Usage Examples

Real-world scenarios showing how AI assistants use a4b.ai MCP tools. Just type a natural language prompt — the AI handles tool calls automatically.

Tip: The more context you give your AI assistant, the better the results. Include workspace names, asset details, and dates in your prompts.

Example 1: Browse Your Assets

Show me all assets in the Main Facility workspace

The AI finds the Main Facility workspace and lists all assets in it, showing name, inventory number, state, and assignment.

Example response: “The Main Facility workspace has 12 assets. Here are the highlights: 6 are in use, 4 available, and 2 in maintenance. They include HVAC Unit A1 (#434-000001), Backup Generator 1 (#434-000003), and Boiler System B1.”

Example 2: Create an Asset and Schedule Maintenance

Add a new air purifier to the Server Room and schedule a setup task for next week

The AI creates the asset in the Server Room workspace, then schedules a maintenance task linked to it.

Example response: “Done! Created Honeywell HEPA air purifier (inventory #434-000026) in Server Room and scheduled ‘Initial setup and filter installation’ for next week.”

Example 3: Find Overdue Maintenance

Are there any overdue maintenance tasks?

The AI checks all maintenance tasks with an overdue status and summarizes what needs attention.

Example response: “You have 3 overdue maintenance tasks:

  1. Quarterly hardware inspection for Lenovo ThinkPad X1 — due March 1st (14 days overdue)
  2. Battery replacement for Dell Monitor — due February 28th
  3. Firmware update for Network Switch — due February 15th”

Example 4: Audit Asset Change History

Show me all changes to asset #42 in the last month

The AI searches the change history for that asset and presents a timeline of modifications.

Example response: “Asset #42 (Lenovo ThinkPad X1) had 5 changes in the last month:

  • Feb 28: State changed from ‘available’ to ‘in_use’ by John Doe
  • Feb 25: Assigned to John Doe (was unassigned)
  • Feb 20: Description updated
  • Feb 15: Serial number added
  • Feb 13: Asset created by Admin”

Example 5: Organization Dashboard Overview

Give me an overview of our organization’s assets and maintenance status

The AI retrieves organization-wide statistics and presents a summary.

Example response: “Here’s your organization overview (Premium plan):

Assets (25 of 500 capacity): 12 in use, 7 available, 4 in maintenance, 2 stored.

Maintenance: 50 total tasks — 20 scheduled, 10 in progress, 10 completed, 10 overdue.

Plan usage: Assets 25/500 (5%), Users 1/50 (2%), Workspaces 3/5 (60%).”

Example 6: Invite Team Members

Invite alice@company.com and bob@company.com to the Main Facility workspace

The AI sends invitations to both email addresses for the Main Facility workspace.

Example response: “Invitations sent to alice@company.com and bob@company.com for the Main Facility workspace. They’ll receive emails with instructions to join.”

Example 7: Manage Workspaces

Create a new workspace called QA Lab

The AI creates a workspace with the given name in your organization.

Example response: “Created workspace ‘QA Lab’. It’s ready to use — you can start adding assets or inviting team members to it.”

Example 8: Generate QR Code Labels

Generate QR codes for the first 3 assets

The AI looks up the first three assets and generates a downloadable QR code label for each one.

Example response: “Generated QR codes for 3 assets:

  1. HVAC Unit A1 (#434-000001) — QR links to asset detail page
  2. HVAC Unit A2 (#434-000002) — QR links to asset detail page
  3. Backup Generator 1 (#434-000003) — QR links to asset detail page

Each QR code encodes the asset’s direct URL for quick scanning.”

Example 9: Manage Team Access

List all users in the Main Facility workspace and remove the ones who haven’t logged in since January

The AI lists workspace members, identifies inactive ones, and removes them after confirmation.

Example response: “The Main Facility workspace has 12 members. 3 haven’t logged in since January:

  • charlie@company.com (last active Dec 15)
  • dana@company.com (last active Nov 30)
  • eve@company.com (last active Jan 2)

Removed all 3 from the Main Facility workspace. They still have access to other workspaces in the organization.”

Example 10: Remove Assets You No Longer Need

Find all assets marked as deleted and permanently remove them

Permanent deletion is the only irreversible operation on this server, so the AI works through it in stages instead of acting on the prompt directly.

  1. It lists assets filtered to the deleted state — the reversible soft delete — so the scope of the request is settled before anything is destroyed.
  2. It shows you exactly which assets it found, by name and inventory number.
  3. It tells you what permanent deletion takes with it: each asset, its maintenance tasks, and its entire activity history, with no recovery path.
  4. It asks for explicit confirmation.
  5. Only then does it delete. force_delete_asset removes one asset per call, and each call has to quote that asset’s exact inventory number back as confirmation — so the AI reads each number first and deletes the assets one at a time. There is no way to wipe a batch in a single call.
  6. Every deletion is recorded in an audit entry that is retained indefinitely — once the asset is gone, that entry is the only record it existed.

Example response: “I found 3 assets in the deleted state:

  1. Dell Monitor P2419H (#434-000018)
  2. Old Label Printer (#434-000021)
  3. Retired Forklift 2 (#434-000024)

These are currently soft-deleted: the records and their full history still exist, and I can restore any of them by changing their state instead.

Permanently deleting them erases each asset, its maintenance tasks and its entire activity history. This cannot be undone. Confirm and I’ll proceed.”

After you confirm:

“Permanently deleted 3 assets:

  • Dell Monitor P2419H (#434-000018) — 2 maintenance tasks and 14 activity log entries removed
  • Old Label Printer (#434-000021) — 6 activity log entries removed
  • Retired Forklift 2 (#434-000024) — 5 maintenance tasks and 31 activity log entries removed

Their inventory numbers will never be reissued to another asset. An audit record of each deletion was kept.”

This example needs more than mcp_write. force_delete_asset requires the separate mcp_destructive scope and administrator rights — an organization administrator, or an administrator of the workspace the asset belongs to. Without the scope the call fails with Insufficient scope. Required: mcp_destructive rather than the tool being hidden.

If you only need the asset out of the way, ask for the reversible option instead — “set this asset’s state to deleted” keeps the record and its history and can be undone at any time.