Free guide

How do you connect an app to Claude?

Everything happens on one screen. Three steps if your tool is in the directory, two more if it isn't.

01
Where the Connectors screen lives, and how to search 2,300+ listings by name.
02
The two extra steps when your tool isn't listed: where the MCP server URL goes, and why localhost fails.
03
What a connector can actually see, and what the directory label does and doesn't tell you.
7 pages · PDF
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What the setup takes

Three steps. Five if it isn't listed.

Verified against Anthropic's own documentation and the live dashboard.

3
steps to connect
Discover · Connect · Toggle on
2
extra steps if unlisted
Custom connector, via the tool's MCP server URL
2,300+
listings in the directory
Searchable by name from Discover

Verified September 2026. Set it up on web or desktop — installing connectors on mobile is still in beta.

What's inside

Three pages. No filler.

01
The three-step setup

Where the Connectors screen lives, how to read the Tools section before you connect, and why connected is not the same as active.

02
When your tool isn't listed

Where the remote MCP server URL goes, why anything on localhost or behind your firewall fails, and the one-custom-connector limit on free plans.

03
What it can actually see

A connector inherits your own permissions, so it never sees more than you do. The directory label describes how much review a listing got, not how much access it gets.

I checked it against the source.

Every line came from Anthropic's own documentation or the live dashboard, not from a blog post. Verified September 2026.

Julio Cornavaca · cornavaca.com