The Model Context Protocol — the standard for connectors

The technical foundation of all connectors is the Model Context Protocol, or MCP. Think of MCP as a USB-C standard for AI — a universal standard that allows Claude to connect to many different applications through a single consistent interface. It is an open standard, which means: developers can create connectors for any tool, and those connectors will work seamlessly with Claude. For you as a user, this means a constantly expanding ecosystem of connections. Today, Gmail, Notion, Slack, Asana, Linear, Stripe, and many other services are supported. Developers continue to build new connectors, following a single standard. Anthropic maintains a catalog of recommended connectors at claude dot ai slash directory. The catalog is organized into two tabs: "Web" for cloud services and "Desktop extensions" for local tools.