A fax desk is a set of instructions you keep in a Claude or ChatGPT Project, so the assistant knows your rules and a few one-word routines. Type MORNING and it reads what arrived overnight; type SEND and it starts a fax and waits for your OK. Here is how to set one up with the Fax.Plus MCP connector, a starter desk to copy, and how to add the other tools you use.
Before you start
- Use an active Fax.Plus Basic plan or higher.
- Use a compatible client with remote MCP support, such as Claude or ChatGPT.
- MCP is unavailable for accounts with Advanced Security Controls, including HIPAA and PHIPA configurations.
1. Connect Fax.Plus
In Claude, add it under Settings → Connectors. In ChatGPT, add it as a custom MCP app: turn on Developer mode, then go to Plugins → Browse plugins, select +, then Create app → Create MCP App, and sign in with your Fax.Plus account. Step by step: Claude and ChatGPT.
2. Create a Project and paste your desk
- Create a Project in Claude or ChatGPT and name it after the desk, for example "Fax desk".
- Paste the starter desk below into the project's instructions and fill in the parts in [brackets].
- Start a chat in the Project, make sure Fax.Plus is selected for it (in ChatGPT, choose FaxPlus from the apps or type @), and type a routine name.
- Edit the instructions whenever a routine should change.
If a connector does not show up inside a project chat in your client, open a regular chat instead and paste the instructions as your first message. Interface labels and plan availability differ between clients, so check the current screens in yours.
3. A starter desk to copy
Copy the desk into your Project. Add, remove or rename routines to fit how you work.
Fax desk instructions
You are my fax desk for my Fax.Plus account.
Rules:
1) Before you change anything, such as a comment or a read status, show me exactly what will change and wait for my OK.
2) Never send, resend or delete a fax unless I ask for it in that message. Before any send, show me the recipient number digit by digit, the sending line and the page count.
3) Read names, numbers, amounts and dates exactly as written on the page. Say so if something is missing; do not guess.
4) Leave out fax numbers in summaries unless I ask.
5) If something fails, tell me what failed and check the outbox and sent faxes before trying again.
Routines, run one when I type its name:
MORNING: show my received faxes from the last 24 hours, one line each: date, pages, what it is and whether it needs action.
SEND [recipient]: open the Fax.Plus upload window so I can choose the file; show me the recipient number, the sending line and the page count; send only after my OK; then check whether it went through.
PROOF: get the confirmation report for my newest sent fax and tell me whether it shows success.
FAILED: list my sent faxes from the last 24 hours that failed, with the reason, or say there are none. Do not resend anything.
4. Write your own routines
- Give each routine one word in capitals and say exactly what it reads, what it may change and where it stops.
- Keep reading and changing apart. A routine that only reads, such as MORNING or PROOF, can run any time. A routine that changes or sends something shows you the change first.
- Never let a routine send, resend or delete on its own. Ask for those in the message itself.
- Ask for values exactly as written, and for "say so if something is missing".
- Use codes, such as a matter, case or PO number, instead of names, and tag faxes with the code in the fax comment.
5. Add the other tools you use
Fax.Plus MCP is one connector among the ones you use in Claude or ChatGPT. The connectors do not talk to each other: inside one chat, the assistant reads from one and writes to another because you asked it to, and it asks for your OK before it changes anything. For example, it can read a received invoice and add the figures to a Google Sheets row, or draft a Slack message about the forms that are still missing.
Two limits are worth knowing:
- Sending a fax always goes through the Fax.Plus upload window, where you choose the file. The assistant does not pass a file from another connector to Fax.Plus. To fax a file straight from Google Drive, Docs or Sheets, use the Fax.Plus Google Workspace add-on.
- A chat runs when you start it. For something that should happen every time a fax arrives, without you, use a native integration: the Fax.Plus app for Slack posts received faxes to a channel on Business and Enterprise plans, and Zapier can start a workflow when a fax arrives.
6. Desks by sector
Ready-made desks with routines for a specific job: law firms, real estate closings, insurance claims intake, permit filings, small business, purchasing, HR onboarding, legal aid and nonprofits, school administration, auto dealers and lending, telecom and utilities, and for individuals, faxing a signed document.
Keep it safe
- Keep the Fax.Plus tools that send or change data on the setting that asks first. Whether your client asks for approval depends on its permission settings.
- Documents you open are read by your AI assistant under that client's terms. Check your own policy on client data first.
- If a reply looks wrong, do not assume nothing happened. Check the outbox and sent faxes before you try again.
- Keep fax numbers and document contents out of screenshots and summaries you share.
Related
More copy-ready prompts are in Fax Prompts with AI, ideas for recurring checks in Fax Automation with AI, and connection help on the MCP setup hub.
