Quote with Codex and Knack
Codex reads its MCP servers from ~/.codex/config.toml and takes the bearer from an environment variable, so the token never sits in a file that gets committed.
On every plan · Knack sends nothing to any AI provider · every answer is a draft
Setup
Two minutes, once.
What you need:
- A Knack account where you're the owner or an estimator (the connection reads costs).
- The Codex CLI installed and signed in.
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1
Create a token in Knack
In Knack, open Settings → Integrations → AI tools, name the token after the tool (“Codex on my laptop”) and press Create token. Knack shows the token once, beside a filled-in snippet for each tool. Copy it now — Knack keeps only a fingerprint.
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2
Paste the snippet into Codex
Add the server to
~/.codex/config.toml, then put the token in your shell profile:[mcp_servers.knack] url = "https://api.knackapp.co.nz/mcp" bearer_token_env_var = "KNACK_TOKEN" # then, in your shell profile: export KNACK_TOKEN="knk_…your token…"
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3
Check it's talking
Ask Codex to “list my Knack jobs”. If it answers with your jobs, the connection is live. If it says the token isn't valid, revoke it in Knack and create another.
Your first session
Bring a job that's worth the conversation.
Open a new chat and say: “Work up a quote for job J-1043 in Knack.” Codex reads the working pack for that job first — your catalogue, your rates, how you write, the site facts, what's already counted on the drawings — then looks at the drawings and the site photos, and starts asking you the questions a thorough estimate needs. When the price is agreed, it writes the draft quote into Knack and tells you what's still open. Open the job in Knack, read the draft, edit what you like, send.
Everything it writes into Knack is a draft you read, edit and send yourself.
Fair questions
Straight answers.
What can it read, what can it write, and what can't it touch?
A connected AI can read this account's customers and sites, your drawings and site photos; every quote you have sent, line by line, with whether it was won; your recipes, symbol links, playbooks and templates; and your costs and margins. It can also add and correct customers and jobs, and set up and change your pricing — price-book items and their prices, your default markup and charge-out rate, recipes (including confirming their rates), symbol links, other names for items, playbooks and quote templates — when you ask it to. These are real changes, not drafts: a price it changes is what new quote lines use from then on. It can never delete anything, and never send a quote to your customer: you do that. Connect only tools you trust — a token or connection can be revoked at any time. It cannot see any other Knack account, and there is nothing about payments in Knack for it to read.
Does it write the actual quote?
No. Everything it writes into Knack is a draft you read, edit and send yourself. The draft lands in the quote builder with every line still yours, and nothing reaches a customer until you press Send.
Other tools: ChatGPT · Claude · Grok · Claude Code · Grok CLI · Cursor · Gemini CLI · Claude Desktop · or the overview →
Bring the next big one you have to price.
Thirty days, every plan feature, no credit card.