Connect Round & Rest to Claude or ChatGPT

Once linked, you describe your session to the assistant — "three blocks of two one-minute exercises, four rounds, ninety seconds rest" — and the timer appears in the conversation, configured and ready to start.

The address to connect

One URL, the same for every assistant:

No sign-up, no API key, no personal data. The server keeps nothing between two requests.

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets a conversational assistant use outside tools. Round & Rest exposes one tool, start_workout_timer, and an interface: the assistant turns your request into a configuration, and the timer renders inside the conversation rather than sending you off to another tab.

With Claude

1. Open Settings, then the Connectors section.
2. Choose Add custom connector.
3. Paste the address above and confirm.
4. In a conversation, enable the connector, then describe your session.

Custom connectors are not available on every plan, and rendering an interface inside the conversation needs a client that supports MCP apps. If the timer does not appear but the assistant does describe the session correctly, the connector is working and only the interface rendering is missing.

With ChatGPT

MCP support in ChatGPT is moving fast, and the menu labels change from one version to the next. The principle is the same: look for Connectors or Apps in settings, add a remote MCP server, and paste the same address.

Two limits worth knowing. The feature is restricted to paid plans, and depending on the mode in use, ChatGPT may only consume the textual half of the tool — you would then get the session summary without the interactive timer. The link to the web app still works in that case.

What you can ask for

• "A twelve-minute AMRAP."
• "EMOM, ten rounds, starting every ninety seconds."
• "Four rounds of thirty seconds work, fifteen seconds rest."
• "Tabata." (twenty on, ten off, eight rounds)
• "Three blocks of two one-minute exercises, four rounds per block, ninety seconds rest between rounds."
• "A For Time with no time cap."

Naming the exercises is optional. If you do — "wallsit then squat jumps" — the names show up during the session. The assistant also passes the language of the conversation, so an English exchange gets an English timer.

Without a connector

The web app works on its own, with no assistant: it installs on your phone, runs offline, and is configured by hand. Open the timer. See also what is coming next.