A supplier calls to say that the 100NB isolation valve is being discontinued. Finding the valve is easy. The harder question comes immediately after: which machines delivered during the last two years contain it?
Engineering teams using Autodesk Vault and Inventor may already have this ERP information available through powerGate, including item master data, stock levels, prices and BOMs in the context of the part they are working on.
But the discontinued valve creates a different kind of question. Answering it means connecting that component to BOM structures, following those structures into delivered machines and checking shipment history. There is no button for that because no dialog was ever built for that question.
powerGate ERP Connector for AI, a new project from coolOrange Labs, approaches this differently. It lets Autodesk Vault and Inventor teams ask their ERP system questions in plain language through any AI agent that supports MCP (STDIO), including Claude and Microsoft Copilot today, instead of waiting for another custom report.
The discontinued valve is only one example. An engineer may ask, “What would this assembly cost to build, based on current ERP prices, across all levels of the BOM?” A CAD manager may ask, “Which purchased parts in this product family are below minimum stock right now?”
Traditional dialogs work well when the question is known in advance: select a component, show its ERP status, display its price or compare its BOM. The uncomfortable moment comes when the next question was never designed into the interface, leaving engineering to request a report or collect the information manually.
A dialog can only answer the questions it was designed for. Real questions do not work that way.
This is the gap powerGate ERP Connector for AI closes. It connects an AI assistant to the ERP system through the powerGate Server you may already be running.
Ask, “How many products did we ship last year that contained the 100NB isolation valve?” The assistant can search delivery information, follow the BOM structures and return the result without that question having to exist as a predefined report.
Or ask, “What does assembly 9411-SP-012 consist of, and what do the parts cost?” The assistant can work through the bill of materials level by level using ERP pricing.
Then the conversation can continue: “Only the purchased parts, please.” “Sort by value.” “Now download the datasheet for the most expensive one.” Instead of requesting a new report for each variation, the previous result becomes the context for the next question.
Purpose-built ERP screens still suit stable, repetitive workflows. The difference appears when the work becomes exploratory and the path to the answer cannot be predicted in advance.
An AI assistant still needs a controlled way to reach the ERP system. powerGate ERP Connector for AI provides that layer.
It works with AI agents that support MCP (STDIO). MCP, the Model Context Protocol, gives AI assistants a standard way to discover and call capabilities outside the language model itself. The connector communicates through the existing powerGate Server and its ERP plugin.
It works with any ERP system for which a powerGate plugin exists, including SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Odoo, Infor and more. Users can ask about assemblies, materials, stock, prices, BOMs and documents in familiar business language.
The assistant is not given unrestricted access to an ERP database. It works through the capabilities exposed by the connector and the rules enforced by the existing ERP integration.
For CAD teams, MCP is not limited to separate AI chat applications. Autodesk has announced a path for certified third-party MCP servers from the Design and Make Marketplace to become callable through Autodesk Assistant.
That creates a practical possibility: finish an assembly in Inventor and ask what it would cost to build at current ERP prices, or review a component in Vault and ask which delivered machines are affected by its discontinuation.
The interaction can already be explored with MCP-compatible AI agents. As Autodesk expands support for third-party MCP capabilities, the same ERP connection can move closer to the CAD and PDM environment.
Connecting an AI assistant to an ERP system raises an immediate question: what is the assistant allowed to do? powerGate ERP Connector for AI exposes a small, fixed and reviewable set of operations, while the ERP integration behind powerGate Server decides whether an operation is permitted.
If someone asks the assistant to delete an item and the integration does not allow it, the request does not bypass the rule because it came through natural language. The connector can report that deleting items is not supported and that no changes were made.
The connector runs on the user’s Windows environment and communicates with the organization’s own powerGate Server rather than routing ERP access through a coolOrange-hosted cloud service. The AI client still has its own data-handling policies, which should be evaluated separately.
For teams already using powerGate, the ERP connection already exists. What changes is how the information can be explored when a question crosses items, BOMs, deliveries, prices, stock and documents.
The discontinued valve shows the boundary clearly. The data may already be accessible, yet the answer requires a path through it that no existing dialog represents. powerGate ERP Connector for AI makes that path conversational while ERP access remains governed through powerGate Server and the ERP integration behind it.
It does not replace the ERP system, its rules or purpose-built workflows. It gives engineering a controlled way to investigate the question that matters now, without requiring another report to be designed first.
powerGate ERP Connector for AI is available now as a coolOrange Labs project on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace and is free to download and try.
Related reading: Connecting Autodesk Vault to an ERP System Through powerGate.
powerGate ERP Connector for AI is a coolOrange Labs project that connects AI agents to ERP systems through powerGate Server and lets users ask questions in plain language across BOMs, deliveries, prices, stock and documents.
Existing powerGate dialogs make ERP information available in the context of the item someone is working with. powerGate ERP Connector for AI addresses questions that cross multiple items and data types without requiring a dedicated dialog or report.
It works with AI agents that support MCP (STDIO), including Claude and Microsoft Copilot today, and with ERP systems for which a powerGate plugin exists, including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Odoo, Infor and many more.
The connector runs on the user’s Windows environment and communicates with the organization’s own powerGate Server. It does not route ERP access through a coolOrange-hosted cloud service. The AI assistant used may have its own data-handling policies.
The connector works today with MCP-compatible AI agents. Autodesk has announced a future path for certified third-party MCP servers from the Design and Make Marketplace to become callable through Autodesk Assistant, bringing this interaction closer to Vault and Inventor.
Yes. It is available now as a coolOrange Labs project on the Autodesk Design and Make Marketplace and is free to download and try.