Can Claude / ChatGPT / Cursor use Contact Book directly?

Yes, via the MCP server. It's a stdio JSON-RPC server that wires into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP-aware client in five lines of config. The list of tools matches your data model 1:1 - whatever a CRUD type exposes in the UI is exposed identically to the agent.

Do agent calls share the same auth + access controls?

Yes. The MCP server authenticates with the same JWT or PAT a human session uses. Sharing rules, org membership, rate limits, suspicion bans - all of it applies. There's no "agent backdoor" that bypasses the access matrix.

Is there an audit trail for agent actions?

Yes. Every mutation goes through the same audit-log path as a UI click. The transport (UI / API / CLI / MCP) is recorded as channel metadata so you can filter "what did the agent do this hour" from your account history.

Can I rate-limit an agent separately from a human?

Per-token rate limits apply, so you can issue an agent its own PAT and cap it independently. The shared user-level bucket also caps total throughput, so a runaway loop can't drain your whole account. The CLI's auto-update channel marker means you can also see in audit which version is calling.

Does the MCP / API surface cost extra?

No. Same plan, same surface. We don't paywall the agent - it's the same product, the same schema, the same access gates. If a plan can do X in the UI, it can do X via MCP.

Contact Book

Compare

Contact Book: the agent-friendly alternative to Monica

Same product, same surface for humans and AI agents. MCP server + CLI + drop-in clients in 15 languages.

Agentic alternative

Personal CRM

Open source

Julia YukovichCo-Founder + CEO

·June 28, 2026·

4 min read

·Updated

Contact Book ships an MCP server you can wire into Claude Desktop or any MCP client in five lines. The same auth + access gates apply, the same audit log records every action, the same rate limits apply. Monica doesn't currently expose this surface - that's the gap.

At a glance

Monica is the elder statesman of the personal-CRM space - mature, open-source, actively maintained, and self-hostable. It is a genuinely good product and we recommend it without reservation to anyone who wants to run their own server. Contact Book is the answer to a narrower question: what if I want Monica's idea without running Monica's server? We're younger and lighter, with a sharper UI, live multi-tab updates, hosting in Germany, and a deliberately small surface. Self-host and tinker - pick Monica. Want a clean, fast, bilingual personal CRM you don't maintain, on a hosted plan from €1 a month - that's us. The short version: Monica without the server.

Agent surface

What 'agent-friendly' actually means in practice

Contact Book ships an MCP server, a CLI, and drop-in clients in 15 languages. They're auto-generated from the same schema your UI uses; the auth, the access gates, the rate limits, the audit log all apply identically whether you're clicking buttons or calling the API. Monica doesn't currently expose this surface, which is the gap a serious agent integration trips over - the agent ends up scraping the UI through a browser, which is fragile, slow, and silently bypasses everything below.

Contact Book vs Monica: agent-readiness comparison

	Ours Contact Book	Theirs Monica
API + drop-in clients (15 langs)		API only
Self-hostable
Open source
Hosted plan available
Hosted in Germany (EU)		France (EU)
Live multi-tab updates (websocket)
Bilingual UI (EN + DE)		Multiple, EN+DE included
Stay-in-touch cadence
Gifts tracker
Activity / journal log
Debt / loan tracker
Pets
Stated hosting jurisdiction	Germany	Not disclosed (cloud)
Zero server maintenance		Cloud yes, self-host no
Free tier	Yes	10 contacts (cloud)
MCP server for AI agents
Hosted price (per month)	From €1	$9 / €9

When to pick which

Pick Contact Book when

You want a hosted product that's clean, fast, and bilingual out of the box.

Live multi-tab updates matter - you keep two tabs open and want the second to react to the first.

You'd like an MCP server + drop-in clients in 15 languages so AI agents can use the same product you do.

EU jurisdiction, but specifically Germany under German law, with the hosting location stated plainly.

You'd rather never touch Docker, backups, certificate renewals, or version upgrades - hosting is our job, not yours.

Pick Monica when

You want to self-host on your own box and skim the source.

Open-source on principle - you only adopt tools you can fork.

You want Monica-specific features we don't carry - debt / loan tracking, or its denser, journal-first writing surface.

Monica's free cloud tier (10 contacts) is enough, or you'll happily run the unlimited self-hosted build for free.

Agentic-integration questions

What an agent-builder asks before wiring a tool into Claude / ChatGPT / Cursor.

Start with Contact Book

Free plan, no credit card. We host in Germany. Export + delete are self-serve.

Written by

Julia Yukovich

Co-Founder + CEO

Julia is one of the Co-Founders. She handles design, development, product direction, and most of the support replies that arrive in the morning.

julia.yukovich at aicuflow dot comLinkedIn