You can now connect an AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT to your Steady publication. Once it's connected, you can ask about your numbers in plain language and get answers based on your publication's actual stats.
Connecting an assistant is completely optional.
Your Steady statistics tell you how your publication is doing, but turning those numbers into answers takes time. For example: why did more members leave this spring? Did the price change pay off? How do this year's trials compare with last year's?
A lot of media makers already use AI assistants to plan, write and think things through. Connecting your publication lets the assistant work from your real Steady data, so you don't have to copy numbers across or explain your situation from scratch. You ask a question, the assistant looks up the relevant figures, and you get an answer you can keep asking about.
A few examples of what might be interesting to ask an AI assistant:
"How did my revenue develop over the last 12 months?"
"How many paying members did I gain and lose each month this year?"
"What's my churn rate, and is it going up or down?"
"How many trial members became paying members last quarter?"
"Give me a quick overview of where my publication stands right now."
You can keep asking follow-up questions, like "Which month was the worst, and what was different?", or ask the assistant to summarise the results for a newsletter or a team meeting.
Once you connect it, the assistant can read these stats for your publication:
Revenue over time: new, lost, recurring and total
Paying members over time: new, lost, recurring and total
Churn rate
Trials: started, cancelled and converted to paid
Key statistics: a current snapshot with members by type, monthly recurring revenue and how it changed over the last 30 days, churn and trial conversion rates, and free members
It can't change anything in your publication: no posts, plans, prices or settings.
It can't see any personal information about your members.
It can't move money or touch payouts.
The only thing it can send is feedback to Steady about the connection, for example when an answer was missing or confusing. It can only do this if you allow it when you connect.
Nothing happens until you say so. The assistant gets no access until you click Allow access on Steady's approval screen.
Only you can connect. Only the publisher of a publication can connect an assistant to it.
You can see what's connected. Settings → AI assistants → Manage assistants lists every assistant you've approved and when each one last used your data.
You can end access at any time. Click Revoke and the assistant's access ends straight away.
One thing to know: removing the Steady connector inside Claude doesn't end Claude's access. Always revoke in Steady when you stop using an assistant. See Manage and revoke AI assistants.
When you ask a question, the assistant fetches the numbers it needs from Steady and uses them to write its answer. That data is then handled by the assistant's provider (Anthropic for Claude, OpenAI for ChatGPT) under their terms and your account settings with them. Before you connect, check your assistant's privacy settings, for example whether your chats may be used for training.
Connecting an assistant is free on Steady. You need your own account with Claude or ChatGPT, and some features require a paid plan there.
Claude, including Claude Code: Connect Claude to your Steady publication
ChatGPT, including Codex: Connect ChatGPT to your Steady publication
AI assistants can make mistakes. The numbers come straight from Steady, but the assistant's explanation of them can be wrong. If something looks off, ask which period and figures it used and compare them with your Steady stats.
Amounts are in your publication's currency.
Running several publications? Connect each one separately. Every publication has its own connection.
