Connecting Your Tools

Last verified: 14 April 2026 | Applies to: All plans (directory on Free; custom connectors on paid plans)

In 30 seconds

Connectors let Claude read from and write to your existing tools: Slack, Asana, Notion, Google Drive, and 60+ more. Once connected, Claude can pull data, post updates, and work across tools in a single conversation. This workflow walks you through connecting your first tool and getting real value from it immediately.

Prerequisites

• A Claude account (Free plan gets directory connectors; paid plans can add custom MCP servers)
• At least one supported tool you want to connect (check the directory at claude.com/connectors)
• Admin or user-level access to authenticate the tool via OAuth

You do not need to be a developer to connect your tools.

Connectors use standard sign-in flows (the same “Sign in with Google” buttons you use everywhere). No code, no API keys, no terminal. If you can log into your email, you can connect a tool.

5-minute connector setup

These are the three most popular connectors. Each takes under five minutes from start to finish.

Google Calendar

1. Go to Settings, Connectors in Claude Desktop (or visit claude.com/connectors)
2. Find Google Calendar and click Connect
3. Sign in with your Google account and authorise access
4. Done. Return to Claude.

What Claude can do once connected: Read your upcoming meetings, check for scheduling conflicts, summarise your day or week, help you prepare for specific meetings, and find free slots. Claude cannot create or modify calendar events through this connector.

Try it: “What does my calendar look like this week? Flag any days with more than 4 meetings.”

Gmail

1. Go to Settings, Connectors in Claude Desktop
2. Find Gmail and click Connect
3. Sign in with your Google account and authorise access
4. Done.

What Claude can do once connected: Search your inbox, read specific emails or threads, summarise unread messages, draft replies, and flag messages that need attention. Claude asks for confirmation before sending anything.

Try it: “Show me any unread emails from the last 24 hours that look urgent.”

Slack

1. Go to Settings, Connectors in Claude Desktop
2. Find Slack and click Connect
3. Sign in to your Slack workspace and authorise access
4. Done.

What Claude can do once connected: Read messages from channels you have access to, search conversation history, post messages (with your confirmation), and summarise channel activity. Claude only sees channels you are a member of.

Try it: “Summarise what happened in #general today.”

Am I technical enough?

Yes. The entire connector setup is a sign-in flow. There is no configuration file, no code, and no IT department involvement (unless your organisation restricts OAuth apps, in which case your admin may need to approve the connection). If you got stuck, the most common issue is not having the right permissions in the tool you are connecting. Check with your workspace admin if the OAuth screen shows an error.

Step by step

graph LR
    A[Slack] --> D[Claude]
    B[Asana] --> D
    C[Google Drive] --> D
    D --> E[Cross-tool actions]
    E --> F[Status update in Slack]
    E --> G[Task created in Asana]

Step 1: Browse available connectors

Go to Settings → Connectors in Claude Desktop, or visit claude.com/connectors.

Connectors are organised by category:

• Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail
• Project management: Asana, Linear, Jira, monday.com, Notion
• Design: Figma, Canva
• Data & analytics: Google Sheets, Hex, Amplitude
• File storage: Google Drive, Box, Dropbox
• CRM & sales: Salesforce (Agentforce 360), HubSpot, Clay, Apollo, Outreach
• Finance: Intuit/QuickBooks, FactSet, and other accounting integrations
• Legal & document management: DocuSign (IAM), LegalZoom

Step 2: Connect your first tool

We recommend starting with the tool you use most frequently. For most operators, that’s Slack, Asana/Notion, or Google Drive.

1. Click the integration you want
2. Click Connect (or Add)
3. You’ll be redirected to the tool’s OAuth page. Sign in and authorise Claude.
4. Return to Claude. The connector is now active.

What happens during OAuth: You’re signing in directly with your tool’s account. Claude receives a scoped access token. Your password is never shared. You can revoke access at any time from Settings → Connectors.

Step 3: Test the connection

Start a chat and try a simple read operation:

Slack: “Show me unread messages from #general from today.”

Asana: “What are my open tasks in Asana? Sort by due date.”

Notion: “Find the page titled ‘Q1 Planning’ in Notion.”

Google Drive: “Find the most recent file in my ‘Weekly Reports’ folder.”

If it works, you’re connected. If not, check that your OAuth permissions include read access for the relevant workspace or project.

Step 4: Try a write operation

Once reads work, try a write:

Slack: “Post to #team-updates: ‘Q1 close is on track. Finance review scheduled for Friday.’”

Asana: “Create a new task in my ‘Website Redesign’ project: ‘Review homepage copy — due Friday.’”

Notion: “Add a new row to my ‘Meeting Notes’ database with today’s date and the title ‘Budget review with Marcus.’”

Claude will typically ask for confirmation before posting or creating.

Step 5: Work across tools

Once multiple tools are connected, Claude can work across them in a single conversation:

Pull my open tasks from Asana, check which ones are overdue, and draft a status update for the team in Slack.

This is where connectors save the most time. You stop switching between apps to copy information from one into another.

MCP Apps: Interactive integrations

Some connectors support MCP Apps: interactive UI elements that render directly in Claude’s chat window. Instead of Claude describing what it did, you see buttons, forms, and cards you can interact with.

Current MCP Apps partners include Slack, Asana, Figma, Notion, and many others. See the connector directory for the full list.

With an MCP App connector, you might see an Asana task card in chat that you can mark complete without leaving the conversation.

Custom connectors (paid plans)

If a tool you use isn’t in the directory, you can add a custom MCP server URL:

1. Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
2. Enter the MCP server URL (provided by the tool. Check their docs for “MCP support” or “Claude integration”)
3. Authenticate

Custom connectors are increasingly common as SaaS products adopt the MCP standard. If your tool has an API and a developer community, check if someone has built an MCP server for it.

How operators actually use it

Scenario: Priya, Head of Ops

Priya runs operations for a 25-person ecommerce company with connectors set up for Gmail, Asana, and Slack. Every morning she asks Claude to check her email for anything urgent, review her Asana tasks for the day, and produce a prioritised briefing. The whole thing takes about 30 seconds to generate, replacing the 15 minutes she used to spend switching between apps to piece together the same picture manually. She found the Gmail connector occasionally misses emails in nested labels, but for the daily triage it covers what she needs.

What to watch out for

• Permissions are scoped. Claude can only do what your OAuth permissions allow. If you connected with read-only access, Claude can’t write. Re-authenticate with write permissions if needed.
• Not every tool has a connector yet. Check the directory before assuming connectivity. The list is growing but not exhaustive.
• Each connector requires separate authentication. There’s no “connect everything at once” option.
• Free plan limitations. Free users can access connectors from the Anthropic directory only. Custom MCP server URLs require a paid plan.
• Some tools have rate limits. If Claude is pulling large amounts of data, you may hit the tool’s API limits.

Automate with scheduled tasks

Once your connectors are set up, you can use the /schedule command in Cowork to run tasks on a recurring cadence: hourly, daily, weekly, weekdays only, or on demand.

Example: Morning triage brief. Tell Claude:

/schedule every weekday at 8am: Check my Gmail for anything urgent, pull my Asana tasks due this week, and post a summary to #daily-standup in Slack.

Claude runs the task automatically each morning. Scheduled tasks require your computer to be awake and Claude Desktop to be open. If the task is missed, it runs the next time the app opens.

Related

• Connectors (MCP). How the protocol works under the hood.
• Cowork. Scheduled tasks and autonomous workflows.
• Workplace Memory. Combine memory with connected tools for powerful workflows.
• Browser Automation. For tools that don’t have connectors, Chrome can interact with the web UI.
• Security & Privacy. How connector data is handled.

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