Claude connectors: what they can do, and how to check yours

What a connector is, and where it works

A connector links Claude to an outside app or service, such as your calendar, your documents or your issue tracker (Claude docs). Claude can then find information there and take actions for you.

Most connectors are remote. You sign in to a cloud app, and the connector works in Claude on the web, desktop and mobile. A local connector is a desktop extension that runs on your computer, for things like local files or a database on your machine, and it only works in Claude Desktop and Claude Code (when to use each).

What Gmail, Calendar, Outlook and HubSpot can do

In my workshops I connect Claude to the tools the client already uses, on their own account. For an inbox, a calendar and a CRM, this is what the makers say each connector can do today.

Anthropic documents the Gmail and Google Calendar connectors, on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. Anthropic's Gmail page says Claude can search and read your email and can't create, send or modify messages (Gmail docs). Its Calendar page says read-only too (Calendar docs). Its Google Workspace help article says Claude can send, reply to and forward email and manage your calendar, asking for your approval first by default (Google Workspace article). The email assistant guide goes further into sending.

When the maker's own pages disagree, go by the tools listed under Tool permissions on your connector's page in Claude.

Microsoft 365 covers Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive, on every Claude plan (Microsoft 365 docs). Claude reads and searches with the access your own account already has. Sending mail and creating or changing calendar events only work after your administrators turn write actions on. You need a work or school account on a Microsoft Entra tenant, and a Microsoft Entra Global Administrator has to grant consent for your organization before anyone can connect, on every plan. A personal outlook.com address won't connect. If you work inside a client's Microsoft 365, that consent is their Microsoft admin's call.

HubSpot documents its own connector, and it needs a paid Claude plan. It can read, create and update CRM records such as contacts and deals. It can't delete them. Every change shows in HubSpot's audit log under both you and the connector. You can connect one HubSpot account at a time to a Claude account. HubSpot recommends setting its write tools to Needs approval (HubSpot guide). Take that advice.

Add one

Open Customize, then Connectors. Select Discover and search for the app. Select Connect to Claude, sign in to the app, review the access it asks for and approve it. It then shows under Your connectors as Connected (Claude docs).

On a Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner adds the connector for the organization first, and each member then connects with their own account (Claude docs). If it is in your list but can't find your records, check that your own sign-in finished.

Run the read test before client work

Make a harmless test record first. An internal meeting note or a test contact with a clear title works. Keep client files and private email out of it.

Write down which account owns that record. If you work across several client accounts, pick one and leave the rest out of this test.

Start a chat, select + and then Connectors, and check the toggle is on. The toggle works per conversation (Claude docs). Ask Claude to find the record by its exact title, quote a short passage and say where it came from.

Then open the record yourself. Check the account, the record and the quoted words against what Claude gave you. If anything is off, stop, write down what you saw, and change one thing before you test again.

Set what each tool may do

Each connector has its own page under Customize > Connectors. Under Tool permissions you can set each tool to Always allow, Needs approval or Blocked (Claude docs).

Anthropic's advice is to choose Always allow only for a tool you trust to run unsupervised (custom connector guide). For anything that sends, changes or deletes, keep Needs approval until you have tested it on a record you made for testing. With HubSpot, Claude can show the proposed change and wait for your yes or no (HubSpot guide).

A custom connector on a Team or Enterprise plan can carry one shared API key, and then everyone who uses it reaches the app with that key's access (custom connector guide). Ask whoever set it up whether people sign in as themselves or share a key, and settle that before any client record is involved.

Keep this checklist beside the workflow

Copy this into your notes and fill it in as you test. Keep the failed checks in it too.

CONNECTOR CHECK
Date checked:
App and connector name:
Account owner:
Account or workspace tested:
Connection type: remote / local
Test record title:
Source link:

READ TEST
What I asked Claude to find:
What it returned:
Did the record and account match?

PERMISSIONS
Tools set to Always allow:
Tools set to Needs approval:
Tools set to Blocked:
Sign-in: individual / shared key

ACTION TEST
Action this workflow needs:
Proposed test change:
Approved by:
What changed in the app:

OPEN
Client accounts outside this test:
Open problems:
Recheck after access or tool changes:

Custom connectors and your IT person

If an app is not in the directory, you can add it by its server URL as a custom connector. Free plans get one custom connector (custom connector guide).

Claude reaches that server from Anthropic's cloud, and that holds in the desktop app too. Servers on a private company network, behind a VPN or blocked by a firewall won't connect, even if they open fine on your own machine. Anthropic's fix is to allowlist its IP addresses in that firewall (custom connector guide).

Whoever runs the server makes that call. Send them Anthropic's guide.

What this check won't do

It checks access on one account, on the day you run it. It doesn't make a workflow compliant, set how long data is kept, or give you a client's permission to use their data.

It also goes stale. Anthropic warns that server developers can change how their tools behave (custom connector guide), and if Claude loses access the connector shows Reconnect (Claude docs). Run the read test again after either.

And it won't pick the first job. Give one connection one job, like an email assistant that drafts in your voice, and keep the checklist next to the Claude skill that holds its instructions.

For a site that has no connector, the Claude for Chrome guide covers working in the browser instead, and how to start carefully.

Questions