> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.exterview.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# MCP (Model Context Protocol)

> How Exterview's intelligence will be reachable from approved external AI assistants through a governed, read-only gateway specific to your organization. On the roadmap.

**Upcoming.** MCP is the third tier of Smaya: the same governed intelligence, reachable from outside Exterview. Where Smaya answers inside the app, MCP lets an approved external assistant, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, ask Exterview about your hiring data through a governed gateway scoped to your organization's access rules. It is on the roadmap and not yet available.

<Note>
  MCP shares Smaya's foundation exactly: grounded and cited, specific to your
  organization, human-approved for anything that changes data, and fully
  audited. Reaching Exterview from outside never loosens those controls. See
  [Meet Smaya](/smaya/overview).
</Note>

## What MCP is designed to do

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Ask from where you work">
    **Upcoming.** Query candidate, job, and report data from an approved assistant in your existing workspace, without opening Exterview.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Grounded, cited answers">
    **Upcoming.** Answers come back with citations to the underlying Exterview
    record, the same as Smaya in-app.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Specific to your organization, by identity">
    **Upcoming.** The gateway resolves your organization and role from your
    credentials; there is no access to another customer's data and no widening of
    your own permissions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Read-first, human-approved actions">
    **Upcoming.** External reach begins read-only. Any action that changes data is proposed and waits for human approval, never executed autonomously.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Example use cases

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Hiring manager in Copilot">
    Ask how the top three candidates for a role scored, from Microsoft 365 Copilot, and get a cited answer.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Recruiter status check">
    Ask which candidates are waiting on a decision, without leaving your
    assistant.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Leadership summary">
    Pull a plain-language summary of a role's pipeline health into a chat surface
    leadership already uses.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Compliance lookup">
    Retrieve the evidence trail for a specific evaluation, scoped to what your role is allowed to see.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## The controls that hold at this tier

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Governed gateway">
    Only approved external assistants can connect, through a controlled surface, not a general-purpose data feed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Read-only first">
    The external surface starts read-only; acting capabilities arrive later behind
    the same human approval gate as Smaya.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Fully audited">
    Every external query and its answer is logged with its trace for compliance
    review.
  </Card>

  <Card title="No new permissions">
    MCP can never reach data or actions the connected person could not reach in Exterview themselves.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## FAQs

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Is MCP available today?">
    No. It is on the roadmap. This page describes what it is designed to do so you can plan for it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How is this different from Smaya in the app?">
    Same intelligence and same controls, different surface. Smaya answers inside
    Exterview; MCP lets an approved external assistant ask Exterview from where
    you already work.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can an external assistant change our data?">
    Not autonomously. External reach starts read-only, and any future acting
    capability runs through the same human approval gate as the rest of Smaya.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Which external assistants will be supported?">
    Approved assistants such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, connected through the governed gateway. The supported list is confirmed as the capability ships.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Meet Smaya" href="/smaya/overview">
    The companion and its three tiers, one governed foundation.
  </Card>

  <Card title="How Smaya Works" href="/smaya/how-it-works">
    The agent loop and the human approval gate.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Human Oversight" href="/smaya/oversight">
    The control model that holds at every tier.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Upcoming" href="/product-updates/upcoming">
    Where MCP sits on the roadmap.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>