Connectors

What it is

Connectors are Claude’s plug-ins to the rest of your digital life. Turn one on and Claude can read your email, check your calendar, query your Notion workspace, run SQL against your Supabase database, deploy to Vercel — whichever one you connected. Under the hood they’re MCP servers (Model Context Protocol), but you don’t need to know that to use them.

There are two kinds:

Remote connectors run in Anthropic’s cloud. They work on web, desktop, and mobile. Most of the built-in connectors (Gmail, Calendar, Notion) are remote.
Desktop extensions run locally on your Mac. They’re useful when a tool needs access to your filesystem, a local database, or a service only reachable from your computer. Desktop-only.

Where to find it

On desktop

Customize → Connectors is the canonical manager.
The + menu in any composer exposes per-connector toggles, Manage connectors, Add connector, and Tool access (subtitle: “Load tools when needed”).
Old location: Settings → Connectors still loads but shows a “Connectors have moved to Customize” banner.

On the web

claude.ai/customize/connectors — the manager.
Also claude.ai/settings/connectors (parallels desktop’s old path).
Per-chat toggles from the + menu in the composer.

How to use it

Add a remote connector

Customize → Connectors → Add connector → pick from the directory.
Authorise via OAuth (most of the time) or paste an API key (for services that need one).
The connector appears in your list with an on/off toggle and a detail view.

Add a desktop extension (desktop only)

Customize → Connectors → Add connector → Desktop extensions tab.
Browse the catalog or drop in a local MCP server package.
Configure any required settings (filesystem paths, credentials).
The extension appears under Desktop in the connectors list.

Add a custom remote MCP

Customize → Connectors → Add connector → + Add custom.
Paste the server’s URL and name.
Authenticate if required.
The custom connector joins your list and works the same as built-in ones.

Enable a connector for a single chat

You don’t have to enable a connector globally. Open the + menu in any composer → Connectors › → toggle the ones you want for this conversation. Great when you want Claude to just use Gmail for one chat and not everything at once.

Control what tools a connector can use

Each connector exposes multiple tools (Gmail has search_threads, create_draft, list_labels, etc.). Click a connector in Customize to see all its tools and toggle them individually. And the composer’s + → Connectors → Tool access sets the default: “Load tools when needed” means Claude only pulls in tools it actually plans to use — saves context window, makes Claude faster.

Good to know

The Customize → Connectors grid groups everything into Web, Desktop, and Not connected. Best way to tell at a glance which tools you have available on each platform.
Per-chat toggles override the global state for that chat — the global state is the default, but a specific conversation can turn one on or off.
Desktop extensions can do things remote connectors can’t — touch your filesystem, call locally-running services. Worth knowing if you’re choosing between the two.
Custom MCPs are a superpower. Anyone can write a remote MCP server; once written, any Claude user can connect to it. The Add custom flow is how you point Claude at one.
Plan availability. Custom connectors are Team and Enterprise only today. Built-in connectors are on all paid plans.

What’s changed recently

2026-04-18 — Page verified against desktop build 1.3109.0. Settings → Connectors now superseded by Customize → Connectors on desktop; old page shows a moved-to banner.