Ready to run background checks the modern way?
The next chapter in trust automation
A decade ago, hiring teams had no easy way to integrate their background check provider into their HR tech stack—not that legacy background check providers used much technology anyway.
When Checkr built the first background check API, leading ATS and HRIS systems such as Greenhouse integrated with our platform, making it easy for hiring teams to connect their screening provider to the other applications they use every day.
Today, in the AI era, we're doing it again. Just as APIs reshaped how companies connect to data, AI is redefining how you interact with data. And we’re leading that change with the launch of Candidate MCP.
What is MCP?
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an emerging standard for how AI systems connect to external data and tools. Think of it as a universal adapter: it allows you or your AI agent to ask questions in natural language and get structured, reliable answers back.
Instead of coding API calls or navigating dashboards, you can simply ask:
- “What’s the status of Sarah’s background check?”
With Candidate MCP, background check data becomes conversational and instantly usable inside your AI workflows.
Today’s capabilities
The first release of Candidate MCP is a robust backend service that provides AI-powered applications with secure, automated access to background check reports and screening resources. Tailored for developers, startups, and enterprises, Candidate MCP acts as a bridge between AI agents and the Checkr API, enabling seamless Background Check processing and intelligent automation. Optimizations like one-click access to background check status information and immediate access to reasons for delays enhance applicant conversion rates. Candidate MCP Server simplifies background check integration and helps accelerate your time to market. It is an ideal solution for those looking to modernize their background check process with AI and automation.
Here’s what you can do with this release:
- Query a report's status
- Obtain a report’s completion ETA
- Query a screening’s status
- Obtain basic information about a candidate
- Secure deep links
All responses are delivered through secure, OAuth-scoped, encrypted access.
Enhanced experience with Candidate MCP
Today, the dashboard gives you visibility into every report. With MCP, you’ll gain a faster, more conversational way to access that same information — right from where you work.
You start your journey with Candidate MCP:
“What’s the status of Sarah’s background check?” → “Sarah’s report is pending as of Sept 24.”
“Can you resend the invitation link to me?” → Candidate MCP provides a secure link for you to re-send.
Value: Faster onboarding and less time wasted.
Recruiter following up on escalated reports
Today: You dig through the dashboard to figure out why a report was escalated.
With Candidate MCP:
“Why was Theresa Ansari's report escalated?” → “The report was escalated due to a verification issue — the provided documents weren’t accepted and required further review.”
“When was it completed?” → “Sept 24 at 9:30 PM PT.”
Value: Immediate context so you move quickly and stay compliant.
Ops team monitoring volume & ETA
Today: Bottlenecks are hard to spot without manual reporting.
With Candidate MCP:
“How many reports are in progress for San Francisco?” → “12 reports, avg ETA: 6 hours.”
“Which are overdue?” → “2 reports past ETA: Maria, Daniel.”
Value: Stay proactive and keep pipelines moving.
Workflow ideas
This is just the start. Candidate MCP can be extended into your workflows in powerful ways. By plugging Candidate MCP into workflow automation platforms or directly within your agent, you can automate tasks that once required manual dashboard checks or engineering work.
Here’s a fun example we demo’d that shows what’s possible:
A workflow calls Candidate MCP every morning to pull the status of all reports in progress or escalated.
It compiles those into a digest:
“10 reports in progress (avg ETA: 6 hours). 3 reports escalated — review required.”
That digest is automatically sent to your Slack or Gmail channel, with secure links back to Checkr for full details.
This kind of automation turns Candidate MCP into a daily assistant, always watching report statuses for you, without requiring you to log in and hunt for updates.
Other workflow ideas include:
Escalation alerts → automatic Jira/ServiceNow tickets when a report escalates.
Completion tracker → push updates into your ATS/CRM (e.g., “Background check for Alex Martinez: Clear”) to move candidates forward.
Aging report monitor → weekly summary of reports pending longer than X days, escalated if thresholds are exceeded.
Why this matters
Candidate MCP doesn’t replace your dashboards or APIs. Those remain core tools. Instead, it adds another option — one designed for speed and simplicity.
Save time: check report or screening statuses in seconds.
Move faster: reduce delays in onboarding and compliance reviews.
Stay secure: all data is accessed through encrypted, OAuth-scoped permissions.
For growing teams, that means less time chasing information and more time focused on people and decisions.
Looking ahead
Today’s release is focused on secure, status-level queries. Over time, Candidate MCP will grow into broader capabilities — always guided by compliance, security, and customer needs.
As our CEO put it:
Get started today
You can start using MCP right away. We’ve prepared resources to make it easy:
Docs — step-by-step setup, example prompts, and OAuth scopes
Demo video — walkthrough of setup and first query
Candidate MCP— share the Candidate MCP overview with your team
Whether you’re experimenting with AI agents or simply want a faster way to check report statuses, Candidate MCP is ready for you today.
