Zapier MCP connects AI chatbots and coding agents to pre-built Zapier actions, and it doesn't require any coding knowledge. Zapier SDK is for writing code that talks to apps through Zapier's infrastructure, whether you're working in an AI coding agent or a terminal and text editor.
If you've been paying attention to new products in the tech space, you may have noticed two initialisms popping up a lot: MCP and SDK.
Zapier has two dedicated products for these: Zapier MCP and Zapier SDK. Both connect AI to Zapier's ecosystem of more than 9,000 apps, but the right one for you depends on how you like to build.
Here's what each one does, how they work, and why you should use one (or both) based on your needs.
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Zapier MCP vs. Zapier SDK at a glance
Here's a quick summary, but keep reading for more details.
Zapier MCP | Zapier SDK | |
|---|---|---|
Works with | Chat agents, coding agents | Coding agents |
Best for | Non-technical builders, anyone driving actions through AI chat conversations | Developers, vibe coders, technical builders working in scripts |
How it works | Calls pre-built actions in plain language | Writes and executes code |
Flexibility | Bound by Zapier's action menu | Supports any supported API call |
Logic | Runs one action at a time | Runs sequences of actions with loops, conditions, and error handling |
App coverage | Full Zapier integration catalog | Full Zapier integration catalog plus raw API access to around 3,000 apps via Relay |
Authentication and governance | Handled by Zapier | Handled by Zapier |
What is Zapier MCP?
Zapier MCP is a built-in tool that connects AI clients—chat tools like Claude and ChatGPT, but coding agents as well—to more than 30,000+ pre-built actions across more than 9,000 apps in the Zapier library. It uses the open-source Model Context Protocol. If you're not familiar with that, don't let the name intimidate you. It's just a connector that lets AI apps and external tools communicate with each other.
Setting this up starts with opening the Zapier MCP dashboard, where you pick the tools you want your AI client to use. Then you select the actions you want to enable (like, say Create Spreadsheet Row or Send Channel Message) and then connect your app accounts. That's it.
Suppose you're in charge of updating stakeholders on the status of a project. Instead of opening Coda, manually checking what's done or in progress or blocked, then pulling up Outlook to write the email, you can handle the whole process from your AI client. Whenever an update is warranted, just ask AI to pull all rows recently updated from your Coda table, check out how the tasks are going, and draft a status update email for you to review.
In fact, we have a template for this exact scenario if it applies to you:
Pull recent updates from Coda, summarize progress, and draft a status email for stakeholders
Want more plug-and-play templates? Visit our Zapier MCP templates page.
The key benefit of Zapier MCP is there's no coding involved whatsoever. Setup takes just a few clicks, and using it is as simple as chatting with your AI agent like you normally do. That makes it a great choice if you want to give AI secure access to your tools without coding or asking your IT team to build a custom integration for you.
What is Zapier SDK?
The Zapier SDK is a TypeScript package. (TypeScript is a programming language, and a package in this context just means a bundle of pre-written code.) It gives developers programmatic, code-level access to Zapier's app ecosystem. So instead of prompting AI with a conversation, you write TypeScript that calls Zapier actions directly, makes authenticated API requests, and manages connections, all through Zapier's infrastructure.
You might be writing that code yourself in a terminal and text editor. Or you can do it through an AI coding tool like Cursor or Claude Code—in which case, you can describe what you want conversationally and have the agent write and run the code for you.
There are two main ways to access the Zapier SDK: through pre-built actions and custom API requests.
Pre-built actions
Pre-built actions are much like the actions you'd call in Zapier MCP. The difference is in how you invoke them.
In Zapier MCP, you pre-select which actions your AI can call, then describe what you want to happen conversationally. Your AI reads the names and descriptions of those actions and makes its best guess about which one fits your request and what to put in each field (like which Slack channel to post in or what text to include in an email). It usually gets it right, but it's going off the vibe of your words rather than a strict set of rules. That means it can occasionally pick the wrong action or fill in a field incorrectly, and you won't know until after it runs.
The SDK takes that guesswork out. Every app and action comes with generated "types," which are basically blueprints that tell your coding tool exactly what each action expects as inputs. That means your tool can catch mistakes before the code ever runs, rather than finding out something went wrong after the fact. You can still describe what you want conversationally in an AI coding agent. The agent just has a stricter blueprint to follow.
Custom API requests
Every app has an API, which is essentially a menu of things you can ask it to do programmatically. Zapier's pre-built actions cover the most common items on that menu. But every app's API menu is bigger than what Zapier has mapped to pre-built actions. Custom API requests let you order off-menu.
Zapier's Relay service is what makes that possible without the usual headaches. Normally, making a direct API call means managing authentication yourself. You'd have to store credentials securely, refresh tokens when they expire, and format everything correctly for each service. Relay handles all of that. When you make a request, it looks up your stored credentials for that app and attaches them automatically before the request goes out. Your credentials never touch your local machine.
So in practice, say you want to pull a custom report from your analytics tool, but Zapier doesn't have a "get custom report" action for it. If that app exposes it as an API endpoint, you can call it directly through the SDK—securely, without managing authentication yourself. This raw API access covers roughly 3,000 apps today, with more coming.
The SDK is great for:
Developers building server-side integrations, custom tools, or backend services
Vibe coders using AI coding agents to write and execute code that talks to real APIs
Technical founders looking for reliable, repeatable, type-safe execution rather than prompt-based action-calling
And if you want to expose the SDK itself as an MCP server—so it can work with any MCP-compatible AI client—that's possible too.
When you would use both
Let's say you've already set up a Zapier MCP server in your coding agent. That's still great for calling up pre-built actions that are ready to use with zero code required. But if you've hit a wall—maybe you need to work through a long list of records one by one, or reach an endpoint that Zapier doesn't have a pre-built action for, or handle an error in a specific way—that's when adding the SDK alongside MCP helps.
With both connected to the same coding agent, your agent can pick whichever tool fits the task. For quick pre-built actions, your agent will call MCP. For anything that needs custom logic or raw API access, it'll reach for the SDK.
And because the SDK includes a built-in MCP server package, you can also expose your entire SDK setup, including any custom API calls you've built, as an MCP server. That means those SDK-powered capabilities become available not just in code, but from any AI chat client that supports MCP. So the same setup works whether you're running a script or just having a conversation.
Which one should you choose?
The right choice usually comes down to whether you're working in chat or in code. If you're not a developer or vibe coding isn't your bag, MCP is for you. It's faster to set up, works inside the AI tools you're already using, requires no coding, and is built for one-off actions triggered from a chat interface.
If you're a technical builder (or someone comfortable working in an AI coding agent), the SDK gives you the control MCP doesn't: type-safe, deterministic execution, the ability to chain logic and handle errors, and raw API access to endpoints MCP can't reach.
And if you want both—the flexibility of code and the convenience of a chat-based action layer—you can have that, too.
Ready to power up your AI clients? Head to the Zapier SDK Quickstart page or the Zapier MCP dashboard to get started.
