Connect ChatGPT or Claude to events industry data with Athena

This is optional: if you use Athena on the website, you don’t need any of this; it’s for people who already use ChatGPT or Claude every day.

If that’s you, you can connect Athena to your assistant. You keep writing as usual. When the answer needs an events industry data point, your assistant asks Athena for it before replying.

What do you gain by connecting it?

You need to convince your client that AI is already normal at trade fairs. You ask your assistant how many people use AI in events. With Athena connected, it gives you a figure from UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry. According to its barometer, with the survey closed in June 2026, 75% of trade fair organisers regularly use standard AI tools. And it tells you where it is: page 20 of the report ^[1]. You can open it at that page before putting it in your proposal.

What if you use your company’s Claude or ChatGPT?

On company accounts, the connector is added by whoever manages the assistant. You can forward them this email as it is:

Subject: Adding the Athena connector to our assistant

Hi,

Could you add the Sinapser Athena connector to our Claude
(Team or Enterprise) or to our ChatGPT (Business, Enterprise or Edu)?

- What it is: a free search tool for figures from events industry
  studies, with their study and their page.
- Connector address: https://athena-api-2rjc.onrender.com/mcp
- Access: each person signs in with their own Athena account.
- Read-only: it searches for figures and returns a study sheet.

What Athena sees: only the search the assistant sends it (the
search text and, where relevant, the country or type of population)
or the name of the study whose sheet it requests. It never sees
conversations, documents or files.

Steps for each assistant:
https://sinapser.com/en/blog/athena-mcp-chatgpt-claude

Thanks.

Do the figures really change?

We measured it ourselves, at Sinapser: we put 30 industry questions to the same assistant, with and without Athena. With internet only, 35.7% of its figures had some problem. With Athena, 13.3% ^[2]. In a blind comparison, the answer with Athena won on 25 of the 30. It is not an independent study.

To get started, create your account at athena.sinapser.com. Then follow the steps below.

What do you need before you start?

An Athena account. The website can be used without signing up, but to connect it to your assistant you need an account. When you connect, your assistant will ask you to sign in with it.

Athena’s address for your assistant. It is this one:

https://athena-api-2rjc.onrender.com/mcp

And the right plan. In Claude any plan will do, including the free one. In ChatGPT you need Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu.

How do I connect it myself?

You only do it once. Open the steps for your assistant.

Steps for Claude

On Claude’s free plan you can add only one custom connector: if you already have another, that slot is taken.

1. In Claude, click Customize.
2. Go to Connectors.
3. Click + and choose Add custom connector.
4. In the name, type “Athena”. In the address, paste the one above.
5. Click Add.
6. Click Connect.
7. The Athena screen opens. Sign in with your Athena account and click Allow.

Done. If you want to remove it later, you’ll find it under Connectors.

Steps for ChatGPT

It can’t be done on ChatGPT’s free plan.

1. In ChatGPT, open Settings.
2. Go to Apps & Connectors. In recent versions it is called Plugins.
3. Go to Advanced settings and turn on Developer mode.
4. Click Create.
5. In the name, type “Athena”. In the address, paste the one above. For authentication, choose OAuth, which is the option to sign in with your account.
6. The Athena screen opens. Sign in with your Athena account and click Allow.
7. Back in the chat, click +, go to Developer mode and tick Athena.

Step 7 is repeated in every chat where you want to use Athena. It is the one people forget most: if you don’t tick Athena, ChatGPT answers only with what it finds on the web.

If you run into this…

Claude shows you a screen with options. When you add the connector, Claude may show two blocks: Authentication and OAuth Client. Leave what Claude marks as “Detected”: Sign in now and Register automatically. Don’t choose Use Claude’s published identity, which Athena doesn’t support, or Use your own OAuth client. You don’t need to fill in anything else.

A tab opens with “127.0.0.1” and “Authentication complete”. This happens when you connect from the Claude or ChatGPT desktop app. It is normal: that address is your own computer. You can close the tab.

You installed Athena from Codex and it doesn’t appear in the ChatGPT chat. The ChatGPT desktop app has Chat, Work and Codex. What you install from Codex only works in Codex. For the chat, follow the ChatGPT steps above.

You use Codex or Claude Code. There you don’t need to touch any menus: just ask for it in a message, and the agent does the installation and the sign-in. You can copy this one:

“Install the Athena MCP server (https://athena-api-2rjc.onrender.com/mcp) as a remote HTTP server with the name “athena” and connect it by signing in with OAuth. Then check that you can see the buscar_hechos and ficha_estudio tools.”

This only works for those agents. In the ChatGPT chat and in Claude.ai, asking by message doesn’t work: you have to follow the steps above.

You are setting up your company’s Claude or ChatGPT. In Claude Team or Enterprise, an owner adds it under Organization settings, Connectors, Add, Custom, Web; then each person connects it under Customize, Connectors. In ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu, the administrator turns on developer mode under Workspace settings, Permissions & roles, creates the connector and publishes it to the team (on Enterprise, also to specific people); then each person signs in with their Athena account ^[3].

Sources

1. UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, “UFI Global Exhibition Barometer, 37th Edition” (open access): survey closed in June 2026 of 466 companies from 59 countries and regions. Supports the 75% of organisers who regularly use standard AI tools (page 20).
2. Sinapser, our own measurement of Athena connected to an assistant (29 September 2026): 30 industry questions answered by Claude with internet access, with and without Athena; figures checked by opening the cited pages, and a blind comparison. Supports the 35.7%, the 13.3% and the 25 out of 30. It is not an independent study and has not been published.
3. Official help from Claude and ChatGPT on custom connectors and developer mode: steps and plans for each assistant.

Frequently asked questions

Does it cost anything?

Athena is free. You only need an Athena account. What depends on your assistant is the plan: in Claude any plan works, including the free one; in ChatGPT you need Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu.

Is there a limit on questions?

Yes. The standard account has 200 searches a month and a cap of 20 a day; the pro account, 2,000 a month and 200 a day. A single question of yours can use more than one search. If you reach the limit, your assistant shows you Athena’s notice explaining how to request the pro account. In the meantime, you can keep using the website.

Does Athena see my conversations?

No. Athena only receives what your assistant searches for in it. The rest of the conversation, your documents and your files stay in your assistant.

Can I paste the figure as it is?

Check it first. The final sentence is written by ChatGPT or Claude, and it may change a nuance or a year. Open the page that comes with the figure and check that it says the same thing.