Executive Summary (TL;DR) The Orion Denali Gateway Portal is the control plane a firm uses to govern how Redtail data reaches external tools such as Claude. Setup runs in a fixed order: the firm requests access, Redtail Accounting sets up billing, Orion invites a firm Technical Administrator, the administrator establishes Gateway Portal users and their resource access, and each advisor or rep then authorizes the Orion connector inside Claude. This article covers setup for Redtail. - How to request Gateway Portal access for your firm - What a firm Technical Administrator sets up in the portal, and in what order - What advisor and rep users experience when they are invited - How to enable the Claude for Financial Advisors plugin and the Orion connector

 

What Does This Article Help Solve?

Common Real-Life Questions Users Ask About the Orion Denali Gateway Portal and MCP Connector

"My firm wants to use Claude with our Redtail data. Where does the process actually start?"

"Who at my firm should be the Technical Administrator for the Gateway Portal?"

"How do I get my advisors into the Gateway Portal without adding each one by hand?"

"Does connecting Claude give my advisors access to Redtail records they could not already see?"

"My advisor set up a Gateway Portal account, but the Orion connector is not showing up in Claude. What is missing?"

 

Article Quick Links

Why Use the Orion Denali Gateway Portal?

What is the Orion Denali Gateway Portal and MCP Connector?

How to Set Up the Gateway Portal and Connect Claude

Request Gateway Portal Access for Your Firm

Choose and Set Up the Firm Technical Administrator

Review Your Subscription and MCP Entitlements

Add and Manage Gateway Portal Users

What Advisor and Rep Users Should Expect

How to Enable the Claude Plugin and Orion Connector for Your Organization

Authorize the Orion Connector in Claude

Start Working With the Connector

 

 

Why Use the Orion Denali Gateway Portal?

• Gives your firm a single place to see which Orion capabilities reach external tools, and which users hold that access
  
  
• Keeps entitlement decisions with the firm — a Technical Administrator grants and revokes individual user access to connected tools
  
  
• Honors each advisor's existing Redtail permissions, so a connected tool surfaces only what that advisor already has rights to see
  
  
• Surfaces per-resource detail — tool name, read-only versus write, and the underlying system each tool requires — before access goes live
  
  
• Provides a path to diagnosis and remediation through usage and audit logs when a connection behaves unexpectedly
  
  
• Supports firms that start with the Claude plugin today and build their own AI connection later, using the same gateway
  
  

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What is the Orion Denali Gateway Portal and MCP Connector?

The Orion Denali Gateway Portal provides access to Orion technical capabilities. The first capability managed in the portal is MCP tools — the connections that let an external artificial intelligence (AI) client reach Orion data on a firm's behalf. The Orion connector for Claude uses that gateway to link Claude to Redtail CRM, so an advisor asks for opportunity analysis, meeting prep, or a follow-up summary in plain language and receives an answer assembled from live relationship records.

 

The portal recognizes two external user types. A firm Technical Administrator and a Gateway Portal User. The gateway governs how an existing entitlement interacts with an external tool, rather than expanding what an advisor sees.

 

External User Types	Description
Firm Technical Administrator	Governs external tool access. Reviews the firm's MCP entitlements, adds and removes advisor and rep users, assigns resource access, and reviews usage.
Gateway Portal User	Advisor or rep Establishes a Gateway account and authorizes an approved external client such as Claude.

 

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How to Set Up the Gateway Portal and Connect Claude

The setup follows the order below. Each stage depends on the one before it, so complete them in sequence.

 

Quick Steps Already invited to the Gateway Portal? Start here. The sections that follow cover each stage in full.

Step 1: Visit My Account Links and confirm your Redtail and/or Orion Connect connected user

Step 2: Visit Manage Roster to establish your user or others on your team as Gateway Portal users

Step 3: Create your own user as a Gateway user if you intend to use Claude directly — the Gateway Portal home surfaces a prompt when a Technical Administrator has not yet set themselves up

Step 4: Get started using Claude

 

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Request Gateway Portal Access for Your Firm

• Go to the Orion Connector for Claude page
  
  
• Complete and submit the access request form, indicating Redtail as the connector your firm wants
  
  
• Watch for a follow-up from Orion confirming the request and the next step for your firm
  
  
• Reply to confirm interest in proceeding
  
  
• Work with Redtail Accounting to set up billing for your firm — the request routes to the Redtail Accounting team at this stage
  
  
• Identify the person at your firm who serves as the Gateway Portal Technical Administrator, since Orion sends the portal invitation to that person once billing setup is complete. Please Note: The Technical Administrator must be the Database Owner in Redtail.
  
  

 

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Choose and Set Up the Firm Technical Administrator

• Choose a user with the highest level of access for the product managed in the portal
  
  
• For Redtail, this is the Database Owner
  
  

 

Set Up the Account

• Orion invites the Technical Administrator to the Gateway Portal — Technical Administrators receive an invitation rather than self-registering
  
  
• Open the invitation email and follow the link to the Gateway Portal
  
  
• Establish the Gateway Portal login, including password and account security details
  
  
• Accept the Gateway Portal terms and conditions on behalf of the firm — acceptance comes before managing any capability in the portal
  
  

 

Technical Administrator Breakdown

Field Name	Description
My Subscription	Provides a summary of subscribed products and allows the firm to pick a default of Resources for any New Gateway Portal User
MCP Entitlements	Provides insight into MCP Tools associated to each product subscription including rate limiting details, MCP Tools and their descriptions
Manage Redtail Roster	Allows database Admin to provide credentials and streamline Redtail User Setup based on accessible users.
Manage Orion Connect Roster	Allows a user with “User Management” permission to provide credentials and streamline Orion Connect User Setup based on accessible users.
Users/Add User	Provides insight into all Gateway users and their status.
Resource Sets/Create Resource Sets	Provides a mechanism to create Resource sets for subsets of Gateway Portal users, if necessary
Usage & Logs	Provides insight into usage and auditing activity relevant to your Gateway Portal activity

 

Set Yourself Up as a Gateway User

A Technical Administrator account governs access. It does not by itself grant the administrator a Gateway user account, so an administrator who intends to use Claude must establish a Gateway user for themselves as well.

• Open the Gateway Portal home screen
  
  
• Look for the prompt that appears when the signed-in Technical Administrator has no Gateway user account
  
  
• Follow the prompt to set yourself up as a Gateway user
  
  
• Skip this step if you administer the portal but do not use Claude yourself
  
  

 

 

Review Your Subscription and MCP Entitlements

My Subscription

• Status — indicates whether the Gateway Portal status is active
  
  
• Default Resource Set — sets the default assigned to each new Gateway Portal user
  
  
• No Resources is the safest default, especially for a firm that intends to assign alternate resource sets to different users
  
  
• All Resources streamlines management, though it removes the administrator's step of reviewing new capabilities as they are added to the products
  
  
• Products — indicates the products the firm has enabled
  
  
• Linked Databases — indicates the Redtail databases connected to the Gateway Portal
  
  

 

MCP Entitlements

• Review the available product package, rate limit details, and all available MCP tools
  
  
• Expand a resource to review its tool description, the context provided to a connected system, prerequisites, related system, scope (read-only versus write), and any limit specific to that resource
  
  
• Note the rate limits and daily quotas that apply to your firm's package
  
  

A Technical Administrator does not change rate limits or add resources outside the firm's tool catalog.

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Add and Manage Gateway Portal Users

Manage the Redtail Roster

• Open Manage Redtail Roster
  
  
• Provide Redtail credentials as the Database Owner
  
  
• Review the list of accessible Redtail users returned by the portal
  
  
• Select specific users, or all users, to establish in the Gateway Portal
  
  
• Review and confirm the changes
  
  

Users

• Open Users to review every Gateway Portal user, their status, and their assigned resource set
  
  
• Select Add User to establish a user manually
  
  
• Select an individual user to activate, deactivate, or re-invite that user to the Gateway Portal
  
  

Resource Sets

• Resource sets define the specific access each Gateway Portal user holds
  
  
• All Resources — assigns every available MCP tool to the user
  
  
• No Resources — assigns no resources to the user
  
  
• Select Create Resource Set to build a subset for a group of users — for example, a set limited to read access
  
  

Usage and Logs

• Open Usage & Logs to review usage and auditing activity for your firm's Gateway Portal
  
  
• Use this page to troubleshoot a user's connection issue
  
  

 

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What Advisor and Rep Users Should Expect (Click to Expand)

 

Once the Technical Administrator establishes a user, that advisor or rep receives a Gateway Portal invitation. Share the following with your users so they know what arrives and what to do with it.

 

• Visit My Account Links and confirm your Redtail and/or Orion Connect connected user
  
  
• Open the Gateway Portal invitation email
  
  
• Set up the password and account security details for the new Gateway Portal user
  
  
• Accept the Gateway Portal terms and conditions — new Gateway terms apply to each user
  
  
• Open My Access to review the resources assigned to the account
  
  
• Authorize the Orion connector in Claude after the Gateway Portal account setup is complete
  

 

A Gateway Portal user does not grant themselves access to resources the firm has not entitled, and does not see data beyond existing Redtail permissions.

 

 

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How to Enable the Claude Plugin and Orion Connector for Your Organization

Firms that apply controls around plugins and connectors need an administrator for the Claude instance to make both items available before users connect.

• In Claude, go to Settings > Organization Settings
  
  
• Select Plugins > Add Plugin
  
  
• Select Claude for Financial Advisors
  
  
• Make the plugin available to install
  
  
• Stay in Organization Settings and select Connectors > + Add > All Available
  
  
• Search for Orion and make the connector available
  
  

After the plugin and the connector are available, users authorize the connector and use the skills included in the plugin.

 

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Authorize the Orion Connector in Claude

Each advisor or rep completes these steps individually, using the Gateway Portal credentials established earlier.

• In Claude, go to Settings
  
  
• Install the Claude for Financial Advisors plugin
  
  
• Locate the Orion connector, shown as available to connect
  
  
• Select Connect, then follow the prompt to finish connecting
  
  
• Sign in with the Gateway Portal credentials, using the email address as the username
  
  
• Authorize the connection
  
  
• Confirm the redirect back to Claude
  
  

 

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Start Working With the Connector

With the connector authorized, ask Claude for what you need in plain language. Sample prompts:

• Review my Redtail opportunities and indicate follow-up actions
  
  
• Kick-off meeting prep for the Henderson Household
  
  
• Prepare a meeting follow-up brief for the Henderson Household
  
  

Responses reflect the Redtail data the signed-in advisor already has rights to see.

 

 

 

 

In Summary Start at the Orion Connector for Claude page, submit the access request, and confirm interest so the request moves forward Complete billing setup with Redtail Accounting, since the Gateway Portal invitation follows that step Name your Redtail Database Owner as the Technical Administrator, then accept the Gateway Portal terms on behalf of the firm Review My Subscription and MCP Entitlements before adding users, so the default resource set matches how your firm governs access Establish users through Manage Redtail Roster or Add User, and assign resource sets that match each group's scope Set yourself up as a Gateway user too if you intend to use Claude, since the Technical Administrator account alone does not cover that Tell advisors to set up the Gateway Portal account and accept terms first, then authorize the Orion connector in Claude with those credentials

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Keywords: Orion Denali Gateway Portal - MCP connector - Claude for Financial Advisors - Redtail - database owner - technical administrator - account links - manage roster -  MCP entitlements - connector authorization

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