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Blog · 14 October 2026

The tools personal assistants will reach for, and where they get stuck

Personal assistants are starting to run errands for people, and most of the tools those errands need were built for a person with a phone and a card. We reviewed the categories to see where agents stall.

By Quynh Tran-Thanh2,071 words9 min read

Assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Meta's Muse now connect to outside services. Asmi, an errand service, runs a separate MCP endpoint for each of the three, so a person can ask any of them to book an appointment or chase a refund [1]. That is the shape of what is coming. A person asks for something in plain words, and the assistant has to find a tool that can do it.

Today most of those tools were made for a person. They expect someone to download an app, make an account, type a code from a text message and enter a card. In my view, assistants will meet these tools more and more as they take on errands, and without a route built for them they will either fail or spend a lot of tokens finding a way round.

On 14 October we added seven categories of everyday tools to the directory [2]. This post reviews them alongside the other categories an assistant needs, and draws the workflows where agents stall.

132listings in 13 everyday categories
20of them have no route an outside agent can use
1of 55 in the seven new categories is agent-ready
Directory data, 14 October 2026. Source [3].

The errand categories score lowest

We grade every listing out of 100 against the same checklist, and the average across the directory is 57.7 [3]. The categories that serve developers (email, messaging, maps) score close to that or above it. The categories that serve a household score well below it [3].

Directory dataAverage score by category, out of 100

Average score

  1. Email64
  2. Messaging64
  3. Maps62
  4. Scheduling59
  5. Contacts57
  6. Health data57
  7. Bank data54
  8. Travel49
  9. Shopping48
  10. Restaurant and local bookings35
  11. Subscriptions and personal finance23
  12. Home services22

Bars start at zero. Values are labelled in each panel.

The pattern is in who the vendor sells to. Email and messaging companies sell to developers, so their APIs are self-serve and documented. A restaurant network or a budgeting app sells to diners and households through an app, and the API, where there is one, serves the venue or a partner [3].

How an outside agent gets in

For each listing we record whether a developer can sign up and get a key, whether access goes through a partnership or a sales call, or whether there is no route for an outside agent at all. That last group is tagged "not for agents" [3].

Directory dataHow an outside agent can get access, listings per category

Self-serve

  1. Email14
  2. Messaging14
  3. Bank data8
  4. Health data7
  5. Travel6
  6. Shopping5
  7. Home services2
  8. Restaurant and local bookings1
  9. Subscriptions and personal finance1

Partner or sales

  1. Email0
  2. Messaging0
  3. Bank data7
  4. Health data5
  5. Travel5
  6. Shopping0
  7. Home services1
  8. Restaurant and local bookings4
  9. Subscriptions and personal finance0

Not for agents

  1. Email0
  2. Messaging0
  3. Bank data0
  4. Health data0
  5. Travel0
  6. Shopping0
  7. Home services7
  8. Restaurant and local bookings4
  9. Subscriptions and personal finance9

Bars start at zero. Values are labelled in each panel. Each panel has its own scale.

Shopping looks open in that chart, but none of the five shopping listings lets an agent place an order through a self-serve API. Amazon's Creators API and Walmart's affiliate API search the catalogue and return affiliate links [4] [5]. Best Buy keeps ordering in a Commerce API that is invite-only [6]. Etsy's API has no cart or checkout for buyers [7].

MCP servers follow the same line. Most email and messaging listings have one. None of the ten personal finance listings does [3].

Directory dataListings with an MCP server

Listings

  1. Messaging14
  2. Email14
  3. Maps13
  4. Health data12
  5. Travel11
  6. Scheduling10
  7. Restaurant and local bookings9
  8. Home services10
  9. Shopping5
  10. Subscriptions and personal finance10

With an MCP server

  1. Messaging11
  2. Email10
  3. Maps9
  4. Health data5
  5. Travel4
  6. Scheduling5
  7. Restaurant and local bookings3
  8. Home services2
  9. Shopping1
  10. Subscriptions and personal finance0

Bars start at zero. Values are labelled in each panel. Each panel has its own scale.

The categories, one by one

Restaurant and local bookings. Square Appointments is the one self-serve booking API in the category, and it acts for the venue, not the customer [8]. OpenTable documents a full diner booking flow, but access needs partner approval and a contract [9]. Resy has an MCP endpoint that accepts only clients American Express has registered [10].

Home services. Seven of ten listings are not for agents, among them Angi, whose terms forbid access by robots and other automatic devices [11]. Taskrabbit covers the whole booking flow in its Partner API, with keys from a partnership manager [12]. Checkatrade is the exception, with a keyless MCP server that searches UK trades and books fixed-price jobs [13].

Subscriptions and personal finance. Nine of ten are apps with no API an outside agent can call. Rocket Money cancels subscriptions and negotiates bills for people in its app, and its terms forbid automated access without written consent [14]. YNAB is the one with a public API, with OAuth and a read-only scope [15].

Shopping. Catalogue search works. Buying does not, for the reasons above. Instacart turns a shopping list into a cart page, then the person picks a store and checks out [16].

Travel. Duffel lets a developer sign up and book flights in test mode with no card or contract [17]. Booking.com's Demand API needs Managed Affiliate Partner status [18]. The Kiwi.com MCP server searches flights, and booking and payment happen on kiwi.com through a link [19].

Health data, contacts and desktop automation. These lean towards developers and score near the directory average [3]. Terra reads wearable data through an MCP server, from $499 a month [20]. The Google People API reads and writes a person's contacts under OAuth scopes [21]. UiPath exposes desktop robots as MCP tools, which is how an assistant could drive an app that has no API [22].

The assistants themselves are graded too. The personal assistants category averages 33.5, and most of its 41 listings are consumer apps another agent can't call [23].

Where agents stall

The same few steps stop an agent across every category. They are the steps that check a person is present, which is the point of them, and that is why I think they need a second route built for agents, not a workaround.

Signing in

A consumer app assumes a person will make the account and prove who they are. This is the route into a typical budgeting app.

LoginSigning in to a budgeting app built for people
  1. Find the appAgent can do it

    The assistant can find Rocket Money or Emma and read what it does [14] [24]

  2. Make an accountNeeds the person

    Both start with an account a person makes in the app or on the web [14] [24]

  3. Connect the bankNeeds the person

    Bank accounts connect through Plaid, Akoya or Open Banking, with the person signing in to the bank [14] [24]

  4. Read the budgetBlocked

    There is no public API, and both sets of terms forbid bots and scrapers [14] [24]

  • Agent can do it
  • Needs the person
  • Blocked

YNAB shows the other route. A person still starts it, but once, and the agent gets a token it can use with a limit on what it can do.

LoginSigning in where the app has an API
  1. Sign upNeeds the person

    A person signs up in a browser [15]

  2. Approve the assistantNeeds the person

    The person creates a token or approves an OAuth app, and can choose a read-only scope [15]

  3. Read and edit the budgetAgent can do it

    The agent calls the REST API with the token [15]

  4. Stay within the limitCosts tokens

    Each token gets 200 requests an hour, and a 429 response doesn't say how long to wait [15]

  • Agent can do it
  • Costs tokens
  • Needs the person

Some services built for agents shorten even the first step. AgentMail lets an agent sign itself up by API and get a key, with full access after a person confirms a six-digit code [25].

Booking

Booking a table shows how much of a flow can be ready for agents and still be closed to a new assistant.

BookingBooking a table through OpenTable
  1. Get accessBlocked

    An assistant needs approval as an OpenTable partner and an agreement first [9]

  2. Search availabilityAgent can do it

    Availability search covers a window of up to 720 minutes [9]

  3. Check the policyAgent can do it

    Policy endpoints return deposits, card holds and cancellation cut-offs before booking [9]

  4. Ask the personNeeds the person

    Any deposit, hold or service fee should go to the diner before the agent commits [9]

  5. Lock the slotCosts tokens

    The lock expires within 5 minutes, so a slow confirmation means searching again [9]

  6. Pay the holdNeeds the person

    Card details are tokenised with Spreedly or Stripe, from the diner's card [9]

  7. Make the bookingAgent can do it

    A unique X-Request-Id stops a retried booking being made twice [9]

  • Agent can do it
  • Costs tokens
  • Needs the person
  • Blocked

Checkout and payment

Buying something is where every route we read hands back to a person. This is grocery shopping through the one shopping listing with an MCP server.

CheckoutBuying groceries through Instacart
  1. Turn the list into a cartAgent can do it

    Two MCP tools turn a recipe or list into an Instacart page [16]

  2. Choose products and pricesBlocked

    There is no product search or price endpoint [16]

  3. Pick a store and payNeeds the person

    The person picks a store and checks out on Instacart [16]

  4. Track the orderBlocked

    There is no order or order status endpoint [16]

  • Agent can do it
  • Needs the person
  • Blocked

Checkatrade's booking flow ends the same way, at a payment link the person completes [13]. Handing payment to the person is a reasonable default. What I'd like to see is a route where the person sets the limits once and the agent pays inside them.

PaymentPaying through an agent payment protocol
  1. Set the limitsNeeds the person

    Under AP2 the person signs a mandate in advance, bound to the agent's key [26]

  2. Get the priceAgent can do it

    Under x402 the server answers with status 402 and what the request costs [27]

  3. PayAgent can do it

    The agent signs a stablecoin transfer from its wallet, or uses a token from the person's saved card under ACP [27] [28]

  4. Get the resultAgent can do it

    The agent sends the request again with proof of payment [27]

  • Agent can do it
  • Needs the person

The protocols exist, but they are early. Google has named no production deployment of AP2 [26], and ACP has had no release since 17 April 2026 [28]. Fifteen of the tools we list accept x402, and none of them is in the errand categories [3] [27].

Cancelling

Cancelling a subscription has no API route among the listings we read. Rocket Money does it for people inside its app [14]. Asmi does it by calling, texting and emailing the business, at $10 a month for 20 tasks [1].

CancellingCancelling a subscription for someone
  1. Find the chargeAgent can do it

    A budgeting API such as YNAB's lists a person's transactions [15]

  2. Reach the merchantBlocked

    The finance apps we list cancel only inside their own apps [14]

  3. Call or write insteadCosts tokens

    An errand service such as Asmi calls, texts or emails the business as a paid task [1]

  4. Allow the outreachNeeds the person

    The person grants the scope that lets Asmi contact people on their behalf [1]

  • Agent can do it
  • Costs tokens
  • Needs the person
  • Blocked

Where the tokens go

When there is no API, an assistant can still open a browser or drive a desktop app. That is what the browser and desktop automation categories are for [22]. In my experience it is also the most expensive way to do an errand, because the model reads pages and screenshots to do what one API call would. Some vendors don't want it either. Resy describes blocking bots at scale [10], and the terms of Angi, Emma and Rocket Money forbid automated access [11] [24] [14].

Tools that do have an MCP server can cost tokens another way. Every tool's name, description and schema is text the model reads, and some servers load a great many of them.

Directory dataMCP tools a server exposes

Tools

  1. Courier170
  2. MailerSend127
  3. LiteAPI111
  4. Redox107
  5. Cal.com63
  6. AgentMail36
  7. Checkatrade2
  8. Instacart2

Bars start at zero. Values are labelled in each panel.

AgentMail loads all 38 of its hosted tools at once [25], and LiteAPI's hosted MCP exposes 111 generated tools [29]. Our counts for the others come from each listing [3]. Checkatrade and Instacart do their jobs with two tools each [13] [16]. For an assistant that may connect dozens of services, I think a short tool list is a feature in its own right.

What would help

Most of this is in reach of the companies that already have APIs. From the listings above, the parts that make the difference are these.

  • A key or an OAuth app a developer can get without a sales call, as Square, YNAB and Duffel allow [8] [15] [17].
  • A read-only scope, so a person can let an assistant look without letting it act, as YNAB has [15].
  • An idempotency key on every booking or payment, as OpenTable's X-Request-Id and Square's idempotency keys are [9] [8].
  • Policies and prices returned before the commitment, as OpenTable's policy endpoints do [9].
  • A payment step an agent can finish within limits the person set, or at least a payment link it can hand over, as Checkatrade returns [13].
  • A clear rule for agents. Amazon's Agent Terms require agents to identify themselves, which at least says where the line is [4].

The apps we tagged "not for agents" are graded on the same checklist as everything else, so the day one of them opens a route, its score will show it.

How we counted

Counts and averages come from the directory as built on 14 October 2026. A category's average is the mean score of its graded listings. "Not for agents" means we found no public API or MCP server an outside agent can call. "Partner or sales" means a listing tagged partner-only or sales-led, and "self-serve" is the rest. Tool counts are as recorded on each listing [3].

References

Listings read from the directory on 14 October 2026. Each listing carries the vendor sources it was graded from.

  1. [1]Anchor Terminal, Asmi listing. Source for the MCP endpoints for Claude, ChatGPT and Muse, the errands Asmi runs, its outreach scope and its prices. anchorterminal.com
  2. [2]Anchor Terminal, changelog, 14 October 2026. Source for the seven categories added that day. anchorterminal.com
  3. [3]Anchor Terminal, tool rankings and category pages, 14 October 2026. Source for listing counts, average scores, access routes, MCP counts, tool counts, x402 counts and "not for agents" tags. anchorterminal.com
  4. [4]Anchor Terminal, Amazon Creators API listing. Source for catalogue search with affiliate links, no ordering, and the Agent Terms. anchorterminal.com
  5. [5]Anchor Terminal, Walmart Affiliate Marketing API listing. Source for read-only catalogue search with no ordering. anchorterminal.com
  6. [6]Anchor Terminal, Best Buy Developer API listing. Source for the invite-only Commerce API. anchorterminal.com
  7. [7]Anchor Terminal, Etsy Open API v3 listing. Source for the absence of buyer cart and checkout endpoints. anchorterminal.com
  8. [8]Anchor Terminal, Square Appointments listing. Source for the self-serve Bookings API acting for the venue, and its idempotency keys. anchorterminal.com
  9. [9]Anchor Terminal, OpenTable APIs listing. Source for partner approval, the booking flow, slot locks, policy endpoints, card tokenisation and X-Request-Id. anchorterminal.com
  10. [10]Anchor Terminal, Resy listing. Source for the pre-registered MCP endpoint and bot blocking. anchorterminal.com
  11. [11]Anchor Terminal, Angi listing. Source for the terms forbidding automated access. anchorterminal.com
  12. [12]Anchor Terminal, Taskrabbit Partner API listing. Source for the booking flow and partner-issued keys. anchorterminal.com
  13. [13]Anchor Terminal, Checkatrade listing. Source for the keyless MCP server, its two tools, fixed-price bookings and the payment link. anchorterminal.com
  14. [14]Anchor Terminal, Rocket Money listing. Source for in-app cancellation, account and bank connection, the absence of an API and the terms on automated access. anchorterminal.com
  15. [15]Anchor Terminal, YNAB listing. Source for the REST API, sign-up, tokens, the read-only scope and the rate limit. anchorterminal.com
  16. [16]Anchor Terminal, Instacart Developer Platform listing. Source for the cart page, its two MCP tools and the missing search, price and order endpoints. anchorterminal.com
  17. [17]Anchor Terminal, Duffel listing. Source for self-serve sign-up and test mode with no card or contract. anchorterminal.com
  18. [18]Anchor Terminal, Booking.com Demand API listing. Source for Managed Affiliate Partner status. anchorterminal.com
  19. [19]Anchor Terminal, Kiwi.com MCP Server listing. Source for search only, with booking on kiwi.com. anchorterminal.com
  20. [20]Anchor Terminal, Terra API listing. Source for the MCP server and the $499 starting price. anchorterminal.com
  21. [21]Anchor Terminal, Google People API listing. Source for contact access under OAuth scopes. anchorterminal.com
  22. [22]Anchor Terminal, UiPath listing. Source for desktop robots exposed as MCP tools. anchorterminal.com
  23. [23]Anchor Terminal, personal assistants category, 14 October 2026. Source for the category's listings and average score. anchorterminal.com
  24. [24]Anchor Terminal, Emma listing. Source for account creation, Open Banking, the absence of an API and the terms on bots. anchorterminal.com
  25. [25]Anchor Terminal, AgentMail listing. Source for agent sign-up by API with a six-digit code, and its 38 hosted tools. anchorterminal.com
  26. [26]Anchor Terminal, Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) listing. Source for user-signed mandates and the absence of a named production deployment. anchorterminal.com
  27. [27]Anchor Terminal, x402 at Anchor Terminal. Source for how an x402 payment goes, the 402 response with its price and the list of tools that accept x402. anchorterminal.com
  28. [28]Anchor Terminal, Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) listing. Source for vaulted card tokens and the last release date. anchorterminal.com
  29. [29]Anchor Terminal, LiteAPI listing. Source for the 111 generated tools on its hosted MCP. anchorterminal.com

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