# Claude Connectors Made MCP Even Easier ## Metadata - **Published:** 8/5/2025 - **Duration:** 10 minutes - **YouTube URL:** https://youtube.com/watch?v=mYyL4jINrek - **Channel:** nerding.io ## Description Join the Community: https://nas.io/vibe-coding-retreat Want hands on training from me checkout https://www.vibecodingretreat.com/ for in person or online jam sessions. In this video, discover how Claude’s new Custom Connectors dramatically simplify connecting to any MCP server—without writing a single line of client code. Whether you're using Claude Desktop, Web, Code, or API, adding remote MCP servers is now a breeze. - Learn how to access Claude’s Connectors directory to browse and install - MCP-powered tools like Notion, Slack, Asana, PayPal, and more. - Your Second Mind for a Smarter Future Setup and connect to remote MCP servers—using OAuth or API keys—and see how Claude seamlessly discovers and uses tools. Understand scope configurations (user/project/local) via .mcp.json for flexible team integration. Walk through enabling/removing connectors in Claude’s settings pane and authorizing access flows. 00:00 Introduction 01:54 Built-in Connectors 05:52 Custom MCP Connector ## Key Highlights ### 1. Claude Connectors: Bridging MCPs and Claude Claude Connectors allow integration with external applications and web services, overcoming limitations of direct URL configuration within Claude MCP settings. ### 2. Custom Connectors: Extending Claude's Capabilities Users can add custom connectors for personal MCPs, enabling interaction with private services and data sources previously inaccessible. Supports custom authentication too. ### 3. Resources and Prompts via Connectors Connectors unlock the ability to incorporate resources (files, images, audio) and prompts directly from a custom MCP server, enriching Claude's context and enabling complex interactions. ### 4. Simplified MCP Integration: No More JSON Editing Connectors provide a user-friendly way to integrate custom MCPs without requiring users to directly edit JSON configurations, making MCP development more accessible. ## Summary Here's a structured summary document for the provided video: **Document Title: Claude Connectors Simplify MCP Integration: A Summary** **1. Executive Summary:** This video explains how Claude's new Custom Connectors feature simplifies the integration of custom MCP (My Custom Processor) servers into Claude (Desktop, Web, Code, or API) without requiring coding or direct JSON configuration. By leveraging connectors, users can easily access and utilize MCP-powered tools, resources, and prompts, greatly extending Claude's capabilities and making MCP development more accessible. **2. Main Topics Covered:** * **Introduction to Claude Connectors:** What they are and their purpose in extending Claude's capabilities. * **Built-in Connectors:** Overview of existing connectors like Google Drive, Gmail, and new additions like Stripe and Chrome. * **Custom MCP Connectors:** Demonstration of how to create and use custom connectors for personal MCP servers. * **Resource and Prompt Integration:** Highlighting the ability to integrate resources (files, images, audio) and prompts directly from a custom MCP server. * **Simplified MCP Integration:** Explaining how connectors eliminate the need for manual JSON configuration. * **Practical Examples:** Setting up a connection to a custom GitHub search tool and demonstrating how to retrieve data from a webpage using Chrome connector. * **Configuration Scopes:** Mention of scope configurations (user/project/local) via .mcp.json. * **Enabling/Removing connectors:** Review enabling/removing connectors in Claude’s settings pane and authorizing access flows. **3. Key Takeaways:** * **Simplified MCP Integration:** Claude Connectors offer a user-friendly alternative to editing JSON configurations for integrating custom MCPs. * **Extended Functionality:** Connectors unlock the ability to incorporate resources (files, images, audio) and prompts directly from a custom MCP server, enriching Claude's context and enabling complex interactions. * **Custom Authentication:** Connectors support custom authentication methods (OAuth, API keys) for secure access to MCP servers. * **Accessibility:** Connectors make MCP development and usage more accessible to a wider audience, including those without technical expertise in JSON configuration. * **HTTP MCP:** Use of HTTP MCP allows information to be pulled back into context. **4. Notable Quotes or Examples:** * "When I come in here and I save this URL, this piece, it's actually going to error." - Illustrates the problem that connectors solve. * "Now I can actually hit this URL because it's just going out and hitting the URL." - Demonstrates the core functionality of the custom connector. * "The only thing that's missing from here is that I also made resource templates, which allows you to make dynamic uh calling of resources." - Explains future MCP use cases. * Example of using Chrome connector to scrape data from a webpage (vibe coding retreat website). * Example of using a custom GP tool to search GitHub. * Example of pulling documentation for an MCP in order to create documentation context. **5. Target Audience:** * Developers building custom MCPs. * Users of Claude who want to extend its functionality. * Individuals interested in simplifying the integration of external applications and web services with Claude. * Anyone seeking a no-code/low-code solution for connecting Claude to custom data sources. * Individuals who would otherwise have to hand-edit JSON files for MCP configuration. ## Full Transcript Hey everyone, welcome to Nerding.io. I'm JD and today what we're going to go through is claude connectors. So we're gonna actually look at how you can leverage this new feature to launch desktop applications, pull in like different third parties like Stripe or Google and then also how you can actually build your own MCP to connect to a cloud connector. With that, let's go ahead and get started. All right. So, we're going to take a look at clawed connectors. And what this is is a basically another way to leverage MCPs or connect to different uh applications um or web services. And so what I found super interesting about this is when I was going through this GP uh video that I did a few weeks ago, I can't use this URL in the Claude uh MCP configuration. And so what I mean by that is if we go over to Claude and we get to our settings and we take a look at our developer and I try and edit this config. When I come in here and I save this URL, this piece, it's actually going to error. So if I go ahead and restart that, we'll see this is breaking. Uh it's not allowed to do the GP commands. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to remove this and I'm going to show you how you can actually use it and why this is so important. So, when we come in here, let's just restart. When we come in here and go to claude, basically we can do our settings again. And now we have this thing called connectors. So, we can see our local MCPS. we can see some other tools that we we've kind of already always seen, right? We've always been able to connect to Google Drive and to our Gmail and Google Calendar. But what's new is we can have the ability to browse connectors and then add a custom connector. So if we brow like uh look at the connectors that are available, we have things like stripe um and then also we have things like Chrome. So now we can actually have Claude go out and actually hit Chrome. So what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at that and then we're also going to add our own connectors. So if I want to add the one that I just had. So like grab. Now I can actually hit this URL because it's just going out and hitting the URL. So now I actually have a custom GP tool configured which is the one that I had last time or I did in my other video. And let's go ahead and uh test out Chrome. So if I say use Chrome, it'll actually launch this uh application directly from the browser. So now we can just go ahead and connect it. It's pulling that. We can come back to Claude. Now, it's going to go and look and get the content from that page. We're keep saying allow, and it's going to pull information back and then tell me what the vibe coding retreat is. Oh, well, it's supposed to, but it it looks like it got stuck. So, what it should do is actually pull this information back just like Puppeteer does uh in order to get things working. Cool. So, when it went out and searched, it actually pulled back the information and was able to do the analysis. Real quick, if you haven't already, please remember to like and subscribe. It helps more than you know. Also, please check out Vive Coding Retreat. It's where I do additional training. With that, let's get back to it. Now, what I want to do is I actually want to go back and I want to look at the GP uh service. So if I go to settings and I still have my connector, I can actually go into a new chat and I can say use can actually look at the tools too. So right now we know we have this GP search GitHub. So we'll just say use GP. Uh and we can turn all these off and on, right? Like if we want uh which is nice. So like if we want to come in here and disable Chrome, now we have less tools that we have to be concerned about. So if I say GP use GP tool, it should pull back information and it should actually use the GP MCP tool. Cool. So now it's actually going out and it's using that tool that we want and it'll actually go search grip GitHub and try and get more information about the uh MCP TypeScript SDK. But what's even cooler about all of this is that now that I'm able to have HTTP MCP uh like information being pulled back into context. I'm just going to let this run. I can actually build my own MCPS and actually display that information back into Claude the same way. So I don't have to go through the hassle of telling people, hey, uh, go into the Claude settings and do the developer and then go edit your config and expect them to understand JSON. a lot of people um don't have the need to understand that technical knowledge. So to to bridge that barrier now you can actually take your custom MCPs and add them as a custom connector. So we're going to do the same thing. I'm going to take an MCP server that I built in the MCP series that I have which is this SSE example. I've already gone through and like built out an MCP uh endpoint and so I deployed all that to render. You can use any kind of deployment, but this is the one that I use. So I can just grab this MCP example and I can put this back into cloud code. And so all I'm going to do is come in here to settings. Go to connectors, go down to add custom. I'm going to say MCP example. I'm going to paste that in. I also need the slashmcp. I need this endpoint because this is specifically uh how I can hit this endpoint here. I can also do advanced settings. So if I need to set up custom authentication, so if I want to set login with Twitter, login with Google, log in with my own uh OOTH or something related to Superbase, I can do that. But this is the most important part is the fact that I can now just hit an HTTP with that connector. Now you can see it's already here. I can configure it. It's pulling in my tools. But check this out. I also went ahead and I made resources. So, I've made prompts and resources. The only thing that's missing from here is that I also made resource templates, which allows you to make dynamic uh calling of resources. But what's cool is I can pull in all my documentation for this MCP if I want to. I just use a uh LLM full text for that. or gonna have prompts that go along with this MCP. So, I can chain these things together. And what's super cool about all of that for me is that I've been waiting a long time for to be able to use resources and prompts because I think MCP goes way farther than just tools. And what you can do is you can come in here and just like you would normally do with your tools when you're doing the uh add a like image or resource you can now add files. So these files are actually coming from my server. I can do text, I can do image, I can do audio. any one of these can come through and I can have it process through cloud code or through cloud been using a lot of cloud code. Um and so now what I could do is I could ask about the documentation from here. I can also add a prompt if I want. And so I could say search documentation topic being uh I don't know website information and we'll just say info and it'll add the prompt. And so now I can see what I expect that prompt to show me. It's going to look for additional resources. It's going to find information in our documentation. It probably won't find these resources because they're dynamic. But the fact is is I'm now able to chain all of my clawed information from text, which is my documentation here to even prompts into my context window. And let's just ask a question about I75 corridor. And so now as it's going through, it's again given all the documentation that it needs in order for me to have this context. So, a great way to think about this is you can actually have MCP servers for yourself that would pull in your notes, that would pull in your documentation that would allow you to access maybe different types of uh tweets or whatever. Your personas could live inside of an MCP file or on on an MCP and you can actually pull that directly into your cloud. All right, that's it for us today. What we went through was claude connectors, how you can leverage different desktop environment applications as well as do use things like Google Drive as well as build your own MCP server with a cloud connector so that you can actually hit that route and pull in all the information including resources and prompts. With that, happy nerding. --- *Generated for LLM consumption from nerding.io video library*