DEV Community: Harsh Kumar

Integrating Zapier MCP into a Chat System

Harsh Kumar — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 21:44:04 +0000

Introduction

While working on a chat-based automation prototype, I got the opportunity to explore integrating a Zapier MCP server into a chat-based system. The goal was to allow users to trigger real-world actions directly from chat without writing custom workflows for every use case.

This post explains how I approached the integration, the architecture I followed, how I designed the UI, and the problems I faced while working with Zapier MCP.

Understanding the architecture

Before writing any code, I focused on understanding the core components involved:

Tools: Actions such as sending emails, updating spreadsheets, or creating tasks.
MCP server: A server that exposes tools in a standardized way. In my case, this was Zapier MCP.
MCP client: The LLM (Claude) that can discover and call available tools.
MCP host: The application that connects user input, the LLM, and the MCP server.

Once these roles were clear, the overall system design became easier to reason about. MCP works as a bridge between LLMs and external tools, avoiding the need for manual integrations.

Overall flow

The flow I followed in the system was straightforward:

The user provides input
The LLM discovers relevant tools
The LLM maps the user intent to tool instructions
Tools are executed via Zapier MCP
The LLM formats the final response

This can be summarized as:

User intent → tool discovery → tool execution → formatted response

Tool discovery and execution

In practice, the process looked like this:

Available tools and user input are sent to Claude
Claude returns a list of relevant tools
The discovered tools are sent back to Claude to map instructions
Zapier MCP executes the instructions
Claude formats the tool responses into a final output

This approach required multiple LLM calls, which later became one of the main drawbacks.

Setting up Zapier MCP

Setting up Zapier MCP was relatively simple.

I created a Zapier account, selected the tools I needed, enabled the Zapier MCP server, and copied the MCP server URL and API key. This MCP endpoint was then connected to Claude using the Anthropic Messages API.

Once connected, I could query the system to discover available tools, and Zapier MCP handled the execution layer reliably.

UI design

The UI was intentionally minimal.

It consisted of a chat input, a panel showing active tool execution states, and a final section displaying completed results. The goal was to make tool usage transparent so users could see what was running and when execution was complete.

This helped reduce the feeling of a black box system.

What worked well

Zapier MCP was easy to integrate and worked well for quick experimentation. It removed the need to manually connect multiple APIs and allowed the LLM to focus on intent and orchestration.

For fast iteration and prototyping, this setup was effective. I briefly tried n8n as well, but it felt heavier for quick experiments, so Zapier was a better fit for my workflow.

Limitations and frustrations

There were a few clear limitations.

Multiple LLM calls

To produce a single clean response, the system required separate LLM calls for tool discovery, instruction mapping, and response formatting. Reducing these steps without adding extra glue code would improve the developer experience.

Closed source nature

Zapier is closed source, which limits visibility into internal execution. Debugging and customization beyond the exposed interface are restricted.

Limited control

While the abstraction is useful for speed, it also means giving up fine-grained control over execution logic, which can be an issue for complex workflows.

Conclusion

Integrating Zapier MCP into a chat system was a solid experience overall.

It works well for rapid development, experimentation, and proof-of-concept builds. However, for advanced workflows that require deep control and visibility, additional layers or alternative approaches may be needed.

This experiment helped me better understand how LLM-driven tool orchestration can be built using MCP-based systems.

ns2 & nam windows installation

Harsh Kumar — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:46:54 +0000

Hi Devs,
In this blog our main focus will around how to successfully install ns2 and nam on your Windows machine.

Make sure WSL with Ubuntu distro is installed on your Windows machine. Check my WSL blog if not installed
Open the Ubuntu command prompt.
Run Linux commands given below-:

sudo apt upgrade or sudo apt update installs recent updates and changes

sudo apt install gedit -y
sudo apt install gnome-text-editor -y
sudo apt install nautilus -y
sudo apt install ns2 -y
sudo apt install tcl -y

Download nam package from here as it has some breakdown and error when install using sudo apt install nam
after downloading this pakage run sudo dpkg -i <package> on the ubuntu replace <package> by the path of the downloaded package if downloaded on windows add mnt/ at start like mnt/c/downloads/nam_1.15-10-ubuntu14_amd64.deb

Check if both ns2 and nam is installed successfully. Run the below command inside Ubuntu terminal. gedit command open a editor and nam command open a network simulator

Thanks !! All feedbacks are appreciated.

Setting Up WSL in windows 10 and above

Harsh Kumar — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 13:14:12 +0000

Hi Devs,
The purpose of this blog is to explain how to configure WSL (Window subsystem Linux) and how to move the installed WSL distribution to a different drive.

So let's start with some basic questions-:

1. What is WSL ?

Basically WSL or Windows Subsystem for Linux is a feature of using both Windows and Linux at the same time.

2. Why WSL ?

Because it doesn't require any separate virtual machine or dual booting for running Linux distributions.

3. How WSL ?

Below are the simple steps for running WSL on your Windows machine-:
a) Open your Windows PowerShell or Windows CMD in administrator mode.
b) write the command
wsl --install (First-time user who has never installed WSL)
or
wsl --install -d Ubuntu (If WSL is installed but none of the distribution is present)

This will install the default Linux distribution, Ubuntu, after which you'll be asked for a username and password. Type whatever you want to use.

Important Commands to keep in mind

wsl -l -v gives the version of your WSL
wsl --set-default-version <v> set the version of your WSL by replacing <v> to 1 or 2
wsl -l -o gives the list of all available Linux distributions online
wsl -l gives the list of all installed Linux distributions in your machine
wsl --install -d <d> install new distribution by replacing <d> with the distribution name
wsl -s <d> set the default distribution of your WSL by replacing <d> to any other distro
wsl --set-version <d> 2 set the distribution version to 2 by replacing <d> with distribution name
wsl --unregister <d> delete the existed distribution by replacing <d> with the distribution name
wsl pwd gives the path of where the current directory is mounted in ws
wsl date provide the date from the Linux file system

FAQ

Can we run more than one distribution in WSL at same time ? Yes
How to install additional distributions from inside a Linux/Bash command line? replace wsl -> wsl.exe in the above installation command
How to move my WSL distribution to a different drive or location?

# Create a folder where you would like to store your distro
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path <fp>

# Export your distro to that folder as a VHD
wsl --export --vhd <d> <fpe> 

# Unregister your old distro
# Please note this will erase your existing distro's file contents
# Ensure the above command has executed successfully
wsl --unregister <d>

# Import your VHD backup
wsl --import-in-place <d> <fpe>

replace <fp> by the folder path of another drive where you want to keep the distro
replace <fpe> by the file path

example your previously installed distro is in C Drive
now you want to move it to the E drive
then <fp> is E:\WSLDistros\distroName
and <fpe> is E:\WSLDistros\distroName\ext4.vhdx

Thanks !! All feedbacks are appreciated.

Before You Start Coding---

Harsh Kumar — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 15:57:35 +0000

Intro

Hello everyone, I am Harsh and I am currently learning Web Development. Recently I have finished my 30-Days-Code-Challenge and I built some Web Stuffs which you can see on my GitHub page.
I am writing this post because in the beginning we all have the same question i.e. how I should start coding.

Consider these questions before you begin coding

1. Why to start

In the world, there are many coders and developers, but only a few are at the top of their careers because only a few have an answer to why i.e. why do you code, the answer can be as simple as finding a job, creating something unique, helping humanity, or getting good grades in an exam. In my opinion, this is the most important question since it will motivate you when you are feeling burned out.

2. When to start
There is a saying in Hindi "काल करे सो आज कर, आज करे सो अब । पल में परलय होएगी, बहुरि करेगा कब" we all have heard about it and know the meaning too, but here my main purpose is to tell you that you should never think you are late, just start whenever you want, but if you start, make sure you don't miss a single day.

3. What to do
Now, I hope you have a clear mind and are able to provide genuine answers to the two questions above.
It's time to discuss the last question that has made most of us search here and there, asking this and that friend and watching different videos in order to find the answer to What to do.

The first thing you need to do is select a programming language. For example, if you're interested in making webpages, you should start with HTML.
As soon as you have selected a language, it is time to learn its basics. To learn the basics, you can watch any free video course on YouTube or check out any educational website.
Congratulations, you are now a half-coder. Now it's time to make projects and Google or YouTube are great places to get project ideas. If you got stuck while building the project, feel free to search.
Once you have made any number of project next learn the advance or in case if you have selected html start CSS and follow the same rule i.e.

learn basics->build project->stuck->search for it->build more project->learn further.

🙏 Thank you for reading, I hope this was helpful. You can find some free resources below that may help you as you begin your coding journey.
30 seconds of Code
Online web Tutorials
Code and Build Projects
Project Based Learning
Free Programming Ebook
WTF HTML and CSS
The Front-End CheckList
Map of Computer Science
Web Technology For Developers
Learn X in Y minutes
Learn CSS animation
Tech Interview Guide
Collection of React Hooks
Free Courses with Certificates

Feel free to follow me for my future posts.
Happy coding!✌️