Action MCPs.
An integration brings data in so you can look at it. An Action MCP goes the other way: EVA reaches into another system and changes something. Opposite directions, and the difference matters more than the acronym.
An instruction goes out, so something changes in another system.
It acts, it does not report
The answer is already on your screen. An Action MCP is what happens next: raise the task, send the message, update the record. It is the last mile after a decision rather than another way to see the numbers.
It runs live, not overnight
There is no pipeline and no warehouse copy. EVA calls the system at the moment you ask, which is why it can act on something that happened five minutes ago - and why it cannot draw you a trend line.
You decide what it may touch
Each one is switched on deliberately and scoped to what it is allowed to do. Nothing gets an action MCP by default just because it has an integration.
It leaves a trail
Anything EVA does in another system is recorded against the person who asked for it. An action nobody can attribute is an audit problem, not a feature.
What this usually does.
Closing the loop. You have read the report, you know what has to happen, and you would rather not open a fourth tab to make it happen.
Reporting of any kind. There is no history behind an Action MCP, so it cannot drive a trend, a comparative or a Pulse. If you want the number watched, you want an integration.
Six kinds of connection, and they are not interchangeable.
Picking the wrong one is the most common mistake people make in their first fortnight, so here is the whole set in one place.
Purpose-built pipelines into the systems you already run
Your own SQL, read directly and joined to everything else
Spreadsheets and CSVs that never had a system to live in
Contracts, leases and policies she can read and cite
Public pages worth watching, read on a schedule
Action MCPs, answered.
What is the difference between an integration and an Action MCP?
Direction. An integration reads data in from a system so it can be reported on, trended and joined to other systems. An Action MCP reaches out and changes something in that system. One is about knowing, the other is about doing, and a system can have either, both or neither.
Can EVA write back to my accounting ledger?
Not through an integration - those only ever read. Anything that changes a record in another system happens through an Action MCP that you have deliberately switched on and scoped, and every action is logged against the person who asked for it.
Will an Action MCP give me history or trends?
No. It calls the system live and returns what that system says at that moment. Nothing is warehoused, so there is no history to trend and no stored figure for a Pulse to watch. That is what integrations are for.
Is this the same as the VibeCFO MCP?
No, and they point in opposite directions. The VibeCFO MCP is a server we host so that you can point Claude or another assistant at your own VibeCFO data. Action MCPs are EVA calling out to other people's systems on your behalf.
Connect one and see.
Bring your messiest system and your simplest one. Fourteen days is enough to find out whether this works on both.