My dad's a developer. When I was in college, curious about his work, I—a creative writing major with no coding experience—enrolled in a computer science class. My first homework assignment was to write code that drew a spider onscreen. Six hours and many espresso shots later, I was crying, I'd produced exactly zero spiders, and I'd somehow added a new dimension to my arachnophobia.
To put it another way, I'm no dev—and I sure do appreciate solutions that make technical work easier. So when I heard that Anthropic released support for Zapier MCP on Claude.ai, I did a little happy dance. This update lets anyone—regardless of technical skill—perform actions across their favorite apps from Claude's intuitive chat interface.
Zapier MCP is currently available in beta and free to use.
Jump ahead
If you're a developer, learn more about building AI tools with Zapier MCP. Looking for another non-technical AI agent? With Zapier Agents, you can build complete automated workflows with triggers and multiple action steps—zero coding experience required.
What is Zapier MCP?
In 2024, Anthropic released the Model Context Protocol (MCP)—a standardized way to connect AI tools to apps, so you can perform actions directly inside your AI tool.
Developers already had the ability to do this, but it wasn't easy. They had to build custom integrations for every app they wanted AI to interact with, a technical hassle that presented security concerns.
At Zapier, we've built thousands of secure app connections and more than 30,000 actions. Zapier MCP leverages that extensive library, giving you immediate access to a server pre-built with all those connections.
When you equip Claude with Zapier MCP, you're transforming Claude from a helpful chat companion into a productivity beast that can take real action on your behalf. Ask Claude to send a Slack message and draft an email in Outlook, and it doesn't just suggest text—it actually sends the message to your colleague and generates the draft in your inbox. The barrier between conversation and action disappears.
What you can do with Zapier MCP and Claude
Equipping Claude with the Zapier MCP will elevate this AI tool to the top of your productivity stack. After you connect your favorite apps and add the actions you want (instructions below), all you have to do is prompt Claude. Try it for:
Sales account lookup
You need to prepare for an upcoming sales call.
How you might prompt Claude: "I have a meeting with XYZ prospect today. What's been going on with the account?"
The result: Claude pulls the latest customer interactions from your CRM, doing most of the legwork for your upcoming conversation.
Project management
You need help tracking work in your project management tool.
How you might prompt Claude: "Mark my revenue forecasting task as 'In Review' and assign the CRM data cleanup task to Beatriz."
The result: With one natural language request, Claude keeps your project tracking tool up to date, whether you use Jira, Asana, Monday, or another tool.
Morning briefings
You want to replace your frantic morning scramble with a smoother routine.
How you might prompt Claude: "Check my calendar for today's events, summarize the notes from yesterday's team meeting, and DM me a complete briefing in Slack."
The result: In a single command, Claude sends you a message that communicates everything you need to know to feel ready for the workday ahead.
Spreadsheet management
You want to spend less time doing tedious work in your sheets.
How you might prompt Claude: "Update the Q4 spreadsheet with the attached sales numbers."
The result: Claude reviews the file you added to your conversation and updates the sheet for you effortlessly.
Email assistance
You want to speed up writing and sending emails.
How you might prompt Claude: "Draft an email to the marketing team about the webinar results. Highlight that attendance exceeded our goal by 14% in a celebratory tone, and include a request for topic ideas for next month's webinar."
The result: Claude will create a draft in your actual email inbox, ready for you to review and send. You can also tell Claude to send the email directly.
How to get started with Zapier MCP and Claude
1. Log in to Zapier and head to the Zapier MCP dashboard.
2. Click + New MCP Server and choose Claude as the MCP client. You can give your server a name or just go with the default suggestion. Then click Create MCP Server.
3. Setting up your first action is easy—just click + Add tool. In the text field, type the name of an app, and from the list of available actions, pick the action you want to perform in Claude.
4. Now connect your app account. You'll be taken to a new screen asking if you authorize Zapier to access your account. Click Allow, then Save.
5. Fill out any mandatory or optional fields that appear based on your selected action. You can even let AI assign a value for certain fields. When you're finished, click Save. Repeat this process for as many actions as you'd like.
6. After you've added all your desired actions, click the Connect tab at the top of the Zapier MCP dashboard.
7. Click Copy URL to snag the integration URL for the MCP server. (You'll use this URL in a few steps.)
8. Now, open Claude.ai in your browser and log in.
9. Click your initials in the bottom-left corner of the screen and select Settings.
10. Under Integrations, click Add more.
11. In the pop-up, name your server (I recommend "Zapier MCP" for simplicity's sake) and paste the integration URL.
If you're on a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, you'll need someone with Owner permissions to add the Zapier MCP to your account.
12. Check the box to accept the security notice and click Add.
13. Now start a new conversation in Claude. Click the search and tools icon. At the bottom of the modal, you'll see a tool by the name of your MCP server. Click Connect.
13. Next, you'll be redirected to a screen where you can approve the connection between your server and Claude. Click Allow.
14. Use the toggle buttons to enable or disable actions that Claude can access.
14. You're all set! Just type your request, and watch Claude magically execute the action for you.
Need more help? Visit the Zapier MCP guide in our Help Center.
Perform 30,000+ actions in Claude with Zapier MCP
Alas, I can neither code a digital spider nor explain what my dad does all day. But I can perform actions like a wizard right inside one of my favorite AI tools, and that feels way more impressive. Sorry, Dad.
If you're a frequent Claude user, take your AI skills to the next level with an upgrade that wipes context-switching off the map. Get started with Zapier MCP and Claude today.
