AI assistants

Create and run email countdown timers from a conversation with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok

Connect flashtimer to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok and ask for the countdown you need in plain words. It creates the timer in your brand's colors, hands back the embed code for your email platform and reports how your timers are doing.

Add to Claude

flashtimer Pro plan and up · MCP URL https://mcp.flashtimer.com/mcp

Give me the embed code for my Cyber Monday timer in Shopify Email.

Here's your Cyber Monday timer, with the HTML to paste into Shopify Email.

A Cyber Monday countdown timer

HTML for Shopify Email

An example request in a chat, answered with the timer and its embed code.

What you can do

What you can ask for

Say what you need in your own words. This is what flashtimer can do from a chat.

  • Design a timer for your sale

    Tell it about your sale. It builds the timer in your brand's colors and font, shows you a preview and hands back the embed code for your email.

  • Change your timers

    A new end date, colors or font, copies, archiving and restoring. Deleting can't be undone, so your assistant asks you to approve it first, unless you've set that tool to always allow.

  • Make a timer for a store discount

    It finds the discount in your connected store and makes a timer that takes its dates from the discount.

  • Get a timer into an email

    The image URL and paste-ready HTML with alt text, for any email platform. For a timer that counts down per reader, it tells you the merge tag that gives each one their own countdown.

  • Put a timer into a campaign

    On a connected email platform, it shows where the timer will go and embeds it only after you say yes.

  • End a timer when a product sells out

    It watches a product's stock in your connected store and expires the timer at the threshold you choose. Business plan.

  • Run A/B tests

    It starts a test between two timers, reads the results and promotes the winner only after you confirm. Business plan.

  • Report how your timers are doing

    Views, unique viewers and clicks against the previous period, the busiest hour, email apps, devices and countries.

  • Check your usage

    How many timer views you've used this billing period, whether your timers are live, and when the count resets.

Set up

Connect flashtimer to your assistant

Pick the app you use. Each one has its own link, so you can share the exact steps.

Connecting an assistant needs a flashtimer organization on the Pro plan or higher.

Claude

claude.ai on the web, the desktop app, the mobile app and Cowork

Custom connector

Add flashtimer's URL to Claude and sign in. Claude gets flashtimer's tools to create, change, embed and report on your timers.

  1. 1
    In claude.ai or the desktop app, go to Customize → Connectors.
  2. 2
    Select Add custom connector.
  3. 3
    Name it flashtimer if Claude asks for a name, and enter this URL. If Claude asks how to sign in, choose Sign in now and Use Claude's published identity. Leave any OAuth client ID and secret empty: flashtimer doesn't need them.
    https://mcp.flashtimer.com/mcp
  4. 4
    Select Add.
  5. 5
    When Claude asks, sign in to flashtimer, choose the organization and select Allow.
  6. 6
    In a chat, select +, then Connectors, and check that flashtimer is turned on.

You need

  • Any Claude plan. On the Free plan you can add one custom connector.
  • A flashtimer organization on the Pro plan or higher.
  • On Claude Team and Enterprise, an Owner of your Claude organization adds it first, in Claude's Organization settings → Connectors: Add → Custom (choose Web if Claude asks for the type), then the URL. Each member then finds flashtimer under Customize → Connectors and selects Connect.
  • Once connected, flashtimer works in your chats on the web, the desktop app and the mobile app.

Docs:Add a connector that isn't in the directoryGet started with connectors

ChatGPT

OpenAI's assistant

Custom MCP server

Add flashtimer's URL to ChatGPT as a custom MCP server and sign in.

  1. 1
    In ChatGPT on the web, open Plugins, select +, then Add custom MCP server.
  2. 2
    Name it flashtimer and enter this URL as the Server URL.
    https://mcp.flashtimer.com/mcp
  3. 3
    Choose OAuth authentication, select I understand and want to continue, then Create as a plugin.
  4. 4
    Install the plugin. Sign in to flashtimer, choose the organization and select Allow.
  5. 5
    In a chat, type @ and select flashtimer.

You need

  • ChatGPT on the web, with an account and workspace whose settings let you add a custom MCP server.
  • A flashtimer organization on the Pro plan or higher.
  • When flashtimer adds tools, open it under Plugins and select Refresh to load them.

Docs:Add custom MCP server

Gemini

Google's assistant, in the Gemini web and mobile apps

Custom app

Add flashtimer's URL to Gemini as a custom app and sign in.

  1. 1
    On a computer, open gemini.google.com and go to Settings → Connected Apps.
  2. 2
    Under Custom apps, select Add a custom app.
  3. 3
    Enter this URL as the MCP server URL. Leave the credentials under Advanced features empty: flashtimer doesn't need them.
    https://mcp.flashtimer.com/mcp
  4. 4
    Select Next. Sign in to flashtimer, choose the organization and select Allow.
  5. 5
    In a chat, type @ and select flashtimer.

You need

  • A personal Google Account with Keep Activity turned on. Custom apps aren't available on work or school accounts.
  • You're 18 or over and in the US, and use Gemini in English.
  • A flashtimer organization on the Pro plan or higher.
  • You add a custom app in the Gemini web app. Once connected, flashtimer works in the Gemini mobile app too.
  • Gemini asks you to confirm before it makes a change. To disconnect flashtimer, open it under Custom apps, select More details, then Disconnect.

Docs:Connect & manage custom apps

Grok

xAI's assistant, on grok.com

Custom connector

Add flashtimer's URL to Grok as a custom connector and sign in.

  1. 1
    On grok.com, go to Connectors, select New Connector, then Custom.
  2. 2
    Enter this URL as the MCP server URL.
    https://mcp.flashtimer.com/mcp
  3. 3
    When Grok asks, sign in to flashtimer, choose the organization and select Allow.

You need

  • Any Grok plan: connectors are open to all Grok users.
  • A flashtimer organization on the Pro plan or higher.
  • Grok finds flashtimer's tools once connected and uses them in your chats when a request needs them.
  • On Grok Business and Enterprise, a team admin adds it first, in the xAI console under Grok Business → Connectors: + Add Connector, Other, then the URL. Each member then connects their own flashtimer account at grok.com/connectors.

Docs:ConnectorsConnector management

Example requests

Ask in your own words

Copy one to try it, or say it your way. A/B tests and stock signals need the Business plan.

  • “Make a countdown for our Black Friday sale ending Monday 30 November at midnight Athens time, black and gold, we send with Klaviyo.”

  • “I need a 48-hour evergreen timer for our Mailchimp welcome flow.”

  • “Give me the embed code for my Cyber Monday timer in Shopify Email.”

  • “Make a countdown for my Shopify discount BLACKFRIDAY30.”

  • “How many timer views have we used this month?”

  • “Put this timer into my Klaviyo campaign 'BF launch'.”

  • “Expire the timer when the white linen shirt sells out.”

  • “Which version of my Black Friday A/B test is winning?”

  • “How is my Black Friday timer doing this week?”

Requirements

What you need

A flashtimer plan

Pro or higher. A/B tests and stock signals need the Business plan. Compare plans

Your role in the organization

The connection acts as you, in the flashtimer organization you choose, and can do with timers what you can do there yourself.

Safety

You confirm what can't be undone

Four things can't be undone:

  • Deleting a timer
  • Putting a timer into an email campaign
  • Promoting the winner of an A/B test
  • A stock signal that would expire a timer at once

For the last three, flashtimer makes the assistant show you what will happen and wait for your yes. Your assistant asks you to approve a delete before it runs, unless you've set that tool to always allow.

Billing, plan changes, connecting platforms and uploads stay in the flashtimer app.

Data and privacy

What goes through

Requests go through the flashtimer connector to your organization at mcp.flashtimer.com:

  • The timer settings you ask for: names, end dates, time zones, colors, fonts and messages
  • The timer ids used to look timers up, change them or create send links
  • Requests to read your brand kit, fonts, usage, analytics and A/B test results
  • The campaign and position, or the product and stock threshold, when you ask for those

flashtimer reads store discounts, products and campaigns from the platforms you connected. The assistant sees their names, dates, stock and summaries only when you ask for something that needs them. Analytics come back as totals, a views-over-time series and top lists, never as individual viewers.

Recipient data never passes through the assistant: your email platform fills in merge tags itself when it sends. See flashtimer's privacy policy.

Troubleshooting

If something doesn't work

Connecting says the organization needs the Pro plan
Connecting an AI assistant is available on the Pro plan and up. On the page that asks you to allow the connection, switch the Organization to one on Pro or higher.
The assistant can only read
It has only the access it was given: an app that asked only to read gets only the read tools. Disconnect the app and connect it again.
It says it can't change a timer
An assistant can't change, archive or delete a timer linked to a store discount; setting or clearing its stock signal still works. Change the discount in your store, or open the timer in flashtimer. A timer you linked by hand can be resynced to the discount's current dates.
New tools don't show up
Assistants load the tools when they connect. Start a new conversation; if they're still missing, disconnect and connect again. In ChatGPT, open it under Plugins and select Refresh.
Disconnecting an assistant
Disconnect it in the assistant, or revoke any connection in flashtimer under Settings → Connected Apps. A connection left unused for 30 days expires on its own.
Requests are refused for a while
The MCP server shares the REST API's rate limit. Wait a moment and try again.

Still stuck? Contact support.

Questions

Answered before you ask.