedback are also exempt from the gate so hosts can read onboarding status and submit feedback at any time.

Queries (Read-Only)

Tool	Description
SearchPeopleByNameOrLinkedInOrEmail	Search for people by name, LinkedIn slug, or email. Returns up to 20 results with profile metadata and circle memberships.
FindPeopleByEmailsOrLinkedIn	Look up one or more people by email or LinkedIn slug. Returns profiles in the same order as input.
SearchCompaniesByNameOrDomain	Search for companies by name or domain. Returns up to 5 results per query with employee count, industries, and domains.
FindTopConnectionPaths	Find the strongest connection paths to anyone at a target company.
FindConnectionPathsToPeople	Find connection paths to one or more specific people by their ID.
GenerateConnectionPathExplanation	Generate a natural language explanation of a connection path, suitable for introductions.
GetAuthenticatedUser	Get your Via AI profile and onboarding status. Callable before onboarding is complete.
GetUserCircles	List all circles visible to you (personal + active team), with scope and auto-managed flags.
GetUserCircleMembers	List members of your inner circle with contact details and employment info. Supports pagination and tag filtering.
ListTeamTargets	List or search the active team's saved Targets list with type filtering, sorting, and pagination.

Mutations (Write)

Tool	Description
AddPersonToUserCircle	Add a person to a circle (idempotent; one circle per call).
RemovePersonFromUserCircle	Remove a person from a circle (removing their last circle removes the membership).
CreateUserCircle	Create a new circle (tag) for organizing contacts.
DeleteUserCircle	Delete a circle. Members are not removed from the inner circle.
AddTeamTargets	Add people or companies to the active team's saved Targets list.
RemoveTeamTarget	Remove a saved target from the active team's Targets list.
SubmitAgentFeedback	Submit feedback about your experience using Via AI tools. Callable before onboarding is complete.

Usage Examples

Example 1: Finding warm introductions to a target company

User prompt: "How am I connected to people at Stripe? I'm looking for warm introductions."

What happens: Claude uses SearchCompaniesByNameOrDomain to find Stripe's domain, then calls FindTopConnectionPaths with the domain to discover ranked connection paths. Each path shows the chain of people connecting you to Stripe employees, along with evidence like shared work history, email interactions, and meeting history.

Result: "You have 3 strong paths to people at Stripe:

1. You -> Sarah Chen (worked together at Acme Corp 2019-2022, 47 emails exchanged) -> James Liu (VP Engineering at Stripe)
2. Your inner circle member Alex Park -> David Kim (Stanford '15 classmates) -> Maria Santos (Staff Engineer at Stripe) ..."

Example 2: Researching a prospect before outreach

User prompt: "Look up [email protected] and tell me how we're connected."

What happens: Claude calls FindPeopleByEmailsOrLinkedIn with the email to find John's profile, then uses FindConnectionPathsToPeople to discover connection paths. Finally, it calls GenerateConnectionPathExplanation to create a natural language summary of the strongest path.

Result: "John Smith is a Senior Product Manager at Acme Corp. You're connected through your colleague Sarah Chen -- they worked together at TechCo from 2018 to 2021 and still exchange emails regularly. Sarah would be a great person to ask for an introduction."

Example 3: Organizing your network with circles

User prompt: "Create a circle called 'Q1 Prospects' and add the top 3 people from my strongest connections at Datadog to it."

What happens: Claude calls CreateUserCircle to create the "Q1 Prospects" circle, then uses SearchCompaniesByNameOrDomain to find Datadog, followed by FindTopConnectionPaths to identify the strongest connections. It then calls SearchPeopleByNameOrLinkedInOrEmail for each person and AddPersonToUserCircle to add them to the new circle.

Result: "Done! I created the 'Q1 Prospects' circle and added 3 connections from Datadog:

1. Lisa Wang - VP of Sales
2. Michael Torres - Head of Partnerships
3. Priya Patel - Director of Business Development"

Privacy Policy

Via AI Privacy Policy

Support

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: connectvia.ai