Integration guides, without the guesswork
A useful integration starts with a specific task. The articles below use fictional examples and reviewed primary references to explore practical architectures. Provider names identify the subject of a guide; they do not imply a partnership, endorsement, or preconnected service.
Choose your route
AI IDE and Cursor workflows
Build a compact endpoint knowledge pack, then connect it to repository rules and a reviewable code change. Start with files when files are enough. Add a shared catalog tool only when it solves a clear team problem. Read the AI IDE guide and Cursor workflow.
Anthropic and OpenAI applications
Use reviewed source records to design narrow capabilities. Keep authorization, request validation, execution, and failure handling in the application. The Anthropic guide uses a return-status assistant; the OpenAI guide uses a read-only invoice assistant.
OpenRouter and model comparison
Compare candidate configurations with the same tool contract and fixture set. Measure task completion and answer fidelity alongside operational cost. Do not assume every route supports the same behavior. The OpenRouter guide provides a controlled comparison pattern.
Website builders and startup teams
Map reviewed fields to actual interface states and choose where retrieval belongs. Keep a visual prototype distinct from production infrastructure. Explore the website builder guide or startup pilot plan.
One catalog, separate adapters
A reviewed operation record can support multiple applications without pretending those applications have identical interfaces. Let a provider-specific adapter translate between the stable internal catalog and the application's tool contract. Version that adapter separately from the source evidence.
This approach creates room for deliberate limitations. An application may expose only read operations, omit sensitive fields, or cap result size even when the underlying API offers more. Record those choices as application policy, not as provider facts.
Before calling an integration ready
Check the task with normal, missing, partial, and failed results. Confirm that the assistant or interface does not report an action that never occurred. Make source versions and operating limits visible to the person who will maintain the connection.
Use the evaluation guide to define acceptance cases before adding more endpoints. A dependable small capability is more useful than a broad integration whose boundaries nobody can explain.
