# Set up AI Connections for Claude and ChatGPT

The one-time server setup that lets your users connect their own Claude or ChatGPT accounts to Content Central, read-only and with their own permissions: make the site reachable from the internet, run AI Connections setup in Configuration Manager, switch it on, and test it.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.8.10195+ · Audience: system-administrator · Time: 20 minutes once Content Central is reachable from the internet over HTTPS · Last verified: 2026-10-21

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/integrations/set-up-ai-connections-for-claude-and-chatgpt

**At the end of this guide, your users can connect their own Claude or ChatGPT accounts to Content Central, read-only and with each person's own permissions, and you hold the on/off switch.**

What your users get: Claude or ChatGPT can search the documents that user can open, read their searchable text, and link back to them. It can't file, edit, approve, or delete anything, never sees document types that require a reason for access, and every search and read is recorded under the user's name. Each user approves their own connection and can disconnect it. There's no extra license and no API key to manage.

It stays off until you finish both Part 1 (on the server) and Part 2 (in Content Central).

> **IMPORTANT:** **Two decisions to make before you start.** First, Claude and ChatGPT reach Content Central from their own cloud services, so this makes your Content Central sign-in page reachable from the internet if it isn't already. Keep the server patched, require [multi-factor authentication](/content-central/administration/set-up-multi-factor-authentication), and turn on account lockout in your [password policy](/content-central/administration/set-password-policy-and-self-service-reset). Second, the switch is all-or-nothing: once it's on, any user can connect any Claude or eligible ChatGPT account, including a personal one, and the text of documents they ask about goes to Anthropic or OpenAI. Agree with management which accounts are approved for work documents, and tell your users (Part 3).

## Before you start

- [ ] **Content Central 7.8.10195 or later**, with **Create/Update Database** (in Configuration Manager) run after the upgrade. Older? [Upgrade Content Central](/content-central/administration/upgrade-content-central) first; the current installer includes the AI Connections component.
- [ ] **Administrator access to the Content Central server**, and a Content Central administrator account.
- [ ] **The site's IIS application pool name.** It's `ContentCentralApplicationPool` unless someone changed it; IIS Manager shows it.
- [ ] **An HTTP binding that answers on `127.0.0.1`.** The connector talks to Content Central over plain HTTP on the server itself. Unless an HTTP binding already answers on `127.0.0.1` for any host name, add one in IIS Manager (the site's **Bindings**): Type **http**, IP address **127.0.0.1**, Port **80**, **Host name** blank. **Test it:** on the server, open `http://127.0.0.1/ContentCentral/` (with your own application path). **What you should see:** the Content Central login page, with the address bar still starting `http://127.0.0.1/` (not switched to https). Also make sure no other IIS site has an HTTP binding for your public name, such as a site that redirects HTTP to HTTPS: the connector sends your public name to `127.0.0.1`, and IIS would hand those requests to that site. Don't open a public HTTP port.
- [ ] **Database access for the connector, if Content Central uses Windows authentication to SQL Server.** The connector's service runs as the server's Local System account and needs its own access to the Content Central database (if SQL Server is on another machine, that's this server's computer account). Not sure which authentication Content Central uses, or how to grant access? Contact Ademero support before you run setup.
- [ ] **A public HTTPS address for Content Central**, covered in the next section.

## Make Content Central reachable from the internet

Skip this section if people already open Content Central from outside the office at an `https://` address with no certificate warning, and the same address also opens from inside the office. If they don't, allow time for DNS and a certificate; this part can take days, not minutes.

1. **A public name** for the server, such as `https://documents.example.com/ContentCentral/`. It must also work from inside your office, because users approve each connection by opening that same address in their own browser. Inside, that usually means an internal DNS record for the same name pointing to the server's internal address.

2. **A certificate from a public certificate authority** for that name. Claude and ChatGPT need a publicly trusted certificate, so a self-signed or in-house one won't do. [Serve Content Central over HTTPS](/content-central/administration/serve-content-central-over-https) covers installing and binding it.

3. **Inbound HTTPS (TCP 443)** forwarded through your firewall to the Content Central server, and nothing else.

**Test it:** on a phone using mobile data (not the office Wi-Fi), open the address. **What you should see:** the Content Central login page, with no certificate warning.

## Part 1: Set up the connector on the server

Setup configures and starts a Windows service named **Content Central Claude Connect**. Despite the name, it serves ChatGPT too, and several messages below say "Claude Connect".

1. On the Content Central server, open **Configuration Manager**: the shortcut on the desktop, or in the Start menu under **Ademero, Inc.** > **Content Central**. Windows asks for administrator permission; allow it.

2. Click **AI Connections** ("Set up secure, permission-based access from Claude or ChatGPT.").

3. Fill in the three boxes:
   
   - **Public HTTPS Content Central address (including application path)**: the address from the previous section, exactly as users open it, such as `https://documents.example.com/ContentCentral/`.
   - **Local HTTP Content Central address (numeric loopback only)**: fills itself in from the public address (`http://127.0.0.1/ContentCentral/` in this example). Change it only if Content Central uses a different port or path on the server itself.
   - **Content Central IIS application pool**: `ContentCentralApplicationPool`, unless yours is different.

4. Leave **Disconnect existing AI connections if changing address or database** unticked. It's for changing the setup later, not for the first time.

5. Click **Set up AI Connections**. It shows "Configuring and checking the connection..." and can take a few minutes.
   
   **What you should see:** "Setup completed. In Content Central, open Preferences, AI Connections, and enable the feature. Then users can copy their connector URL and connect from Claude or ChatGPT." The page it calls Preferences is the one your name menu calls **Options**; that's Part 2.

*[Screenshot: With the public address typed in, the local address fills itself in and the application pool keeps its default. For a first setup, Disconnect existing AI connections stays unticked; Set up AI Connections does the rest.]*

Setup doesn't restart Content Central or change `web.config`. If it fails partway, it tries to put the previous settings back.

## Part 2: Switch it on in Content Central

1. Open Content Central at its **public HTTPS address** and sign in with an administrator account. (AI Connections is in the new interface only, not on the older Classic pages.)

2. Click your name at the top right, choose **Options**, then **AI Connections** under **Security**.

3. Turn on **Allow users to connect Claude and ChatGPT**.
   
   A red box saying "Sign in again before connecting your AI app or changing its settings." means your sign-in is more than 15 minutes old, or was automatic: click **Sign in again**, sign in, open **AI Connections** under **Security** again, then turn the switch on. "Open Content Central using HTTPS before connecting your AI app." means you opened an `http://` address; switch to the `https://` one.

**What you should see:** a green **ENABLED** badge and the connector URL with a **Copy URL** button. The URL is the same for every user, and for both Claude and ChatGPT.

*[Screenshot: Only administrators see the Allow users to connect Claude and ChatGPT switch. With it on, the badge reads ENABLED and the connector URL appears for everyone.]*

## Part 3: Test it, then tell your users

1. Connect a test account yourself from an office computer, following [Connect Claude to Content Central](/content-central/integrations/connect-claude-to-content-central) or [Connect ChatGPT to Content Central](/content-central/integrations/connect-chatgpt-to-content-central). That proves the AI app can reach the server from the internet and that your staff can reach the approval page from inside. Then **Disconnect** the test connection.

2. Send your users those two guides, and tell them which Claude or ChatGPT accounts are approved for work documents. Two things they'll need from whoever manages your organization's Claude or ChatGPT subscription: on a ChatGPT Business workspace, only a ChatGPT admin or owner can add Content Central; on a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, a Claude Owner adds it first. The guides explain both.

## Good to know

- **The off switch works instantly.** Turning off **Allow users to connect Claude and ChatGPT** stops every connection's access to documents at once. Users' connections stay listed; if one doesn't work after you turn the switch back on, that user connects again.
- **Users manage their own connections** under **Options** > **AI Connections**, and can disconnect any time without your help.
- **Changing the public address or database later:** run Part 1 again with **Disconnect existing AI connections if changing address or database** ticked. That disconnects everyone *and switches AI Connections off*, so repeat Part 2 to switch it back on. Users then connect again, with the new connector URL if the address changed.
- **Upgrades keep the setup.** You don't repeat Part 1 after a normal upgrade.
- **When users must reconnect:** after their password changes (including scheduled password expiry), after about three months without use, and if you require multi-factor authentication and they haven't enrolled.
- **Every AI search and read is recorded** in **Administration** > **Event Viewer** as a **Search** or **View** under that user's name (set **Action** to Search or View to see them).

## When setup doesn't work

| What you see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| "Install the Claude Connect component using the current Content Central installer first." | Run the current Content Central installer ([Upgrade Content Central](/content-central/administration/upgrade-content-central)), then repeat Part 1. |
| A message that starts "Claude Connect setup could not complete while …" and ends "Verify the application address, IIS pool, database access and installed service. Existing configuration was retained where possible." | The words after "while" name the stage. *checking for another setup operation*: check that the public address starts with `https://` and the local address with `http://127.0.0.1`; if you changed the public address or database, tick **Disconnect existing AI connections if changing address or database** (setup refuses the change otherwise); or another setup may still be running. *starting and verifying the connector service*: check the connector's database access (Before you start). Any other stage: confirm the public address is exact (host and application path), the application pool name matches IIS, the local HTTP address opens Content Central on the server itself, and **Create/Update Database** completed after the upgrade. Then repeat Part 1. |
| "Claude Connect setup failed. Review the service and database configuration." or "Setup could not complete. Check the installed service, database upgrade and IIS settings." | The same checks as the row above. |
| "Claude Connect setup is still running. Allow it to finish and review its service state before retrying." | Configuration Manager has already waited several minutes. Wait a few more, check **Content Central Claude Connect** in Windows Services, then click **Set up AI Connections** again. Don't restart the server while setup runs. |
| On the AI Connections page: **Connector service unavailable**, and the switch can't be turned on | **Content Central Claude Connect** isn't running in Windows Services. Start it, or repeat Part 1. |
| Users' Claude or ChatGPT can't reach Content Central | The public address isn't reachable from the internet. Repeat the mobile-data test. |
| Office users can't open the approval page, though it works from outside | The public name doesn't resolve inside the office. Add an internal DNS record for it pointing to the server's internal address. |
| Users see "Open Content Central using its configured public HTTPS address, then reconnect from your AI app." | Content Central ended up at a different address from the one set in Part 1. Check that the public address there matches exactly (host and application path), and that sign-in or single sign-on doesn't send users to an internal name. |

Still stuck? Contact Ademero support with the exact message, your Content Central version, and whether Content Central signs in to SQL Server with Windows authentication or a SQL login.

## What's next

- [Connect Claude to Content Central](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/integrations/connect-claude-to-content-central)
- [Connect ChatGPT to Content Central](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/integrations/connect-chatgpt-to-content-central)
- [Serve Content Central over HTTPS](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/serve-content-central-over-https)
- [Set up multi-factor authentication](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/set-up-multi-factor-authentication)