Ashley Payne, technical co-founder and fractional CTO

Ashley Payne MCP server

A remote, read-only MCP server for the practice of Ashley Payne, a UK technical co-founder and fractional CTO. Connect it to your assistant and ask about his services, how an engagement runs and what it costs, his case studies and articles, and whether he suits your project.

• Endpoint: https://www.ashleypayne.co.uk/mcp
• Transport: Streamable HTTP
• Authentication: none
• Registry name: uk.co.ashleypayne/ashley-payne
• Documentation: https://www.ashleypayne.co.uk/ai

This repository holds the description and configuration only. The server is hosted, and the hosted endpoint is the product, so there's nothing to install or run.

What it does

It answers from the same published content as ashleypayne.co.uk, so the assistant and the website can't disagree.

The fit checker is the part that's a tool rather than a brochure. Describe your situation and it returns a verdict: good_fit, mixed, poor_fit or insufficient_information. The rule that produces the verdict lives on the server and is the same for everyone. Your wording on its own never produces a no. If something you wrote raises a question (do you want him to supply a delivery team, for instance), it comes back as a question for you to answer, and only a confirmed answer changes the verdict.

Tools

Prompts

is_he_right_for_me, what_would_this_cost, compare_my_options and check_the_evidence start the common conversations for you.

Configure it

Claude (web and desktop)

1. Open Settings, then Connectors.
2. Choose Add custom connector.
3. Name it Ashley Payne and paste https://www.ashleypayne.co.uk/mcp.
4. If it says it can't work out how the server signs in, choose Continue anyway. There's nothing to sign in to.
5. Turn it on in a chat from the tools or + menu.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http ashley-payne https://www.ashleypayne.co.uk/mcp

VS Code with GitHub Copilot

Add this to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace, or to your user MCP configuration:

{
  "servers": {
    "ashley-payne": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://www.ashleypayne.co.uk/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app

Open Settings, then MCP servers, and add a Streamable HTTP server named ashley_payne with the endpoint above as its URL. Leave the token and header fields empty, save and restart, then start a new Local Codex chat and type /mcp to check it's connected. This connects Codex running locally; it doesn't make the server available in ordinary ChatGPT chats.

Anything else

Any client that speaks Streamable HTTP can connect to the endpoint directly. There's no API key, header or account.

Use it

Ask in your own words. For example:

• "Who is Ashley Payne?"
• "What does he charge, and how does an engagement work?"
• "Has he built anything like our problem before?"
• "How does he decide whether AI is the right answer?"
• "We have developers already. We need one accountable fractional CTO to set direction. Is he a fit?"

The last one will come back with a few questions first. Answer them and ask again.

Privacy

Every tool is read-only. There's no sign-in, no session and no database, and tool arguments aren't logged. Keep personal and confidential details out of the fit checker, because the shape of the problem is enough. The full notice is on the privacy page, in the section on the AI connector.

Contact

Built and run by Ashley Payne Systems Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 17463066. ashley@ashleypayne.co.uk