DocuWare + AI - Our MCP Connector Links Your Archive to Claude, ChatGPT & Co

AI assistants like Claude or ChatGPT have arrived in everyday work - but they don’t know your documents. We’re changing that: with our new DocuWare MCP connector, AI assistants talk directly to your DocuWare archive. Ask questions, read documents, get analyses - all in the chat, without switching AI tools and without leaving DocuWare.

Update 16 October 2026: this post describes the launch. What the connector has learned since - showing workflow tasks, changing index fields and files - is in the October 2026 update; how the first month went is in the interim review.

What is MCP - and why does it matter?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI assistants access external systems - in a controlled way, through clearly defined tools. Instead of tediously copying documents into a chat, the assistant gets direct, governed access to your DocuWare: it can search, read and analyse - and, where enabled, change - as if it were a well-trained colleague with archive access.

The key point: MCP is vendor-neutral. The standard is supported by all major AI providers - and that is exactly what we build on.

AI-independent: Claude, ChatGPT, or whatever comes next

We deliberately built the connector to work with any MCP-capable AI assistant - whether Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (ChatGPT) or another provider. You don’t commit to any single AI. If your company switches assistants or a better model comes to market, the DocuWare connection simply stays in place.

For cloud customers, we operate the MCP server as a managed service: no infrastructure of your own, no maintenance, no update effort - sign in, connect, go.

For all cloud customers. And for all partners.

The DocuWare MCP connector is not a special project for isolated cases: it is available to all DocuWare cloud customers - and equally to all DocuWare partners who want to offer it to their own customers. You are a DocuWare partner and want to give your customers AI access to DocuWare? Talk to us.

What can the AI actually do with it?

In short: document-based queries and analyses - and, step by step, operations too. For example:

• Research & analysis: “Show me all open incoming invoices from supplier Huber above 5,000 euros” - or “Summarize the maintenance contract with Maier and tell me the notice period.”
• Workflow overview: “Which invoice approvals are waiting for me?” The assistant shows the open tasks with their decision options. The decision itself - “Approve invoice 4711 for payment” - is the next expansion step and comes with its own grant.
• Index maintenance & filing: The assistant can correct index data and replace files in cabinets released for it. Filing new documents - “File this PDF as a supplier contract, contracting party Huber GmbH, term until the end of 2028” - follows.
• Combined tasks: “Find all contracts expiring in the next 90 days and create an overview with notice periods.”

Throughout, one rule applies: the connector works within the existing DocuWare permissions. Whatever a user is not allowed to see or decide in DocuWare, the AI cannot see or decide on their behalf either.

AI + DocuWare: more than a single tool

The MCP connector complements our existing AI building blocks around DocuWare: while natif.ai automatically classifies incoming documents and extracts data (more in natif.ai in practice), the MCP connector makes your entire archive usable for AI assistants in dialogue. Together, this creates an end-to-end AI-supported document process - from intake through filing to answers and decisions.

Technically, the connector fits right into our core focus, integration & interfaces: making DocuWare available wherever the work happens.

How to get started

You use DocuWare Cloud? Then it’s a short path: we enable the MCP connector for your environment and connect it to the AI assistant of your choice. Contact us - in a short demo, we’ll show you what your DocuWare feels like in a chat.