I connected Claude to Jira at work and it works great. I am NOT a jira fan so Claude handling it for me is extremely valuable to me. Same for GitHub. I've never written such good and detailed PRs since I handed it over to Claude.
I use the Consensus connector for my academic work and I love it. I have scheduled a task for looking for new academic papers in my field every month. I also use it for starting a literature review.
Hi Ruben, I’m new to your newsletter but really great stuff, thank you. I run a small healthcare clinic and for obvious reasons worried about data security - especially using Claude and especially using Connectors as we have sensitive info in our Microsoft ecosystem and other apps. Are there any good resources you would recommend to understand this area more?
Healthcare on Connectors is the exact scenario worth thinking hard about. The model layer is well-defended, but the execution layer (where agents actually read your inbox and act) is where the gaps live. I wrote about this in https://thesynthesisai.substack.com/p/the-wrong-war. Practically: start with read-only scopes, audit which connector actions touch PHI, and check whether your BAA with Microsoft covers agent-mediated access. Most don't yet.
The important part is using this carefully. Connect the tools that actually improve your work, not everything. More access should always mean more responsibility.
You are right! I am using Claude for many Agentic AI, Security Research, and tools jobs. Each time, we have to be very careful in crafting a clear, concise prompt; otherwise, it is just a waste of a token with no productive answers, only the same repetitive code lines.
Thanks, man, for saving me, too. Let me try these hacks and get this done in a cost-effective way. The monthly package Claude just ran away within some time, 10 to 15 min.
What an extremely timely post! I was trying to figure out how to custom-connect my StoryGraph to Claude last night, but I found it a bit complicated. Then you posted this, and Section V really simplified things. Thanks for sharing, Ruben!
🎯Thanks for sharing! This Hands-on guidance is Exactly what we Clauders need to explore our personal ”3D Latent Space ” of what’s possible, desirable and doable in our daily interaction with Claude. Personally, I’m on my first 120 days with Claude Max in dozens of Projects and multiple dozens of threads-inside of which I have developed user-operated interactive innovation models I need to learn how to propagate. Claude Max is amazing at 3D Instantiation-did you know that?
Modules to enable building and instantiation of an agentic LLM-on-a-chip adapted Vertical Model enabling instant sovereign Human-in-the-loop semi-automated Innovation/invention , based on systematic LLM Latent Space exploration.
🎯”very technical” . Indeed.So also in the opinion of Claude who disapproved of my effort to be specific, and instead suggested ”I build the coordinate system that AI uses to explore ideas systematically rather than producing the same answer over and over.” 🤓
Thank you so much. I love your info. However, I'm trying to customize based on my needs. I'm an author who wants to promote his novels by posting memes on various social media channels using Buffer. I'm trying to use AI to automate this task but so far am coming up dry. (I don't see a way to connect Buffer to Claude.) If I put memes in Notion, could Claude automate this task for me? Thanks.
Ruben. Lately Claude has been really wonky. Losing the thread, long rambling responses, and just not as efficient. I use chat and projects. Yesterday, I jumped back to ChatGPT and was amazed at the improvement. Sharp, to the point, concise.
1/ the biggest thing is Granola is inside Claude, combined with your other connectors - when i'm prepping for a contract negotiation, i tell Claude: read Granola + Gmail + Slack threads (for your case Granola + Outlook + Teams)
2/ Notion is different - i use it because it’s where i store my content calendars and SOPs. you probably don’t need it
1/ Granola is purpose-built for transcripts - automatically captures the entire meeting transcript (from Teams, Zoom, or Meet) the moment the call ends and stores it in its own app. it’s why once it’s connected to Claude, you can say “Pull my last meeting from Granola. Summarize in 5 bullets. List every action item assigned to me with deadlines. Flag the 2-5 blockers.” and it just works
2/ Claude and Teams - Claude can reach them, but it requires more precise prompting, more context, more steps. it’s not pull transcript then instant structured summary/action items
Really helpful-thank you. Can’t I build a skill that can do the same thing off the teams transcript which is auto generated pretty quickly after the call?
The Granola connector is probably the one I’d use the most. I forget small meeting details easily, so being able to ask Claude what happened and what I need to do next is really helpful.
I connected Claude to Jira at work and it works great. I am NOT a jira fan so Claude handling it for me is extremely valuable to me. Same for GitHub. I've never written such good and detailed PRs since I handed it over to Claude.
haven’t tried it so this is really nice to know - which GitHub connector did you use exactly?
We actually have our own GitHub enterprise instance so we have an MCP connector
I use the Consensus connector for my academic work and I love it. I have scheduled a task for looking for new academic papers in my field every month. I also use it for starting a literature review.
i ran the same thing with Zapier for arXiv - saved me hours back then :)
This is a great newsletter! Keep sharing your AI knowledge 🙏
that’s nice to know :) my newsletter will stay free
and let me know if there’s any preference for a future topic
Hi Ruben, I’m new to your newsletter but really great stuff, thank you. I run a small healthcare clinic and for obvious reasons worried about data security - especially using Claude and especially using Connectors as we have sensitive info in our Microsoft ecosystem and other apps. Are there any good resources you would recommend to understand this area more?
probably this one from Anthropic itself: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11175166-get-started-with-custom-connectors-using-remote-mcp
Healthcare on Connectors is the exact scenario worth thinking hard about. The model layer is well-defended, but the execution layer (where agents actually read your inbox and act) is where the gaps live. I wrote about this in https://thesynthesisai.substack.com/p/the-wrong-war. Practically: start with read-only scopes, audit which connector actions touch PHI, and check whether your BAA with Microsoft covers agent-mediated access. Most don't yet.
The important part is using this carefully. Connect the tools that actually improve your work, not everything. More access should always mean more responsibility.
100% read-only first :) otherwise Claude will do random things you didn’t ask for
You are right! I am using Claude for many Agentic AI, Security Research, and tools jobs. Each time, we have to be very careful in crafting a clear, concise prompt; otherwise, it is just a waste of a token with no productive answers, only the same repetitive code lines.
i hit those limits too fast before that i wrote this newsletter: https://ruben.substack.com/p/how-to-stop-hitting-claude-usage
i still do these hacks :)
Thanks, man, for saving me, too. Let me try these hacks and get this done in a cost-effective way. The monthly package Claude just ran away within some time, 10 to 15 min.
What an extremely timely post! I was trying to figure out how to custom-connect my StoryGraph to Claude last night, but I found it a bit complicated. Then you posted this, and Section V really simplified things. Thanks for sharing, Ruben!
hey i’m glad this came perfectly - do let me know how it turned out :)
Yep! Will do 😊
#42
Granola + Gmail + Slack is the stack.
I set this up last month and I've opened maybe 3 tabs total since.
Everything lives in Claude now.
Meeting context, email threads, team messages.
This trio compounds fast.
we’ve been doing it before the newsletter came out :)
each tool alone is useful but all 3 together is a beast - Claude has full context on every info decided
🎯Thanks for sharing! This Hands-on guidance is Exactly what we Clauders need to explore our personal ”3D Latent Space ” of what’s possible, desirable and doable in our daily interaction with Claude. Personally, I’m on my first 120 days with Claude Max in dozens of Projects and multiple dozens of threads-inside of which I have developed user-operated interactive innovation models I need to learn how to propagate. Claude Max is amazing at 3D Instantiation-did you know that?
dozens of Projects, you’re deep in it - what specifically are you making?
Modules to enable building and instantiation of an agentic LLM-on-a-chip adapted Vertical Model enabling instant sovereign Human-in-the-loop semi-automated Innovation/invention , based on systematic LLM Latent Space exploration.
that’s very technical aha all the best to you :)
🎯”very technical” . Indeed.So also in the opinion of Claude who disapproved of my effort to be specific, and instead suggested ”I build the coordinate system that AI uses to explore ideas systematically rather than producing the same answer over and over.” 🤓
Gmail and Slack are getting connected tonight
Wont be switching tabs anymore just to check if an email actually needs me! :)
let’s go!! you won’t miss messages anymore - tell me how it went after, ok?
Just joined paid subscription 🙌 slack invite has expired so looking for new 1 please. Happy to be learning with and from you.
hi Alex - please check my dm!
You can connect spotify too, i’d be interested to see what it can do
i haven’t really tried it - maybe you can access Spotify without leaving Claude?
Thank you so much. I love your info. However, I'm trying to customize based on my needs. I'm an author who wants to promote his novels by posting memes on various social media channels using Buffer. I'm trying to use AI to automate this task but so far am coming up dry. (I don't see a way to connect Buffer to Claude.) If I put memes in Notion, could Claude automate this task for me? Thanks.
Notion is a workspace + database tool - stores your memes, images, captions. it can’t schedule tasks for you if that’s what you want to do :)
i asked Grok, try this:
Log into Buffer → go to https://publish.buffer.com/settings/integrations
Find the Claude / MCP section → authorize and copy the MCP server URL it gives you.
Open Claude Desktop (or Claude Code) → Settings / Customize → Connectors → “Add custom connector” (or “Add remote MCP”).
Paste the URL → connect.
Ruben. Lately Claude has been really wonky. Losing the thread, long rambling responses, and just not as efficient. I use chat and projects. Yesterday, I jumped back to ChatGPT and was amazed at the improvement. Sharp, to the point, concise.
were you using Opus 4.7?
Article très intéressant et pratique comme toujours ! Je vois qu'il manque le 3ème dans tes connecteurs Claude préféré 😉Du coup, c'est lequel ?
Granola, Gmail, Slack - my top 3 connectors :)
My org uses Microsoft 365. What are the benefits of Granola and Notion above what I get from Teams/365?
1/ the biggest thing is Granola is inside Claude, combined with your other connectors - when i'm prepping for a contract negotiation, i tell Claude: read Granola + Gmail + Slack threads (for your case Granola + Outlook + Teams)
2/ Notion is different - i use it because it’s where i store my content calendars and SOPs. you probably don’t need it
here’s the section about Microsoft 365: https://ruben.substack.com/i/196938119/5-microsoft-365-because-you-probably-have-to-use-it
Thank you. Re Granola-if I always use teams to record calls, won’t telling Claude to read my teams call transcripts do the same thing?
not the same thing :)
1/ Granola is purpose-built for transcripts - automatically captures the entire meeting transcript (from Teams, Zoom, or Meet) the moment the call ends and stores it in its own app. it’s why once it’s connected to Claude, you can say “Pull my last meeting from Granola. Summarize in 5 bullets. List every action item assigned to me with deadlines. Flag the 2-5 blockers.” and it just works
2/ Claude and Teams - Claude can reach them, but it requires more precise prompting, more context, more steps. it’s not pull transcript then instant structured summary/action items
Really helpful-thank you. Can’t I build a skill that can do the same thing off the teams transcript which is auto generated pretty quickly after the call?
The Granola connector is probably the one I’d use the most. I forget small meeting details easily, so being able to ask Claude what happened and what I need to do next is really helpful.
set it up now - use our team account :)
Granola would help you so much on content briefs we discuss in meetings