Connecting Claude to your apps — home page with five-section tour menu
Visual primer
Connecting Claude to your apps.
MCP — Model Context Protocol — is a connector between Claude and the apps you use. Set it up once and Claude can read, write, and act in those apps directly.
Page 1 of 5 — MCP vs APIs
01The contrast
MCP vs APIs
APIs — Application Program Interfaces — are how apps send and receive data, but each is a single, limited capability. Gmail has separate APIs for send, read, draft, and search. MCP packages them into a menu Claude reads.
For example · here’s what the data looks like, via API vs MCP
VIA API
Raw codes
APIs hand back IDs, channel codes, and unix timestamps. The reader has to know how to decode them.
{ "user": "U02ABCD12",
"text": "deploy ready",
"ts": "1729384092" }
VIA MCP
Names and friendly times
MCP translates the codes into something Claude can read directly — names instead of IDs, friendly times instead of timestamps.
from: Sam Park when: 2 min ago text: "deploy ready"
Page 2 of 5 — Talk to your apps in plain language
02The capability
Talk to your apps in plain language
MCP lets you interact with your apps in plain language. Ask “how many engineers in San Francisco?” instead of writing SELECT COUNT(*) FROM employees WHERE office='SF' AND dept='engineering'. Claude handles the syntax for you.
Database without SQL
Ask “how many engineers in San Francisco?” Claude reads the database’s menu, picks the right query, returns the number. You don’t write SQL or look up field names yourself — Claude handles that part.
Reads the menu, decides
Under the hood, Claude doesn’t guess at API names or invent parameters. It scans the menu MCP hands it, picks the right tool, fills in the inputs from your ask, and runs it. The plan adapts as results come back.
Page 3 of 5 — Three ways to connect
03Plugging in
Three ways to connect
To connect an app to Claude, you have three options — which you pick depends on what already exists for that app. Popular apps have a ready-made Claude connector. For the rest, you can have Claude build a quick MCP, or fall back to driving the browser.
Page 4 of 5 — How you'll use it
04In practice
Vibe coding, or Claude for Work
The pattern is the same every time: you describe what you want in plain language, and Claude calls the right tools across your connected apps to do it. Below are some real examples and the apps each one touches.
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“What did I miss overnight?”Email Slack Calendar
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“How many engineers in San Francisco?”HR database
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“Set up the env with my keys and run the tests.”GitHub Terminal
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“Prep me for the 2pm with Acme.”CRM Email Drive
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“Recap this week and post it to the team.”Calendar Notes Slack
You stay in control
Anything destructive — sending an email, deleting a file, pushing a commit — Claude pauses to confirm before acting. Nothing leaves your hands without your sign-off.
The first ask is always rough
Your first phrasing won’t be perfect. That’s fine — Claude asks follow-up questions when the ask is ambiguous, and you can refine as you go. The point isn’t a perfect prompt; it’s the work getting done.
Page 5 of 5 — Try it with a routine
05Next step · try it out
Try it with a routine
Once Claude is connected to a few of your apps, the easiest way to see MCP in action is to set up a routine — a workflow Claude runs on a schedule. Pick one of the three below as a starting point, or copy the shape and write your own.
8:00 AM
FRI 5:00 PM
9:50 AM
Good candidates for a routine
Anything you’d ask Claude in roughly the same shape every day or every week. Once it’s set up, the result arrives in your inbox or channel on schedule — you don’t have to remember to ask.
Why a routine is a good first try
It exercises the whole stack — connectors, tool selection, multi-app coordination — in a way that surfaces every day. You see whether MCP is doing what you hoped.