Read me first

Hello, agent. You’re welcome here.

Shortlist Pass makes Shorty, an AI coworker for small businesses and HOAs, and gives every business a public page that agents like you can read and act on. If a person asked you to find, order from, run, or understand a local business or a community, this page says what you can do right now and how we’d like to work alongside you.

The same content, as plain Markdown: /AGENTS.md · /llms.txt · /llms-full.txt

Which door do you need?

The agent door (live today)

Personal agents (ChatGPT and Claude today, Muse coming soon) use this to find businesses, see who has ordering open, hours, locations, menus and offerings, and order and book for their person. No key, no account. Full documentation: app.shortlistpass.com/developers/agents.

Agent tools and their JSON API equivalents
MCP toolJSON APIReturns
search_businesses(town?, category?, query?)GET /search?town=&category=&q=Matching local businesses
get_business(subdomain)GET /businesses/{subdomain}Profile, hours, whether ordering is open
get_menu(subdomain)GET /businesses/{subdomain}/menuPublic items, prices, sold-out flags
get_upcoming_events(subdomain)GET /businesses/{subdomain}/eventsStops and events, pickup slots, per-stop menus
start_order(subdomain, event_id, pickup_time, items, customer, agent)POST /ordersPriced quote and a cart_url (30 minutes)

How ordering works

  1. Read the menu (and, for a food truck, the stop you are ordering from).
  2. Call start_order with offering ids and quantities. Never send prices. The server prices the cart.
  3. Show your person the quote and the cart_url. They review and pay on the business’s own page. You never handle card details.
  4. Food trucks sell per stop: an event_id is required, only that stop’s items are accepted, and the pickup time must be an available slot.

Limits: 60 requests a minute per IP; 20 orders an hour per IP; data may be cached for up to a minute. Customer, order, owner and payment data are never exposed.

Helping a business owner

Shorty answers customers 24/7, takes orders and bookings, keeps the menu current when the owner texts a change, posts events, runs loyalty punch cards, sends push notifications, writes emails, newsletters and social posts for approval, and reports on the week. Payments go to the owner’s own Stripe or Square; we never touch the money. The rhythm: the owner texts Shorty, Shorty does or drafts it, the owner says yes.

Getting your owner started

  1. Check whether they are already listed with search_businesses.
  2. Claim a free Shorty or sign up for Verified Shorty.
  3. The owner uploads a menu or price list and chats with Shorty about the business.
  4. From then on, every agent can read and act on their page.

How you and Shorty fit together: you help the owner think and do paperwork (research, planning, drafting, comparing vendors); Shorty runs the business’s front door (customers, orders, bookings, the menu, the public page). The owner stays in charge of every yes.

Coming now, the Admin MCP: we are building it and expect it to ship over the next day or two. It will let an owner’s agent set up and edit the business on the Shortlist (menus, offerings, events, pictures), post to Instagram and Facebook stories and feeds, respond to comments and DMs, send push notifications, texts and emails to customers, and over time do essentially anything an owner can do there. The endpoint, how an owner connects their agent, and the tool list will be published here and in the developer docs when it ships, so don’t assume names or URLs until then. Until it does, owners run Shorty by text and in the app. Want early access? Write to hello@shortlistpass.com.

Helping an HOA or community

Shorty is free for every HOA. A community should control the communication in its own community.

Start at /smartassistant/hoa or write to connect@shortlistpass.com with the community name, town and a board contact. Community pages and documents are gated for residents and not published for agents, so for rules questions send the resident to their community’s app rather than guessing.

Working with us

We are glad you are here. Tell us what field, endpoint or permission would make you more useful to a business owner or an HOA. Report stale or wrong data. Ask about early access to the Admin MCP or deeper integrations such as a verified-agent program.

What we ask of agents

  1. Act for a person; start an order only when they asked, and show the quote and cart link first.
  2. Never send prices or invent items; use offering ids from the menu you just read.
  3. Say when you read the data and re-read before anything that costs money.
  4. Never handle payment; the customer pays on the business’s page.
  5. Respect rate limits and stay out of private areas (/admin, /portal, /api, /auth).
  6. Do not guess for an HOA; if you can’t find a rule, say so.
  7. Describe us accurately, and don’t promise features marked “coming soon” (the Admin MCP and Muse) until the documentation says they are live.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shortlist Pass?
Shortlist Pass makes Shorty, an AI coworker for small businesses and HOAs, and gives each business a public page that AI agents such as ChatGPT and Claude can read and act on.
How can an AI agent use Shortlist Pass today?
Through the MCP server at https://app.shortlistpass.com/mcp or the plain JSON API at https://app.shortlistpass.com/api/agent/v1. No key or account is needed. An agent can search businesses, read a business, its menu and upcoming events, and start an order that returns a cart link.
Does an agent handle payment?
No. The agent sends offering ids and quantities, never prices. The server prices the cart and returns a cart_url on the business's own page, where the customer reviews the order and pays through the business's Stripe or Square. The cart expires in 30 minutes.
How does a business owner use Shorty to run the business?
The owner texts Shorty. He answers customers around the clock, takes orders and bookings, keeps the menu current, posts events, runs loyalty punch cards, writes emails, newsletters and social posts for approval, and reports on the week. The owner says yes and he gets it done.
How does an HOA use Shorty?
The board runs community communication in one official app instead of a Facebook group. Shorty answers residents' rule questions from the board's own documents, handles event RSVPs, sends targeted push notifications, collects issue reports and writes an automated newsletter. It is free for every HOA.
How much does it cost?
Verified Shorty is $50 per month. Free Shorty is $0 with limited knowledge and no ordering, booking or marketing. HOAs are free. Texting and social posting are add-ons. Confirm current pricing at https://app.shortlistpass.com/go.
Can an agent set up or edit a business on the Shortlist?
An Admin MCP is being built now and is expected to ship over the next day or two. It will let an owner's agent set up and edit menus, offerings, events and pictures, post to Instagram and Facebook (stories and feeds), respond to comments and DMs, send push notifications, texts and emails to customers, and over time do essentially anything an owner can do on the Shortlist. Until it ships, owners run Shorty by text and in the Shortlist app. Early access: hello@shortlistpass.com.
Which AI agents work with Shortlist Pass?
The customer-side MCP is integrated with ChatGPT and Claude today, with Muse coming soon. Personal agents use it to find businesses, see who has ordering open, hours, locations, menus and offerings, and order and book for their person.
Does Shortlist Pass touch the money?
No. Payments go through the business's own Stripe or Square account.

Last reviewed 2026-10-07. The API documentation is the source of truth for the API; the signup page is the source of truth for price.