SugarAI (SugarCRM)

# Fix list: SugarAI (SugarCRM)

From Anchor Terminal's listing at https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sugarcrm, the October 2026 research run, assessed 9 October 2026. Grade D, 49.5 out of 100.

This is everything the published grade says the listing lacks, the biggest possible gain to the total first. It comes from the reason given for each score, the checklist each category was scored against (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist), the provenance checks, the deductions, what we couldn't check and what the review panel asked for. A fix counts at the next check, once it's public.

For a coding agent working on SugarAI (SugarCRM): work through the items below in the product, its docs and its public pages. Each category gives the reason for its score, with the points each checklist item earned, and the checklist itself, so the gap is the items that earned less than their points. Change the product, not the wording, and keep a note of what you changed and where it's published.

## 1. Payments & pricing, 10 out of 100, up to 11.3 more on the total

Why it scored 10: No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public for Sugar Sell, at $68, $98 and $155 a user a month billed annually, with Precision+ bundles quoted by sales and nothing per call (10). No free tier or self-serve trial was found. The site's buttons ask for a demo, and a 30-day Evaluation Agreement exists for evaluations Sugar arranges (0). A person buys through sales and an admin creates the user an agent logs in as (0).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-payments):

The published rubric, also on the [x402 page](https://www.anchorterminal.com/x402/).

- 40, a machine payment protocol (x402, MPP or L402) on the tool's own endpoints. 10 to 30 when it covers only some endpoints or only goes through a third party, and the note says which.
- 20, per-call or per-unit pricing published without a login. 10 for public plan-only pricing, 0 for "contact sales" or prices behind a login.
- 20, a free tier or trial that doesn't need a card.
- 20, autonomous onboarding, meaning an agent can get access without a person signing up in a browser (keyless use, x402, a programmatic key API).

Payment platforms and agent wallets rarely charge for their own API over a machine protocol, so the first line has steps for them, and the highest one that applies counts. 40 when x402, MPP or L402 runs on all their own endpoints, 30 when it runs on part of their own API, 25 when their merchants can accept one, 20 for running a facilitator, 15 for paying as a buyer, and 0 when the only protocol is their own. Merchant acceptance sits above a facilitator because the platform's own customers can charge agents through it, while a facilitator settles for sellers who wire up the protocol themselves. The counter-argument (a facilitator does more for the protocol as a whole) has a point. Each note says which step applied.

Open-source software you run yourself is scored on its hosted or paid option if it has one. A free, self-hosted package with nothing to buy gets 20, 20 and 20 for the last three lines, and 0 to 40 for the first only if it ships a payment protocol.

## 2. Security & auth, 51 out of 100, up to 8.6 more on the total

Why it scored 51: Tokens come from an OAuth 2.0 password grant that sends a user's username and plaintext password. The default `client_id` is `sugar` with an empty secret, the reference says there is no scope implementation, and an admin can obtain a token as any user through `/oauth2/sudo/:user_name`. Access tokens last 60 minutes and refresh tokens up to two weeks, both configurable in SugarIdentity (12 of 30). A token is limited by the user's roles and teams. No read-only token type or confirmation step for destructive calls was found (10 of 20). Records hold emails, notes and case text, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (3 of 15). SugarIdentity keeps an exportable audit log of logins, record audit endpoints exist (`/:module/:record/audit`), and access logs are available in SugarCloud Insights (10 of 15). security.txt is valid until 1 April 2027. The trust page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and a CSA STAR listing, and the security FAQ states a bug bounty programme and patch targets of 14 days for critical flaws. The advisories page is closed to us by robots.txt and was not read (16 of 20).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-security):

- 0 to 30, the credential model. 30 for OAuth 2.1 with scopes, or scoped and revocable keys with rotation. 20 for plain revocable API keys. 10 for one all-powerful key. 10 off when a secret can travel in a URL query string as a documented option.
- 0 to 20, read-only or least-privilege modes, and confirmation or approval for destructive actions.
- 0 to 15, prompt-injection posture where the tool returns untrusted content (documented mitigations or guidance). A tool that returns no untrusted content gets 10.
- 0 to 15, audit logs or per-call visibility for the operator.
- 0 to 20, a security programme. security.txt or a disclosure policy, a bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001, advisories handled in public.

Models are read for retention, whether API data trains models (and whether that's off by default), zero-retention options and certifications. Frameworks for telemetry defaults, approval hooks, guardrails and sandboxing.

## 3. Schema & documentation, 48 out of 100, up to 8.5 more on the total

Why it scored 48: No OpenAPI file was found. The published Postman collection holds 40 sample requests, and each instance serves its own reference at `/rest/v{version}/help` and a `/metadata` endpoint, which we could not read without an instance (8 of 25). `llms.txt` on support.sugarai.com returned 404 and no Markdown docs were found (0). The 26.1 Developer Guide lists 350 endpoint pages. The five sampled carry an overview and a summary, and the filter page warns about unindexed filters, but none says when not to use an endpoint (11 of 20). Arguments are tabled with type and required flag. Record bodies are described only as `<record field>`, and filters are a free-form expression (7 of 15). Every sampled page has a request and response example, and a separate page lists 21 exception classes with HTTP codes and error labels. The examples carry dates from 2013 and 2014 (10 of 15). The API is versioned in the path, a table maps each Sugar release to its REST version, and each endpoint page has a change log. No dated API changelog was found (12 of 15).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-schema):

APIs and MCP servers.

- 25, a machine-readable contract (a public OpenAPI file or similar; for MCP, typed JSON Schema inputs on every tool).
- 10, llms.txt or Markdown docs served for agents.
- 0 to 20, descriptions that say what a tool is for, when to use it and when not to, read from the tool definitions in the source or the API reference.
- 0 to 15, typed inputs with enums, constraints and required fields, and no free-form JSON blobs.
- 0 to 15, examples and documented error responses.
- 15, versioning and a public changelog.

Models are read from the API reference, the OpenAPI file, llms.txt, the structured-output and tool-use docs and the model cards. Frameworks from docs a model can follow, typed interfaces, examples and the API reference.

## 4. Reliability, 61 out of 100, up to 7.8 more on the total

Why it scored 61: Read with the hosted lines, for the SugarCloud REST API. Status page at status.cloud.sugarai.com on Better Stack with more than 100 components by region and cluster, and incident history (20). The RSS feed shows about 18 dated incidents between 15 July and 4 October 2026, most of them one to three minutes on a single cluster. The longest were 41 minutes on Sugar Cloud Premium DE 02 on 21 September and 39 minutes on US 02 on 16 July. On 24 July, 15 services including SugarIdentity global login and eight US clusters were down for about 11 minutes. No outage of an hour was found, and the wide one is why this sits below the minor band (14 of 30). The SugarCloud Policy Guide gives 20 requests a second as the level above which traffic may be blocked, and ends SELECT queries after 120 seconds. The limit is enforced at Sugar's discretion (12 of 15). No 429 or Retry-After behaviour is documented. Blocked traffic is lifted through a support case. Upsert by `sync_key` and a 409 `edit_conflict` error give some retry safety (5 of 15). No SLA was found in the Customer Terms of Service, which do not warrant uninterrupted service (0). The REST API is GA and versioned (10).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-reliability):

Hosted APIs, MCP servers, models and platforms.

- 20, a public status page with component history (Statuspage, Instatus, BetterStack or the vendor's own).
- 0 to 30, the incident record for the last 90 days on that page. 30 for a clean record or trivial incidents only, 20 for minor incidents only, 10 for one major outage (an hour or more of a core API down, or errors across the board), 0 for several. 5 when there's no history we could read, and the note says so.
- 15, rate limits documented with numbers.
- 15, documented 429 or overload handling (Retry-After, backoff guidance), and idempotency keys or safe-retry guidance where writes are involved.
- 10, an SLA published for any paid tier.
- 10, the surface agents use is generally available, not beta or preview.

Local packages, SDKs, frameworks and stdio MCP servers.

- 20, installs from an official package with supported runtimes stated.
- 25, a public CI and test suite, passing on the default branch.
- 0 to 25, open crash or regression issues relative to activity (25 for few and handled, 0 for many, old and unanswered).
- 15, semver discipline and breaking changes called out in a changelog.
- 15, version 1.0 or later, or declared stable.

Protocols are read from their reference implementations, the public facilitators or servers, spec stability and test vectors.

## 5. Maintenance & community, 22 out of 100, up to 6.8 more on the total

Why it scored 22: The newest dated evidence of an API release is the 26.1 Developer Guide, whose REST pages are stamped 15 May 2026, 147 days before the check. That is a page stamp, not a release date, and release notes were not reached (10 of 30). Three releases in the last 90 days were not established (0). The support site and its policy pages are current, with a support portal. The SugarClub community answered with a bot check and was not read (7 of 25). No current SDKs in several languages. `ventana` was pushed on 16 January 2026 and the Postman collection is dated 14 August 2025 (5 of 15). No package was checked on a registry (0).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-maintenance):

- 0 to 30, time since the last release, or the last published model or API change for a closed service. 30 within 30 days, 20 within 90, 10 within 180, 0 older.
- 20, at least three releases or dated changelog entries in the last 90 days.
- 0 to 25, responsiveness. Issues and pull requests answered on GitHub (the open issues and how recent the replies are). For closed services, a public changelog and a support or community channel that answers, 0 to 15.
- 15, presence in the official MCP registry under a verified namespace (MCP servers), or current official SDKs (APIs and models).
- 10, package health, current dependencies and CI.

Models are read for deprecation notice periods and model churn rather than release counts.

## 6. Agent ergonomics, 69 out of 100, up to 5 more on the total

Why it scored 69: List and filter calls take `fields`, `view` and `max_num`, with a default of 20 records (20 of 25). `offset` and `next_offset` pagination, 13 filter operators with `$and` and `$or`, `order_by`, `q`, and count endpoints (20). Errors return JSON with `error` and `error_message`, and the exceptions page maps 21 classes to HTTP codes including 409, 412, 413 and 422 (14 of 20). No idempotency keys. The `/integrate` endpoints upsert by `sync_key`, and updates can fail with 409 `edit_conflict` (10 of 20). Few required parameters. The only official client found is `ventana`, a JavaScript client on GitHub last pushed on 16 January 2026, so there are not SDKs in two languages (5 of 15).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-ergonomics):

- 0 to 25, context cost. For MCP, the number and size of the tool definitions (25 for ten or fewer compact tools, 15 for 11 to 30, 5 for more than 30, plus up to 10 back for toolsets, dynamic loading or read-only subsets). For APIs, whether responses can be sized (field selection, limits, summaries).
- 20, pagination, filtering and output-size controls.
- 20, actionable, documented error responses, codes and messages an agent can recover from.
- 20, idempotency or safe retries, and for MCP the `readOnlyHint` and `destructiveHint` annotations.
- 15, sensible defaults, few required parameters, and official SDKs in at least two languages.

Models are read for tool use, structured output, prompt caching, context length, batch and SDKs. Frameworks for how much code and how many defaults a tool-calling agent with MCP needs.

## 7. Transparency & trust, 71 out of 100, up to 2.5 more on the total

Made of editorial 71, provenance 70.

Why it scored 71: Closed service with clear terms that name the contracting entity by region, SugarAI Software Inc. for most customers (15). The Customer Terms of Service and DPA of 7 April 2026, the security FAQ of August 2025 and the trust page agree on 120 days of access after termination followed by deletion, regional hosting on AWS and 30-day backups. The AI Supplemental Terms say customer input and output are not used to train third-party or public models without consent, and allow deidentified aggregate use (25 of 30). An end-of-support plan gives each on-site version 24 months with dated ends, SugarCloud upgrades come with seven days' notice, and older REST versions stay available. No API deprecation policy with notice periods was found (14 of 20). The sub-processor list names each company with country and service, OpenAI among them for AI capabilities, and the DPA sets 30 days' prior notice of sub-processor changes under the standard contractual clauses (17 of 20).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-transparency):

- 0 to 30, source availability and licence clarity. 30 for open source under an OSI licence, 15 for closed with clear terms, 0 for unclear terms.
- 0 to 30, data handling and retention statements that agree with each other (privacy policy, DPA, retention periods, subprocessors).
- 0 to 20, a deprecation policy or notices with dates.
- 0 to 20, telemetry disclosed with an opt-out (local software), or subprocessors and data locations disclosed (hosted).

The other half of Transparency and trust is the provenance score, computed from checked facts (below). The category score is the mean of the two.

Provenance checks not met in full (half of this category, computed from checked facts):

- Domain age: sugarai.com, registered 2018-03-19 (8 years) (11 of 15)
- Endpoint on the vendor's domain:  is not on sugarai.com (0 of 15)
- Privacy policy: read, states 7 of the 8 things a reader expects (9.3 of 10)
- Changelog: not found (0 of 10)

## What we couldn't check

What we couldn't read counted as absent. Publishing it on a page a plain HTTP fetch can read (not only in a browser) lets the next check count it.

- unchecked: the security advisories under support.sugarai.com/resources/security/, which robots.txt disallows. No advisory from the last 12 months was read, so no deduction was considered
- unchecked: the agreement pages under support.sugarai.com/resources/master_subscription_agreements/, which robots.txt disallows. The Customer Terms of Service, DPA and Evaluation Agreement were read as the PDFs linked from sugarai.com/legal/customers
- unchecked: release notes and release dates for Sugar 26.1 and any later SugarCloud release. The documentation index is drawn by script and no release notes link was reached
- unchecked: the SugarClub community at sugarclub.sugarai.com, which answered with a bot check
- unchecked: apidocs.sugarai.com, the address the marketing site links, which did not answer. The same portal was read at apidocs.sugarcrm.com
- unchecked: prices for Sugar Serve, Sugar Market and Sugar Enterprise, which sit behind tabs the pricing page did not show our reader
- unchecked: the host name of a SugarCloud instance, so whether the API answers on a vendor domain was not established
- unchecked: the in-instance reference at `/rest/v{version}/help` and the `/metadata` endpoint, which need a customer instance
- unchecked: the bug bounty programme's public page and scope. The security FAQ states that one exists
- unchecked: web logic hooks or any other webhook mechanism, whose documentation page was not reached
- The AI Supplemental Terms forbid connecting third-party AI agents or MCP connectors to the APIs without Sugar's approval, and the Customer Terms of Service forbid benchmarking, availability and performance testing. Both matter before any probe is run
- The lead was right about the REST and legacy SOAP APIs. It pointed at the 14.0 guide, whose version ended support on 30 April 2026. The current guide is 26.1 with REST v11.27. The vendor renamed itself from SugarCRM to SugarAI on 13 April 2026 and its site moved to sugarai.com
- No SLA, OpenAPI file, `llms.txt`, self-serve trial or API deprecation policy was found in the reviewed pages

## Weaknesses

- The AI Supplemental Terms forbid connecting customer-owned or third-party AI systems, agents or MCP connectors to the Services or APIs except through functionality Sugar has approved. This matters before any probe is run
- Access tokens come from an OAuth 2.0 password grant with a user's plaintext password, and the reference says there is no scope implementation
- No OpenAPI file or `llms.txt` was found. The published Postman collection holds 40 sample requests, dated 14 August 2025
- No trial signup, free tier or SLA was found. Sugar Sell starts at $68 a user a month billed annually and other products are quoted by sales
- SugarCloud may block an IP address sending more than 20 requests a second, and no 429 or Retry-After behaviour is documented
- The Customer Terms of Service forbid performing or disclosing benchmarking, availability or performance testing of the Services

## What costs an agent a turn today

The notes we give agents before they call it. Each one is a workaround an agent shouldn't need.

- Confirm that Sugar has approved the agent integration before connecting. The AI Supplemental Terms forbid unapproved AI agents and MCP connectors on the APIs
- POST to `/rest/v11_27/oauth2/token` with `grant_type` `password` and a `platform` other than `base`, `mobile` or `portal`, or the login can end the user's own session
- Send the access token in the `OAuth-Token` header. It lasts 60 minutes by default, so store the refresh token and not the password
- Stay under 20 requests a second on SugarCloud and reuse one session for batches. Over-limit traffic is blocked by IP address until support lifts it
- Page with `max_num` and `offset` until `next_offset` is -1, and pass `fields` to keep responses small
- Use `PATCH /integrate/:module/:sync_key_field_name/:sync_key_field_value` for writes that may be retried, since it inserts or updates by `sync_key`

## When it's done

Send what changed and where it's published as a dispute (https://www.anchorterminal.com/builders/#disputes, or `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/contact` with `"kind": "dispute"`). Disputes are answered in public, and the listing is checked again by the same checklist. Paying for an audit or a listing claim changes nothing here.