Automate customer onboarding with the MCP API

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Who this is for

• Onboard multiple customers per week and want to eliminate manual setup
• Use a CRM (GoHighLevel, HubSpot, or custom) to manage their sales pipeline
• Want to trigger customer provisioning automatically when a deal closes

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Business goal

1. Create the customer in the Partner Portal
2. Enable portal access
3. Map agents to the customer
4. Add credits

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What you’ll build

• Creates a Knotie customer when a deal closes in your CRM
• Enables portal access and sends invite credentials automatically
• Maps your default voice agent to the new customer

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Prerequisites

• A Partner API key (created in Settings > Partner API Keys → Platform API tab)
• At least one imported voice agent (Retell or VAPI)
• A CRM or automation tool that can send HTTP requests (GHL workflows, Zapier, Make, n8n, or custom code)

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Step 1 — Generate your Partner API key

1. Partner Portal → Settings → Partner API Keys → Platform API tab
2. Click Create API Key
3. Configure the key (see options below)
4. Copy the key (starts with pkt_) and store it in your automation tool’s secrets

Important: The key is shown only once in a reveal modal. Copy it immediately.

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Key configuration options

• Name (required)
• Description
• MCP Gateway — Enable MCP for AI-agent calls (checked by default)
• Full Access — full-scoped permission (checked by default)
• Expires At — optional expiration date
• Rate Limit — requests per minute
• Daily Limit — maximum daily requests
• Monthly Limit — maximum monthly requests
• Allowed IPs — restrict to specific server IPs (one per line)

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What the reveal modal shows

• Raw API key (pkt_...)
• Ready-to-copy Authorization: Bearer pkt_... header
• Ready-to-paste curl example
• Endpoint info: /api/partner-mcp (AI agents) and /api/partner-rest/* (REST)
• Legacy Basic-auth header (marked deprecated)

All API requests use the Authorization: Bearer pkt_... header. See the Authentication guide for details.

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Security best practices

• Storing API keys in environment variables
• Rotating keys periodically and revoking unused ones
• Using IP restrictions for trusted servers
• Monitoring usage for suspicious activity

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Key management table

• Name, Prefix, Status
• Created, Last Used
• Usage (Total / Today / Month)
• MCP Scopes
• Actions: Renew (rotate), Revoke

Note: The Partner API Keys page has 4 tabs: AI Gateway Beta, Platform API, MCP Tokens, and n8n Tokens. Make sure you are on the Platform API tab for partner automation keys (pkt_ prefix). AI Gateway keys (sk- prefix, for LLM usage) are on the separate AI Gateway Beta tab.

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Step 2 — Create the customer via API

curl -X POST "https://YOUR_BASE_URL/api/v1/mcp/customers/onboard" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pkt_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "basic": {
      "email": "newclient@example.com",
      "firstName": "Jane",
      "lastName": "Doe",
      "businessPhone": "+15551234567"
    },
    "business": {
      "companyName": "Client Corp"
    },
    "isQuickOnboarding": true,
    "allowPortalAccess": true
  }'

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Step 3 — Map a voice agent to the customer

curl -X POST "https://YOUR_BASE_URL/api/v1/mcp/retell-agents/AGENT_ID/map-customer" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pkt_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "customerId": "CUSTOMER_ID_FROM_STEP_2",
    "profitMultiplier": 1.5
  }'

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Step 4 — (Optional) Add team members

curl -X POST "https://YOUR_BASE_URL/api/v1/mcp/customers/CUSTOMER_ID/team-members" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pkt_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "email": "team@clientcorp.com",
    "name": "John Smith",
    "role": "member"
  }'

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Example: GoHighLevel workflow

1. Trigger: Pipeline stage changed → “Closed Won”
2. Action 1: Webhook → POST /api/v1/mcp/customers/onboard (with contact fields mapped)
3. Action 2: Webhook → POST /api/v1/mcp/retell-agents/{agentId}/map-customer (using the customer ID from Action 1)

Tip: Use GHL’s custom values to store your Partner API key and agent ID so they’re easy to update across workflows.

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Example: n8n workflow

1. Trigger: Webhook (from your CRM) or schedule-based poll
2. HTTP Request node: POST to /api/v1/mcp/customers/onboard
3. HTTP Request node: POST to agent map endpoint with the returned customer ID

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Verification checklist

• Customer appears in Partner Portal → Customers
• Customer received the portal invite email
• Agent mapping shows correctly in the customer’s detail view
• Customer can log into their portal

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Troubleshooting

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Next steps

• Set up outbound calling for your newly onboarded customers
• Configure credit management to control usage limits
• Explore the full MCP API reference for additional automation options