Giving Claude Access to Your Other Tools: Connectors
By now Claude can see everything in your project folder — that's been the whole game since the lesson where you first pointed it at one. But here's the thing: your real work isn't all in that folder, is it? Your calendar lives somewhere else. The planning doc is sitting in your Google Drive. The thread you need is buried in a Slack channel. So what happens when the thing you want Claude to work with isn't a file on your computer at all?
That gap is exactly what a connector closes.
What a connector is
A connector is a ready-made bridge between Claude and an app you already use — your Drive, your calendar, Slack, Notion, and plenty more. Someone has already built and maintained each one (Anthropic, or one of its partners), so there's nothing for you to assemble. No code. No server to set up. You pick the app from a list, sign in the ordinary way — the same login screen you'd see anywhere — and you're connected.
One quiet detail matters here, and it's reassuring. When you sign in, you're logging into that app, not handing Claude your password. Claude never sees it. You're simply granting permission — the same way you'd let one app talk to another.
What it actually unlocks
Once a tool is connected, Claude can reach right into it — pull things out, and even take action. "Summarize the planning doc in my Drive." "What's on my calendar Thursday?" "Draft a reply to the latest message in that channel." The information doesn't have to be copied into your folder anymore; Claude can meet it where it already lives.
Here's the part that feels a little like magic. You don't have to announce which connector to use each time. Ask about your calendar, and Claude knows to reach for the calendar. Ask about a document, and it heads for your Drive. It picks the right bridge on its own when your request fits — you just ask for the thing you actually want.
And it can combine them. "Compare the figures in this Drive doc against the notes in my project folder" — now Claude is working across a connected app and your local files at once. Remember how the folder was Claude's entire world? A connector widens that world to the tools your work genuinely lives in. And those focused helpers from last lesson can use connected tools too — you can send one off to go gather what it needs from a connected app, then report back.
Adding one is a click and a sign-in
The whole thing lives in that "+" menu you met on your very first tour. Here's the path, start to finish.
In the Claude Code app, click the "+" beside the prompt box and open Connectors. Any tools already switched on for this chat show up here; to add a new one, choose Add connectors.
That opens the connectors directory — a catalogue of apps you can connect. Browse the ones from Anthropic and its partners (these are the reviewed, trusted ones): Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, Notion, Google Calendar, and many more. Find one you actually use and click its +.
A familiar sign-in screen appears — that app's own, not Claude's. Log in, review what it's asking to access, and approve. You'll know it worked when you can ask Claude something about that app and it answers straight from your real data — no uploading, no copy-paste.
One handy thing to know: from that same "+" menu, you can switch a connector on or off for a single conversation — so a tool is only in play when you actually want it there.
A calm word on trust
Worth pausing on, because connecting a tool is a real grant of access — not a reason for nerves, just for a little care. Switching on a connector lets Claude reach that account's information. The good news is it's scoped: Claude can only get to what you could already see yourself, nothing more, and you can switch a connector off or disconnect it entirely whenever you like.
Two small habits keep this comfortable. Stick to the connectors from Anthropic and its partners — the reviewed ones in that directory — for anything you care about. And when the sign-in screen asks what to allow, grant just what the task needs, not the keys to everything. Same in-control feeling as the permission dial from earlier: access happens on your say-so, and you can take it back.
Beyond the ready-made ones
The directory covers a lot — but not quite everything. If you ever need to connect a service nobody has made a ready-made bridge for — including one of your own — you can point Claude at a custom connector. That's a more technical job, and it leans on an open standard called MCP (the quiet plumbing underneath every connector you just met). It earns its own lesson further down the road. For now, it's enough to know it exists — and that you almost certainly don't need it yet.
So your project isn't boxed into a single folder anymore. Claude can reach the calendar, the documents, the channels where your work already happens — all with a sign-in instead of a setup. Which leaves one direction we still haven't gone. Everything you've made so far has lived on your own computer, for your eyes only. Next, we take it the other way — out into the world, where other people can actually visit the thing you built. Let's get your project online.
Connect one tool you already use
You can skip this and still follow everything — it's here if you like learning by doing.
This one only works if you use one of these apps and are happy to sign in — so it's entirely optional. It's also the lesson's "whoa" moment, if you fancy it.
- Open the menu. Click "+" beside the prompt box → Connectors → Add connectors.
- Pick one you actually use. Something low-stakes is perfect — say Google Drive or Google Calendar from the Anthropic & Partners list. Click its +, sign in, and review what it asks for before you approve.
- Ask Claude to use it. Try one small thing:
What's on my calendar tomorrow?
Or, for Drive: "Find my most recent doc about [a topic you know is in there] and give me a three-line summary."
What you should see: Claude reaches into that app and answers from your real data — without you uploading a thing. When you're done, you can switch the connector off for a chat from that same "+" menu, or disconnect it entirely in settings.
Don't use these apps, or would rather not connect an account? Skip it with a clear conscience — you've already got the idea.