Buildertrend now has an Open API, and it is a real step forward. As of 9 November 2026 it is still narrow: it reads and creates jobs and tasks, and that is about it. If you are a remodeler or a small builder who wants ChatGPT or Claude to look at the schedule, the daily logs, selections or change orders, the API will not get you there yet. This post maps what the API covers today and shows the route that covers the rest.
What the Buildertrend Open API does today
The developer portal at developer.buildertrend.com describes it as a way to "read Buildertrend data from your own systems, and create jobs from your templates". The reference lists these operations: list and get jobs, create a job from a template, list job templates and job users, and list, create, get and update tasks. There is no endpoint to delete a task.
A few details worth knowing before you build on it:
- Rate limit: 60 requests per minute per app. On 27 October it was 20, and task creation was not there yet, so the API is moving.
- Not covered: the schedule as its own resource, daily logs, change orders and selections.
- No official AI connectors: Buildertrend has no ChatGPT app, no Claude connector and no MCP server of its own. Its built-in AI features work inside Buildertrend, and Buildertrend says they need no separate ChatGPT or Claude subscription.
- No Zapier app and no n8n node (both return a 404).
So a developer can sync jobs and tasks today. The owner who wants to ask an AI "what moves if the drywall slips two days?" still has no API for it.
The route that covers everything you see on screen
MCP is the protocol ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor and other agents use to work with outside tools. Cotlet.dev hosts an MCP server that works in Buildertrend through a cloud browser signed in to your own account. You enter your Buildertrend password on Buildertrend's page; Cotlet does not see it or keep it. From then on your AI can use what your user can use: Jobs, Schedule, Daily Logs, Change Orders, Selections and To-Dos.
Because it works through your account, it is not limited to the API's jobs and tasks. It is limited by your permissions instead.
Setup takes about ten minutes:
- Make a free account on cotlet.dev and open Buildertrend in the Cloud Browser. Sign in as usual.
- In ChatGPT (Plugins), Claude (Customize, Connectors), Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, add an MCP server with the address
https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1/connect. - Ask: "Are you signed in to Cotlet through MCP?" and then give it a job.
If you are wiring this into something bigger, the same server works in n8n's AI Agent node, so a scheduled workflow can read Buildertrend the same way.
Two jobs that the API cannot do yet
Selections still waiting on clients
Late selections hold up orders, and they are spread across every job.
Go through every active job in Buildertrend and list the selections that are still Pending or Draft, with the deadline and the client, sorted by the closest deadline.
You get one list instead of opening each job.
A one-week look-ahead across all jobs
Show me every Buildertrend schedule item for the next 7 days across all jobs, grouped by job, and flag items that have no one assigned or that start before their predecessor ends.
That is the conversation you have with your super on Monday morning, prepared before you get there. If you want changes, ask the AI to show you the plan first. Anything that would go out to a sub or a client waits for your approval.
Costs
Buildertrend does not publish fixed prices; its pricing page sorts plans by yearly construction volume. Cotlet.dev is prepaid credits with no subscription: a 7-day trial with 2,000 credits and no card, then packs from $29 that last 12 months.
FAQ
Should I use the Open API or this? Both, if you build software. Use the API for job and task sync, and an MCP server for the parts the API does not cover yet.
Is Cotlet affiliated with Buildertrend? No. It is independent and works through your own signed-in account.
Can the AI change things without asking? Anything that reaches other people, like releasing a change order or notifying a sub, waits for your approval in the Cotlet console.
More detail, with screenshots for each AI, is in the Buildertrend guide on the Cotlet.dev blog. See the Buildertrend MCP server page or start a free trial.
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