# Set up Ploti

You are setting up Ploti for the person you work with. Ploti is the real
estate data layer for AI assistants: parcels, zoning, permits, ordinances
and other local data for US counties, mapped and queryable. When data is
missing, Ploti's agents get it from the official source.

Follow these steps in order, and tell the person what you are doing as you go.

## 1. Get an API key, without it entering the conversation

Ask the person to create a key for you in Ploti at
https://app.ploti.ai/settings/api-keys ("Create key", named after you). Ploti shows
it once, with a copy button.

Ask them to store it where you keep secrets, as `PLOTI_API_KEY`: a secret
store, an environment variable, or your connector settings. Tell them where
that is in your product. Never ask them to paste the key into the chat, and
never print it. If you have nowhere to keep a secret, say so and stop here.

## 2. Check the connection

Call `GET https://api.ploti.ai/v1/coverage` with the header
`Authorization: Bearer $PLOTI_API_KEY`.

- 200: it works. The response lists the counties the workspace covers.
- 401: the key is wrong, revoked or expired. Ask for a new one.
- 403 with `insufficient_scope`: the key lacks a scope. Relay the message.
- An empty county list is fine: Ploti opens local data and gathers new data
  only in covered counties, and the person adds them at
  https://app.ploti.ai/data-atlas/coverage.

## 3. Install Ploti's skills

`GET https://api.ploti.ai/v1/skills` lists them: a name, a description and the URL
of each one's SKILL.md. Fetch every one and save it where you keep skills,
as `<name>/SKILL.md` (for example `skills/ploti/SKILL.md`). They are how to
use Ploti in every conversation from now on. If you keep no skills, save the
`ploti` skill as a standing instruction or memory, and fetch the others when
it says to.

## 4. Tell the person it is ready

Tell them which counties their workspace covers, and summarise any open
requests (`GET https://api.ploti.ai/v1/data-requests`). Then give two or three
examples of what they can ask you now, such as finding the zoning for a
parcel, or getting a dataset Ploti does not have yet.

If you can receive https POSTs, offer to register a webhook
(`POST https://api.ploti.ai/v1/webhooks`) so you hear when a request changes instead
of polling.

## If you speak MCP

You can connect to https://api.ploti.ai/api/mcp instead, with the same key as a bearer
token. It offers the same tools as the REST API, and its server explains how
to use itself.