ChatGPT + ServiceM8: The Official Plugin and Its Limits
Yes, ChatGPT works with ServiceM8, and it’s one of the few trades apps with an official plugin: ServiceM8 lists itself as an approved plugin in ChatGPT’s plugin directory, built on its own MCP server. You install it from Plugins, sign in to ServiceM8, and ask about jobs, staff, and the schedule in plain English. What it can’t do is start on its own when something happens in ServiceM8, like a job being marked Completed.
What the ServiceM8 plugin can do in ChatGPT
ServiceM8’s help article lists what ChatGPT can do once it’s connected:
- Find clients and jobs, and open full job details, diary entries, activities, and notes.
- Read your setup: staff, queues, allocation windows, forms, categories, badges, tax rates, and job templates.
- Book work: create jobs from templates, check staff availability, schedule jobs, and create flexible job allocations.
- Move jobs along: send jobs to queues, change job status, and add notes.
- Message customers: compose and send job-linked email and SMS through ServiceM8.
Actions that change your account (a note, a booking, a status change, a message) may ask you to confirm before they run. The published list centres on jobs, scheduling, and messages; it doesn’t name payments or materials, which ServiceM8’s REST API does cover.
How to connect ChatGPT to ServiceM8
- Sign in to ServiceM8 in a separate browser tab (the Online Dashboard) and leave it open.
- Open Plugins from ChatGPT’s sidebar and search for ServiceM8. Pick the public listing with the green ServiceM8 icon.
- Click Install plugin, review the access ChatGPT requests, and click Allow.
- Start a new chat, select ServiceM8 from Plugins in the prompt area (or type @ and choose it).
- Test with a read, such as “What jobs are scheduled to me today?”, before you ask it to book or message anyone.
On a workspace plan, your ChatGPT admin may need to enable the ServiceM8 plugin for your role first. To remove access later, disconnect ServiceM8 under Settings → Apps; ServiceM8 notes that uninstalling the plugin alone leaves the connection in place.
There’s no Developer mode step and no server to host. The plugin signs in with OAuth against ServiceM8’s own server at api.servicem8.com/mcp, the same URL Claude users add as a custom connector (see Claude + ServiceM8).
The other ways into ServiceM8
The plugin is the right choice for most people. Two other paths exist, and they matter once you want automation:
| Path | What it gets you | Who can use it |
|---|---|---|
| Official ChatGPT plugin | Jobs, scheduling, notes, status, job-linked email and SMS, in a chat | Any ServiceM8 user who can authorize access |
| API key | The full REST API: jobs, clients, job activities, materials, job payments, staff | Starter plan and up; create one at Settings → API Keys, no developer account needed |
| Zapier | Instant triggers (New Job, New Client, Job Completed); Zapier’s ServiceM8 MCP offers two actions, Create Client and Create Job | All ServiceM8 plans list Zapier |
Two details from ServiceM8’s developer docs are worth knowing. First, webhooks, including the new event webhooks such as job.completed that ServiceM8 was rolling out to all accounts by September 18, belong to public applications: you register as a Development Partner and implement OAuth. A plain API key doesn’t get them. Second, quotes live on the job: a ServiceM8 job’s status is Quote, Work Order, Unsuccessful, or Completed, so “open quotes” is a job filter, not a separate record.
The limits that matter
- No ServiceM8 event can start ChatGPT. OpenAI documents ChatGPT’s event-triggered tasks only for Gmail, Slack and GitHub events, on eligible plans. A job completing in ServiceM8 has nowhere to go.
- Scheduled recaps do work. Scheduled tasks on the web can use the plugins available to that chat, so “every weekday at 6am, list today’s jobs by tech” is realistic. Custom and third-party plugins in unattended runs can still fail; see why a connector is unavailable in a scheduled task.
- Email triggers are Gmail only. A Gmail-triggered task can check ServiceM8 when a customer writes in. If your business runs on Outlook, there’s no trigger to hang it on.
- Approvals follow you. Messages and bookings may wait for your confirmation, which is fine at a desk and awkward on a ladder.
- ServiceM8’s own agent is a separate product. Office Agent chats inside the ServiceM8 app, with a daily usage allowance on Starter through Premium Plus. Scheduled Tasks need Office Agent Pro, US$39/month (A$49 in Australia) on top of your plan, and every proposed action waits for approval. More in ServiceM8 AI.
ServiceM8 work that runs on its own: Carly
Once the goal is “handle it without me in the chat,” you need an assistant with standing workflows that answer where your customers already write to you.
Carly is an AI executive assistant that works over email and text. It runs workflows in the cloud when an email, calendar event, or form comes in, or on a schedule, with no chat open. You set them up by describing what you want in plain English.
Connecting ServiceM8 to Carly takes one step: create an API key at Settings → API Keys in ServiceM8, open carlyassistant.com/integrations, and paste it in. That gives Carly the REST API, including job activities, materials, and payments.
Then ask for things like:
- “When a customer emails asking to move their job, check the ServiceM8 schedule for open slots that week, reply with two options, and update the booking once they pick one.”
- “Every weekday at 6am, email Josh and Claire their jobs for the day with addresses and job notes.”
- “Every evening, find jobs marked Completed today and email each customer a thank-you with our review link.”
- “Every Monday, list jobs still in Quote status after seven days and draft a follow-up for each.”
- “When our website enquiry form comes in, create the client and job in ServiceM8 and reply to confirm we got it.”
Carly connects to thousands of apps, so the same workflow can reply from Gmail or Outlook, block the visit on Google Calendar, or log a row in Google Sheets. Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
If you’d rather keep working in ChatGPT, add the Carly plugin next to the ServiceM8 one and set those workflows up from a chat.
ChatGPT vs Carly for ServiceM8
| ChatGPT (ServiceM8 plugin) | Carly | |
|---|---|---|
| Look up jobs, clients, staff | Yes, in a chat | Yes, in a chat, email, or text |
| Setup | Install from Plugins, sign in | Paste a ServiceM8 API key at carlyassistant.com/integrations |
| Payments and materials | Not named in the published tool list | Yes, through the REST API |
| Reply to a reschedule email | Gmail-triggered task, eligible plans | Yes, from Gmail or Outlook, when the email arrives |
| Morning run sheet for each tech | Scheduled task, if the plugin runs unattended | Yes, on a schedule in the cloud |
| React to a ServiceM8 job event | No ServiceM8 trigger to fire on | Scheduled check, then email or text |
| Where it answers | The ChatGPT app | Email, text, or chat |
| Price | ChatGPT plan with scheduled tasks | Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month |
The ServiceM8 plugin makes ChatGPT a fast way to look up and book work while you’re at a desk. Carly is the assistant that answers the customer’s reschedule email while you’re under a house.
Frequently asked questions
Does ServiceM8 have an official ChatGPT plugin? Yes. ServiceM8 describes it as an approved plugin in ChatGPT’s plugin directory. It runs on ServiceM8’s own MCP server and signs in with your ServiceM8 account.
Which ServiceM8 plan do I need for API access? ServiceM8’s pricing comparison lists API Access from the Starter plan, US$29/month, which includes 50 jobs a month. Plans are priced by jobs, not users; see ServiceM8 pricing.
Can ChatGPT text a customer when a ServiceM8 job is completed? Not on the event itself. OpenAI documents ChatGPT event triggers for Gmail, Slack and GitHub. You can run a scheduled task that checks for completed jobs, or have Carly check ServiceM8 on a schedule you set and message each customer from your own inbox.
Is ServiceM8’s Office Agent the same as the ChatGPT plugin? No. Office Agent is ServiceM8’s built-in assistant inside the ServiceM8 app and dashboard. The ChatGPT plugin brings ServiceM8 into ChatGPT. Office Agent’s scheduled tasks need the Pro add-on.
Do I need a community MCP server for ServiceM8? No. With an official plugin and an official server URL, there’s nothing to self-host. The only public community project on GitHub is marked a private draft.
Related: Claude + ServiceM8 · ServiceM8 AI · ChatGPT + Jobber · ChatGPT + Housecall Pro · ChatGPT plugins
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