How to Connect Claude to Your Apps with MCP

To connect Claude to your apps with MCP, open claude.ai (or Claude Desktop or the mobile app), click the '+' button in the lower-left corner of the chat input, select Connectors from the menu, browse the directory, pick a service like Slack or GitHub, and complete the OAuth authentication flow. Once a connector is enabled, Claude can independently call that service's tools to retrieve information, take actions, or render interactive interfaces — without you needing to copy-paste data or leave the conversation.

What Is the MCP Connectors Directory?

The MCP Connectors Directory is a centralized catalog of integrations built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard created by Anthropic for connecting AI applications to external tools and data sources. You can browse it to discover, review, and enable connectors that give Claude access to third-party services such as Slack, GitHub, Google Drive, Notion, Stripe, and more.

Each listing describes what the connector does, what read and write capabilities it exposes, and which plans can use it. The result is that Claude becomes an active collaborator that can execute multi-step workflows across connected systems on your behalf — all from within a single conversation.

Which Plans Get Access to MCP Connectors?

The full catalog of remote connectors is available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. Free users can access at least the Microsoft 365 connector and are limited to one custom connector. Team and Enterprise plans add organizational governance controls, including role-based restrictions on which connectors and individual tools are available to different members.

How Do You Connect Claude to an App Step by Step?

1. Open the platform. Go to claude.ai, or launch Claude Desktop or the Claude mobile app.
2. Open the Connectors menu. Click the '+' button in the lower-left corner of the chat input, or type '/' to open the command menu.
3. Select 'Connectors'. This opens the directory and shows any connectors you've already configured.
4. Browse and choose. Find the service you want — for example, Google Drive or GitHub — review its listed capabilities, and click 'Connect'.
5. Authenticate. Complete the OAuth flow for that service: sign in and grant the requested permissions.
6. Enable for the conversation. Use the toggle next to each connector to turn it on or off for the current conversation. Disabling a connector in one chat does not affect other chats or disconnect the integration entirely.
7. Manage tool loading (optional). If you have many connectors active, hover over 'Connectors' in the '+' menu, then 'Tool access', and switch from 'Auto' to 'On demand' so tools are only loaded when Claude determines it needs them.

What Can You Actually Do Once Claude Is Connected?

Here are concrete examples drawn from real connector use cases:

• File and document retrieval: Ask Claude to find a specific budget report in Google Drive. Claude searches, locates, and summarizes the document in-line — no manual upload needed.
• Cross-tool project management: Ask Claude to read a JIRA ticket, implement the described feature, and open a pull request on GitHub — all in one prompt, chaining calls across both connectors.
• Team communication automation: Ask Claude to collect action items from a Slack channel over the past week and create a GitHub issue for each one. Claude reads Slack messages and writes GitHub issues automatically.
• Interactive data visualization: Ask Claude to display revenue trends from Stripe with a filterable region breakdown. An interactive connector can render a live dashboard with charts and dropdowns directly in the chat canvas.
• Monitoring and observability: Ask Claude to check Sentry for errors and Statsig for feature flag usage related to a recently shipped feature. Claude queries both services and returns a consolidated report.

How Do You Add a Custom Connector (Your Own MCP Server)?

If the service you need isn't in the directory, you can connect Claude to any publicly accessible MCP server you host yourself. The process differs slightly by plan:

On Pro or Max

1. Go to Customize > Connectors and click '+'.
2. Enter a name and the remote MCP server URL.
3. Optionally add OAuth credentials.
4. Click 'Add'.

On Team or Enterprise

1. An Owner or Primary Owner navigates to Organization Settings > Connectors and clicks 'Add'.
2. Enter the remote MCP server URL and optional OAuth credentials.
3. Each individual user then goes to their own Connectors settings and clicks 'Connect' to authenticate with their personal credentials. Org-level enablement does not auto-connect individual accounts.

For full setup details, see the official guide on getting started with custom connectors using remote MCP. Note that remote MCP servers must be publicly accessible over the internet — servers behind a corporate firewall require either a public endpoint or allowlisted IP ranges.

When Should You Use Directory Connectors vs. Other Options?

What Are the Most Common Pitfalls — and How Do You Fix Them?

Performance slows with many active connectors

When many connectors are enabled simultaneously, all their tools load into the context window by default (Auto mode), consuming available space. Switch to 'On demand' mode via the '+' menu > Connectors > Tool access so tools are only loaded when Claude determines it needs them.

Authentication fails on a previously working connector

OAuth access tokens expire. Re-authenticate by going to Customize > Connectors, finding the affected connector, clicking the gear icon, selecting 'Reconnect', and completing the OAuth flow again to obtain a fresh token.

Claude can access more data than you intended

Claude inherits the OAuth permissions you grant during connection. During the OAuth flow, review the requested scopes carefully and grant only what is needed — for example, read-only for search tasks. You can also disable specific write-action tools from the connector's tool list in settings. Enterprise deployments can use role-based tool restrictions to enforce least-privilege access.

Team or Enterprise members can't see org-enabled connectors

An Owner or Primary Owner must first add the connector at the organizational level in Organization Settings > Connectors. After that, individual members must go to their own Connectors settings and click 'Connect' to authenticate with their personal credentials. Org-level enablement does not auto-connect individual accounts.

Free plan blocks a second custom connector

Free users are limited to one custom connector. To add more, upgrade to a Pro or Max plan. Most directory connectors (other than Microsoft 365) also require a paid plan.

Is Setting Up MCP Connectors Worth the Effort?

For anyone who regularly switches between Claude and other tools — pulling data from Google Drive, tracking work in GitHub, or monitoring Slack — the answer is yes. The directory connectors require no server setup and authenticate via standard OAuth, so the initial effort is minimal. The payoff is that Claude can execute multi-step workflows across connected systems on your behalf, turning what would be a series of manual copy-paste steps into a single conversational prompt.

For teams on Enterprise plans, the governance layer adds meaningful control: administrators can restrict which connectors and which individual tools within a connector are available to each custom role, so you can give engineering leads write access to Jira while keeping most employees read-only — and Claude will respect those policy boundaries and inform users when a requested action is blocked.

For a full overview of available connectors and their capabilities, see the MCP connectors reference on the Claude support site.