By Dan Donovan, @askdandonovan
MCP is what lets Claude actually touch your tools: your email, your calendar, your files. These are the five connections I use daily, and they all set up in minutes.
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. Right now, Claude can think and write, but it can't touch anything outside your chat. Not your email, not your calendar, not your files. You've been copy-pasting everything in and out. MCP is what removes that wall. Each connection below lets Claude work with a tool you already use.
Same four clicks for each one
Search across every file and folder in your Drive
This is the one from the video. Instead of opening Drive, remembering which folder something is in, and clicking through five levels, just ask Claude. It searches your entire Drive and pulls the files you need.
Prompts to try:
Read, search, and draft emails without leaving Claude
Open your inbox at 9am and there are 47 unread emails. Instead of triaging them one by one, ask Claude to do it. It reads your inbox, tells you what matters, and drafts replies for the ones that need a response.
Prompts to try:
Check your schedule and coordinate without switching tabs
No more opening your calendar in another tab just to check what's on Thursday. Claude sees your schedule and can help you plan around it.
Prompts to try:
Catch up on conversations without scrolling through channels
You step away for two hours and come back to 200 messages across six channels. Instead of reading all of them, ask Claude. It reads your Slack and gives you the short version.
Prompts to try:
Search and update your workspace without opening Notion
If your SOPs, meeting notes, project plans, or databases live in Notion, Claude can search across all of it. No more hunting through nested pages trying to remember where you wrote something down.
Prompts to try:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code first. This guide assumes you can type claude in your terminal.
Pick whichever is easier for you
Option A: Already set them up on claude.ai?
If you added these connectors on the Desktop / Browser tab, you're already done. Any MCP you add at claude.ai/settings/connectors is automatically available in Claude Code when you're logged into the same account. Nothing extra to do.
Option B: Add them from the terminal.
Claude Code has a built-in claude mcp add command. No config files to edit. Just run the command and you're connected.
claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url>claude mcp list: see what's connectedclaude mcp remove <name>: remove a connectionclaude mcp add-from-claude-desktop: import servers you already set up in Desktop
Search across every file and folder in your Drive
This is the one from the video. Ask Claude to find anything (proposals, invoices, meeting notes) across your entire Drive.
claude mcp add --transport http google-drive https://mcp.google.com/driveClaude will open your browser to authorise your Google account. Approve it and you're connected.
Try: "Find everything related to Acme Corp across my Drive."
Read, search, and draft emails from the terminal
47 unread emails at 9am. Instead of triaging one by one, ask Claude to scan your inbox, tell you what matters, and draft replies.
claude mcp add --transport http gmail https://mcp.google.com/gmailTry: "Show me any emails from the last 24 hours that actually need a reply."
Check your schedule without switching windows
No more opening another tab to check what's on Thursday. Claude sees your schedule and helps you plan around it.
claude mcp add --transport http google-calendar https://mcp.google.com/calendarTry: "What does my week look like? Flag any days that are overbooked."
Catch up on conversations from the terminal
200 messages across six channels. Ask Claude for the short version.
claude mcp add --transport http slack https://mcp.slack.com/sseClaude will open your browser to authorise your Slack workspace.
Try: "Catch me up on what happened in #general today."
Search your workspace from the terminal
SOPs, meeting notes, project databases: Claude searches across all of it.
claude mcp add --transport http notion https://mcp.notion.com/mcpClaude will open your browser to authorise your Notion workspace. Once connected, it can search across all pages and databases you've shared with the integration.
Try: "Find my notes from the last team offsite."
Once you've connected a few, try these. They use multiple connections at once. This is where it stops feeling like a chatbot.
Most people are still typing questions into a chat window and pasting things back and forth. The ones connecting Claude to their actual tools (Drive, Gmail, Slack, their calendar) are already working differently. Five connections. Ten minutes. That's the whole difference.