How Alter Turned AI Agents Into Everyday Magic with Pipedream Connect
Olivier Legris
Co-Founder at Alter.
About Alter
Alter is reimagining how everyday users interact with AI by transforming the MacOS into a seamless interface for intelligent agents. By understanding the user's screen and context, Alter allows AI to work for the user, enabling massive productivity gains.
This "magic" relies on deep integrations with widely-used tools like Gmail, Notion, PostHog, Paddle, and Discord. These integrations are what give the agents their functionality. For Alter to deliver on its promise, it needed to solve one major challenge: connecting everything, fast.
The Problem
From the outset, Alter's product vision hinged on integration. But as a lean startup, they didn’t have the time or engineering bandwidth to build and maintain dozens of integrations in-house.
“We needed to launch fast, and with real utility. Building OAuth flows and managing API keys wasn’t realistic. And most integration tools weren’t built with end users in mind. They made everything harder.” - Olivier Legris, Co-Founder of Alter
The team evaluated other solutions, including super app backends and low-code platforms. But these introduced friction and felt bolted on—counter to the seamless experience Alter wanted to provide. None offered the invisible, scalable architecture they were looking for.
Ultimately, building the integrations themselves wasn’t viable. The time cost was too high, and the resources required would pull the team away from core product development.
The Solution
Alter adopted Pipedream Connect’s MCP Server to handle its integration layer. Within just two weeks, they had access to hundreds of applications—without writing bespoke code or handling the complexity of third-party APIs.
“We launched the same day Pipedream released MCP on Product Hunt. It was the perfect match. You made integration magic possible—we made it tangible for users.”
With Pipedream Connect, Alter:
- Instantly unlocked 2,000+ apps
- Avoided months of engineering work
- Delivered real functionality without exposing backend complexity
Suddenly, users could ask AI agents to fetch analytics, send emails, post updates in Discord, and more—all without writing code or managing authentication.
The value of integrating Pipedream Connect was immediate. Integration capabilities became a key reason why free users converted to paid plans.
“It’s a reason people upgrade. Integrations are no longer a feature. They’re part of the core experience.”
More importantly, the Alter team could redirect their focus from infrastructure to innovation. They now build new agent workflows every week, powered by Connect: from automated Monday reports aggregating analytics, to customer call prep briefs generated in minutes.
“Before, this work would take hours. Now it’s done in three minutes. It’s not a 20% improvement—it’s a 10x leap.”
For Alter, adopting Pipedream wasn’t just about speed—it delivered a competitive advantage.
“Our competitors will spend the next six months figuring out how to make this work. We already have it. That knowledge—and that user adoption—is a massive advantage.”
Olivier’s advice to other founders:
“Build on the shoulders of giants. Focus on what makes your product unique—and let Pipedream handle the rest.”