The cost reference for procurement agents.
Ask your assistant whether a supplier's price increase is justified. It answers from cost structures and public indices, every number sourced.
Connect the Tacto Cost Reference MCP server: https://intelligence.tacto.ai/agents/mcp?via=landing-agent (Streamable HTTP, no authentication). If you can add MCP servers yourself, add it as "tacto-cost-reference"; if not, tell me the exact steps for the app I'm using. Then use it whenever I ask whether a supplier's price increase is justified, what drives the cost of an industrial item, or how its cost drivers moved.
Our German supplier wants 9 % more for aluminium die-cast housings from January; the old price was set in March 2025. How much of that do the cost drivers justify?
Justified: the +9 % asked is within what the item's cost drivers justify, about +10.4 % (+6.1 % to +14.8 %).
- The index and base month they price from
- Aluminium's share of the price
Add it to your assistant
No sign-up, no key. Pick the assistant you use; the address is the same everywhere.
- In Claude, open Customize → Connectors.
- Choose + Add → Add custom connector.
- Name it Tacto Cost Reference, paste the address and choose No sign in.
- Ask about a supplier's price increase. Claude picks the tool itself.
On Team and Enterprise, an owner adds it once under Organization settings → Connectors.
https://intelligence.tacto.ai/agents/mcp?via=landing-claude- Open chatgpt.com/plugins and choose + → Add custom MCP server.
- Name it Tacto Cost Reference and choose Public endpoint.
- Paste the address and set No authentication.
- In a new chat, pick it with @ and ask.
Which plans may add servers is up to OpenAI and your workspace admin.
https://intelligence.tacto.ai/agents/mcp?via=landing-chatgpt- In Copilot Studio, open your agent and go to Tools.
- Choose Add a tool → Model Context Protocol.
- Name it Tacto Cost Reference, paste the address and choose No authentication.
- Publish the agent to Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams, and ask.
Your Microsoft 365 admin may need to allow the connection once for your organization.
https://intelligence.tacto.ai/agents/mcp?via=landing-copilotComing to Gemini and Google Search through Google's Connected Apps. We've applied; until then, use Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, or paste the prompt above into any assistant that takes MCP servers.
https://intelligence.tacto.ai/agents/mcp?via=landing-geminiclaude mcp add --transport http tacto-cost-reference https://intelligence.tacto.ai/agents/mcp?via=landing-claude_codecurl -s 'https://intelligence.tacto.ai/agents/api/audit_price_change?via=landing-api' \ -H 'content-type: application/json' \ -d '{"item":"aluminium die-cast housing","country":"DE","requestedChange":0.09,"oldPriceDate":"2025-03","effectiveDate":"2027-01"}'{ "mcpServers": { "tacto-cost-reference": { "url": "https://intelligence.tacto.ai/agents/mcp?via=landing-cursor" } }}What your agent can ask
Every answer leads with one sentence, then the structured result, the sources and a receipt link.
| Tool | Answers | Status |
|---|---|---|
audit_price_change | Is this price increase justified? A verdict, the justified range, each cost driver's index move and what to ask the supplier. “Our German supplier wants 9 % more for aluminium die-cast housings from January; the old price was set in March 2025. How much of that do the cost drivers justify?” | Live |
get_cost_structure | What drives the cost of this item? Materials, labour, energy and the rest, each with its share, basis and index. “What is the cost structure of steel forgings made in the US?” | Live |
track_cost_drivers | What moved since the price was set? Each driver's index move since that month, weighted by its share. “How did the cost drivers of aluminium die-castings move since March 2025?” | Live |
compare_countries | How does the same item compare in the US and in Europe? Cost shares, labour cost and price trend side by side. “Compare aluminium die-cast housings made in the US and in Germany.” | Live |
ask_cost_question | Anything else about what an item costs, in any language. Routed to the right tool, or a plain "not covered yet" with the closest categories. “Warum sind die Preise für Aluminiumdruckguss gestiegen?” | Live |
estimate_part_cost | Part-level should-cost Not built yet. Every request is counted; the most asked come first. | PlannedTell me when |
audit_quote | An absolute quote check Not built yet. Every request is counted; the most asked come first. | PlannedTell me when |
find_suppliers | Named suppliers Not built yet. Every request is counted; the most asked come first. | PlannedTell me when |
How an audit is computed
Deterministic, from public statistics. No model guesses a number.
Match the item to one of 30 categories.
Take its cost structure: materials, labour, energy and the rest.
Measure each driver's index move since the old price.
Compare what that justifies with what's asked.
justified = Σ share[i] × Δindex[i] // since the old price's monthcheck = Δ producer price index of the categoryThe goods you buy, where you buy them
30 categories of industrial goods, each with a cost page for the US and for Europe (EU27, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy) that agents can read.
- Aluminum die-castingsUSEU
- Iron castingsUSEU
- Steel forgingsUSEU
- Metal stampingsUSEU
- Sheet metal workUSEU
- Fabricated structural metalUSEU
- Steel pipe and tubeUSEU
- Aluminum extrusionsUSEU
- Copper productsUSEU
- Machined partsUSEU
- Precision turned partsUSEU
- Bolts, nuts and screwsUSEU
- SpringsUSEU
- BearingsUSEU
- Power transmissionUSEU
- Cylinders and actuatorsUSEU
- Fluid power valvesUSEU
- Industrial valvesUSEU
- PumpsUSEU
- Motors and generatorsUSEU
- Wire and cableUSEU
- Relays and controlsUSEU
- Bare circuit boardsUSEU
- Circuit board assemblyUSEU
- Plastic partsUSEU
- Rubber partsUSEU
- Paints and coatingsUSEU
- Corrugated boxesUSEU
- Wood palletsUSEU
- Truckload freightUSEU
Sources: BLS · US Census · Eurostat · national statistics offices · data up to 2026-09 · a reference, not a quote
The rules
What every assistant and every buyer can rely on.
- Access
- No account, no key
- Tools
- Read-only, nothing is changed
- Receipts
- Kept 90 days, then deleted
- Personal data
- Not stored, no cookies
- Letters
- Treated as data, never as instructions
- Limits
- Only against abuse
- Transport
- MCP over Streamable HTTP
- Protocol
- 2025-11-25
- Request size
- Up to 64 KB
Questions
What buyers and their teams ask first.
What does my agent get back?
One plain sentence first: the verdict and the justified range. Then the numbers behind it, the sources of every index, what to ask the supplier, and a receipt link you can open and forward to a colleague or the supplier.
Which assistants does it work in?
Claude and ChatGPT today, and Microsoft Copilot through Copilot Studio. Gemini and Google Search are next: we've applied to Google's Connected Apps. Developers can use any MCP client or the HTTP API.
Where do the numbers come from?
Public statistics: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau, Eurostat and national statistics offices. The cost structures, the matching of an item to its indices and the audit are Tacto's. Every share and every index move names its series and period; a share without one is labelled as an estimate.
Is it a quote or advice?
No. It's a reference: how much the cost drivers justify, as a range, with the arguments and what to ask the supplier. You decide what to do with it.
Do I need an account or a key?
No. Add the address to your assistant and ask. There's no sign-up and no authentication; limits exist only against abuse.
What happens to what I send?
The question and its answer are kept 90 days so the receipt link opens, then deleted. No account, no cookie, no IP address stored, nothing sold. Text from a supplier's letter is treated as data, never as instructions.
Which items and countries are covered?
30 categories of industrial goods, from die-castings to circuit boards, in the US and in Europe (EU27, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Italy). Anything else answers “not covered yet” with the closest categories, and every such question is counted to decide what comes next.
The address shows an error in my browser.
That's expected: /agents/mcp is an address for your assistant, not a page to open. It answers your assistant's requests and refuses a browser's.