Overview
API Keys let you connect Dashboardly to an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Cursor so the assistant can answer questions about your TikTok Shop data in plain English. You ask "What was my net profit last week?" or "Which SKU sold most yesterday in my UK shop?" and the assistant pulls the answer directly from your live Dashboardly data.
The connection uses an open standard called the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which any modern AI assistant can speak. You generate one API key per assistant (or one per shop), paste it into the assistant's settings, and the conversation is connected to your data.
API Keys are read-only. An AI assistant can read every metric you can see in Dashboardly, but it cannot create orders, change product costs, edit settings, send refunds, or modify anything in your TikTok Shop or Dashboardly account.
You manage all keys on the Settings > API Keys page.
Plan Requirements
API Keys are part of Dashboardly's AI Integrations feature, available on the following plans:
| Plan | API Keys Included |
|---|---|
| Brand Starter | Not available |
| Brand Growth | Available |
| Brand Pro | Available |
| Brand Elite | Available |
If you are on Brand Starter, the API Keys tab in Settings shows an upgrade prompt. Upgrade your subscription on the Settings > Subscriptions page to enable the feature.
There is no per-key fee. You can create as many keys as you like on an eligible plan, with no extra charge for the queries your AI assistant makes.
How It Works
When you create an API key in Dashboardly, two things happen:
- The key is generated. It looks like
dk_live_...followed by a long random string. You see the full key exactly once, at the moment of creation. After that, Dashboardly stores only a fingerprint of it, so even our support team cannot retrieve the full key later. - The key is bound to your account. Each key is tied to your Dashboardly login and, optionally, to a single TikTok Shop. When an AI assistant uses the key to ask for data, it gets back exactly what you would see if you opened that shop in your browser.
Your AI assistant connects to a Dashboardly endpoint (the MCP server) and presents the key. The endpoint verifies the key, looks up which shop the key is allowed to read, and returns the requested data. Every request is logged so you can see how often your assistant is using the key and which questions it asks.
Because the key is read-only, the assistant has no way to change anything. The most "destructive" action it can take is reading a metric.
Step-by-Step: Create Your First API Key
Step 1: Open the API Keys page
Navigate to Settings > API Keys in the left sidebar. If you don't see the tab, check that your subscription is on Brand Growth or higher.
Step 2: Click "New API key"
In the top-right corner of the page, click the + New API key button. A small form opens.
Step 3: Fill in the details
- Name -- A label so you can recognize the key later. Use something descriptive like "Claude Desktop -- US Shop" or "ChatGPT for John". Names are visible only to you.
- Shop -- Choose a single shop, or leave the field on "All shops" to give the key access to every shop you have connected. Most users prefer one key per shop so each AI conversation is automatically scoped to the right data.
- Expires in -- How many days until the key automatically stops working. The default is 365 days. Shorter expiries are safer; longer expiries mean you don't have to rotate the key as often. You can revoke a key at any time regardless of its expiry.
Step 4: Click "Create key"
Dashboardly generates the key and displays it in a confirmation panel. The key is shown in full only this one time.
Step 5: Copy the key immediately
Click the Copy button to put the key on your clipboard. Paste it into a secure place (your assistant's configuration file, a password manager, or a safe note). If you close the panel without copying, you have to revoke the key and create a new one -- there is no way to retrieve it again.
Step 6: Connect your AI assistant
Open your AI assistant's settings and add Dashboardly as a connection (the exact path varies by assistant; see the next section for guidance on each one).
Step 7: Confirm the connection
Ask your assistant a simple question like "What's my net profit for last week?" If everything is set up correctly, the assistant responds with the answer pulled from your live Dashboardly data. If you see an error, see Why isn't my AI assistant working?.
Connecting an AI Assistant
The exact setup depends on which assistant you use. After you create the key in Dashboardly, the confirmation panel shows ready-to-paste configuration snippets for the most popular tools.
Claude (Desktop and Web)
In Claude's settings, look for a section called Connectors, Integrations, or MCP servers. Add a new connection by pasting the Dashboardly endpoint URL and your API key. Once saved, Claude shows Dashboardly as an available connection in any conversation.
If you use Claude Desktop, the connection is added to a configuration file that loads when Claude starts. The confirmation panel in Dashboardly shows the exact text to paste.
ChatGPT
In ChatGPT, open the Apps & Connectors menu and add Dashboardly as a custom connector. Paste the endpoint URL and the API key when prompted. ChatGPT remembers the connection across all your conversations.
Cursor
In Cursor, open Settings > MCP, click Add new MCP server, and paste the Dashboardly endpoint and key. Cursor uses the connection while you code, so you can ask questions like "What's my best-selling SKU this month?" without leaving your editor.
Other AI assistants
Any assistant that speaks the Model Context Protocol can connect. Provide the assistant with the Dashboardly MCP endpoint URL and the API key (treat it like a password). The assistant should automatically discover what data is available.
What Your AI Assistant Can Do
Once connected, your assistant can answer questions across every major area of your shop data. You ask questions in plain English (or any language your assistant supports), and the assistant decides which data to pull.
| Topic | Example questions |
|---|---|
| Account & shops | "Which shops are connected?" "What's my account email?" |
| Dashboard summary | "Give me a quick overview of last week." "How are sales trending compared to last month?" |
| Profit & loss | "What was my net profit in March?" "Break down my P&L by week for last quarter." |
| Orders | "How many orders did I receive yesterday?" "Show me cancelled orders from the last 7 days." |
| Top products | "Which SKUs sold most last month?" "What were my top 10 products by revenue this quarter?" |
| Refunds | "How much did I refund last week?" "Which products have the highest return rate?" |
| Customers | "How many repeat customers do I have?" "What's the lifetime value of my average customer?" |
| Marketing & ads | "What was my ROAS on TikTok Ads last week?" "How are my ad campaigns performing?" |
| Live streams & promotions | "Which live streams drove the most sales last month?" "How much did I save with platform subsidies in April?" |
| Inventory | "Which SKUs are running low on stock?" "What's my current inventory value?" |
| Geographic breakdown | "Where do most of my orders come from?" "How are sales doing in Germany this month?" |
| Hourly metrics | "Which hour of the day gets the most orders?" "Show me yesterday's sales hour by hour." |
The assistant cannot perform actions in your TikTok Shop or in Dashboardly. It can only read.
Managing Your Keys
Viewing keys
The Settings > API Keys page lists every key you have created with its name, the first few characters of the key (so you can recognize it), the shop it is bound to, when it was created, when it was last used, and when it expires.
Inspecting usage
Click any active key to expand a usage panel showing:
- Total calls in the last 30 days
- Success rate (calls that returned data successfully)
- Average response time so you know the connection is fast
- A daily activity chart for the last 7 days
- The most-used data tools so you can see what the assistant asks for most
This is useful for confirming that a key is being used, spotting unusual activity, or seeing what your assistant tends to focus on.
Revoking a key
If a key is lost, exposed, or no longer needed, click the Revoke icon next to it. Dashboardly immediately blocks any further requests using that key. AI assistants connected with the revoked key will see an error on their next question.
Revoking is instant. There is no grace period.
Key expiry
Each key has an expiry date set when you create it. Dashboardly shows a warning badge on the API Keys page when a key has 14 days or fewer remaining. Expired keys stop working automatically -- no need to revoke them.
To rotate a key on a recurring schedule, create a new key, update your AI assistant to use it, then revoke the old one.
Connected Apps
Some AI assistants (notably ChatGPT) connect through a one-click sign-in flow instead of requiring you to copy an API key. When you grant Dashboardly access to one of these assistants, it appears in the Connected Apps section at the bottom of the API Keys page.
For each connected app you can see its name, when it first connected, when it was last active, and two ways to disconnect:
- Revoke -- Blocks new sign-ins from that assistant. Active sessions remain valid for up to one hour and then expire.
- Sign out now -- Hard-disconnects the assistant immediately, kicking out any active session. Use this if you suspect the connection is being misused.
Security & Privacy
API keys are sensitive. Treat each key like a password.
- Never commit a key to a public code repository. If you accidentally do, revoke it from Dashboardly and generate a new one.
- Never share a key in a chat message, email, or screenshot. Anyone with the key can read your data until you revoke it.
- Use one key per assistant or per device. That way, if a key is compromised on one device you can revoke just that key without disturbing your other connections.
- Set a sensible expiry. A key that expires in 90 days is safer than one that lasts forever. You can always create a new one.
Dashboardly never displays the full key after creation. The only place to find it is wherever you saved it when the key was generated.
All requests from AI assistants are made over HTTPS. Each request is logged with a timestamp and the data area it queried. You can audit this history per-key from the usage panel described above.
Read-only means read-only: even if a key were compromised, an attacker could see your data but could not change a single product cost, send a refund, or affect your TikTok Shop in any way.
Common Questions
Does my AI assistant see my whole Dashboardly account, or just one shop?
It depends on how you configured the key. If you bound the key to a single shop, the assistant only sees that shop. If you left "All shops" selected, the assistant can read data from every shop on your account. Most users prefer one key per shop for clarity.
Can I create different keys for different team members?
Yes. Create one named key per person ("Claude -- Maria", "ChatGPT -- John") and share each key only with the person who needs it. If someone leaves the team, revoke their key without affecting anyone else.
Will using an AI assistant cost me extra?
No. There is no per-query fee from Dashboardly. Your AI assistant provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) bills you separately for the assistant itself based on their own pricing.
How fresh is the data my assistant sees?
Exactly as fresh as what you see in Dashboardly. If the dashboard shows a metric updated 2 minutes ago, that is what the assistant gets. Settlement-based numbers (fees, taxes) may be estimated for very recent orders -- see Why is my data delayed? for the full story.
Can my AI assistant make changes to my shop?
No. Every API key is read-only. There is no "write" mode and no plan to add one. The most an assistant can do is summarize numbers it reads.
What happens to my old keys if I downgrade my plan?
If you downgrade to Brand Starter, all existing API keys stop working immediately. Re-upgrade to Brand Growth or higher to reactivate them, or create new keys after upgrading.
Can I see what my AI assistant has been asking?
Yes. The usage panel for each key shows the most-used data areas (orders, P&L, top products, etc.) and a 7-day activity chart. We do not log the natural-language questions the user typed -- only which data tools the assistant called.