DEV Community: Tommos

How to connect Claude to your CRM (web, desktop, Claude Code)

Tommos — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:52:45 +0000

Originally published on tommos.ai on October 15, 2026, by Yuri Kovalov, founder of Tommos. Posted here by the Tommos team. The Claude facts come from Anthropic's own help and docs pages, read on October 15, 2026; the Tommos facts from the product's own setup docs.

You connect Claude to a CRM through the CRM's MCP server. In Claude on the web or the desktop app, add the server's address as a custom connector and sign in to the CRM in the browser. In Claude Code, run one claude mcp add command, then authenticate with /mcp. From then on Claude reads and changes CRM records with your permissions, when you ask in plain words.

In 30 seconds

You need two things: a CRM with a remote MCP server, and a Claude plan that allows custom connectors (every plan does; Free allows one).
On a Team or Enterprise plan, an owner adds the connector first. Then each person connects their own account.
Claude acts as you. The CRM checks your role on every call, so Claude can do what you can do and no more.
Claude reaches the CRM from Anthropic's servers, not from your laptop. A CRM only reachable on your office network will not connect.

What happens when you connect Claude to a CRM

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard for letting an AI client call outside tools. A CRM vendor runs an MCP server that offers its actions as tools: find a contact, update a deal, list today's meetings. Claude reads the list, and when your request needs one, it calls the tool.

The sign-in is OAuth, the same "sign in with your account and press Allow" you know from other apps. Claude never sees your CRM password; it gets a token that acts as you and can be revoked.

Before you connect any CRM, check three things:

The address comes from the vendor's own docs. Not from a directory listing or a forum post.
Which tools change or delete data. Read the vendor's tool list. If it offers a read-only server, start there.
Where the CRM records an agent's changes. You will want to see what Claude did, by name and date.

Connect a CRM in Claude on the web or the desktop app

Custom connectors that use a remote MCP server work in Claude on the web, Claude Desktop and Cowork, on the Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. A Free account can add one custom connector.¹

On Pro or Max:

Open Customize, then Connectors.
Press + Add, then Add custom connector.
Give it a name ("CRM") and paste the CRM's MCP server address.
Leave the authentication on OAuth unless the vendor's docs say otherwise, and press Add.
Press Connect. A browser tab opens the CRM's sign-in. Sign in and press Allow.

On Team or Enterprise: only an Owner or a Primary Owner can add the connector to the organization (on Enterprise, also a custom role that can manage the library). After that, each member opens Connectors, finds it and presses Connect to sign in with their own CRM account.¹

Some CRMs are already in Claude's connector directory, so you search for the name instead of pasting an address. Pipedrive's is one.² The sign-in is the same.

Claude's connectors also work in the Claude mobile apps once connected.¹

Connect a CRM in Claude Code

In a terminal, add the server over HTTP:³

claude mcp add --transport http crm https://<the CRM's MCP address>

Then type /mcp inside Claude Code, choose the server and follow the browser sign-in. The token is stored and renewed for you.³ (claude mcp login crm does the same from the shell.)

Three scopes decide who sees the server:³

Scope	Flag	Where it is saved	Who gets it
Local (default)	none	your Claude config	you, in this project
Project	`--scope project`	`.mcp.json` in the repository	everyone who clones the repository
User	`--scope user`	your Claude config	you, in every project

A project scope shares the address, not your sign-in: each person still signs in as themselves.

Connect Claude to Tommos, step by step

Tommos (tommos.ai) is a CRM whose AI agents, the tommos, take a B2B inquiry to a signed contract. Its MCP server address is:

https://app.tommos.ai/api/mcp

Claude web or desktop: Customize → Connectors → + Add → Add custom connector, paste the address, press Add, then Connect. The Tommos sign-in opens; sign in (if you already are, you only confirm), choose the workspace and press Allow.

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http tommos https://app.tommos.ai/api/mcp

Then /mcp → tommos → Authenticate, and the same sign-in in the browser.

What your role lets Claude do. A Viewer's Claude reads. A Member's Claude also writes contacts, deals, forms, events and the Playbook, and decides cards. An Admin's Claude also sets how the tommos work, the sending domains and the API keys. The Owner's Claude can also ask the owners to choose a plan and export the workspace. If you leave the workspace, your Claude loses access with you.

No Tommos workspace yet? Two ways in. When you sign in from Claude and belong to no workspace, the sign-in page offers to open one: name your company and press Open the workspace and connect. Or ask Claude to open it: the create_workspace tool needs no sign-in, only your company's name and your work address, and nothing is sent or charged until you confirm that address from the email Tommos sends. You then connect as above.

First requests to try, each one a single sentence to Claude:

"What does Tommo still need from me to start working?" Claude reads the workspace's state and its one list of what is missing, each item with the way to do it.
"Summarize everything that happened with Dana Ortiz." Claude reads her timeline, the emails and the meeting notes.
"Which invoices on the Alder deal are not paid yet?" Claude reads the deal's payment schedule and each invoice's status. (Invoicing is on the Sign plan.)
"Add our new rates to the Playbook." Claude writes the page the tommos read before they write.

A job with no person behind it. For a scheduled script, an owner or admin issues an API key in Settings → Developer → API Keys with only the scopes it needs. The key goes in the client's config as a bearer header. A key can read and refuse cards, never approve one, and it is revoked in the same place.

What Claude can do in Tommos: tommos.ai/crm-mcp. Roles, keys and every tool: tommos.ai/agents.

When Claude will not connect to your CRM

What you see	Why, and what to do
"Add custom connector" is missing	On Team or Enterprise, only an owner adds connectors. Ask them to add the address once.¹
You cannot add a second connector	Free accounts allow one custom connector. Remove one, or move to a paid Claude plan.¹
The sign-in page never opens	Check the address against the vendor's docs, including the path (`/mcp`, `/api/mcp`).
It connects, then calls fail with "not allowed"	Your CRM role does not allow that act, or, in HubSpot, the app's scopes do not include the object.⁴
HubSpot users cannot connect	HubSpot's account admin must connect first; then other users can.⁴
Salesforce shows no server	An admin must switch the servers on in Setup and create an External Client App.⁵
Claude does not see some tools	Pipedrive notes that Claude may not load all tools at the start of a chat by default; check the connector's tool settings.²
The CRM is on your private network	Connectors call from Anthropic's servers, not your device, so the server must be reachable from the internet.¹

For each vendor's address, sign-in and setup, see CRM MCP servers compared.

Questions about connecting Claude to a CRM

Can Claude connect to my CRM?

Yes, if your CRM has an MCP server. Add its address as a custom connector in Claude (Customize, then Connectors) or with claude mcp add --transport http in Claude Code, then sign in to the CRM in the browser.

Which Claude plans support CRM connectors?

Custom connectors using remote MCP work on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Free allows one custom connector. On Team and Enterprise an owner adds the connector first. Anthropic's help center, read October 15, 2026.

Does Claude see my whole CRM?

Claude sees what your CRM account sees. The CRM checks your role or permissions on each call, so a read-only user's Claude can only read.

Can Claude send emails to my clients from the CRM?

That depends on the CRM. In Tommos, a tommo drafts each email on a card, and Claude signed in as you can approve it in your name; the record shows it came through MCP. A key with no person behind it cannot approve.

Can I connect Claude to Tommos without an account?

Yes. Ask Claude to open a workspace: the create_workspace tool takes your company's name and your work address. Nothing is sent or charged until you confirm the address. Then connect and sign in.

How do I disconnect?

Remove the connector in Claude's Connectors settings, or claude mcp remove in Claude Code. In Tommos, a sign-in also ends when you leave the workspace, and an API key is revoked in Settings → Developer → API Keys.

Sources

Claude Help Center, "Getting started with custom connectors using remote MCP", https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11175166-getting-started-with-custom-connectors-using-remote-mcp, read October 15, 2026.
Pipedrive Knowledge Base, "Pipedrive MCP for Claude", https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/mcp-claude, read October 15, 2026.
Claude Code docs, "Connect Claude Code to tools via MCP", https://code.claude.com/docs/en/mcp, read October 15, 2026.
HubSpot Developers, "HubSpot MCP server", https://developers.hubspot.com/mcp, read October 15, 2026.
Salesforce Developers, Hosted MCP Servers guide, https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/hosted-mcp-servers/guide, read October 15, 2026 through search results (the page renders by script).

Read next: CRM with an MCP server: what Claude can do in Tommos · CRM MCP servers compared · The best CRM for AI agents. Tommos gives 14 days of everything with no card: tommos.ai/signup.

CRM MCP servers compared: HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Attio, Pipedrive and Tommos

Tommos — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 22:54:49 +0000

Originally published on tommos.ai on October 16, 2026, by Yuri Kovalov, founder of Tommos. Posted here by the Tommos team; every cell of the table comes from the vendor's own documentation, read on October 15, 2026.

All six of these CRMs now publish an official MCP server, so Claude or another AI agent can read and change CRM records after you sign in. They differ in three ways that matter: who has to set the server up, what an agent may write or delete, and whether the server only exposes records or also the work done on them. The table below takes every cell from the vendor's own documentation, read on October 15, 2026.

In 30 seconds

The vendors run them now. HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Attio and Pipedrive each run a hosted, official MCP server, so a community server and a pasted API key are no longer the only way in.
Sign-in is OAuth everywhere. The agent acts as you, with your permissions in the CRM.
Setup is the real difference. Salesforce and HubSpot need an admin step first; Attio, Pipedrive and Tommos take a URL and a sign-in.
Writes and deletes vary. Salesforce and Zoho split reading, writing and deleting into separate servers. Others expose one set of tools with your role deciding.

Six CRM MCP servers, side by side

Each cell comes from the vendor's own page; the number names it. "Not stated" means the page we read does not say, not that the answer is no.

	Tommos	HubSpot	Salesforce	Zoho CRM	Attio	Pipedrive
Made by the vendor	Yes	Yes ¹	Yes ²	Yes ³	Yes ⁴	Yes ⁵ ⁶
Address	`app.tommos.ai/api/mcp`	`mcp.hubspot.com` ¹	One endpoint per server you switch on ²	Made per account in the Zoho MCP Console ³	`mcp.attio.com/mcp` ⁴	`mcp.pipedrive.ai/mcp` ⁵
Sign-in	OAuth 2.1 with PKCE; an API key for an agent with no person behind it	OAuth 2.0 through a user-level app ¹	OAuth through an External Client App with the `mcp_api` scope ²	OAuth in the browser ³	OAuth, "no API keys required" ⁴	Sign in to Pipedrive and approve ⁵
Acts with	Your role in the workspace	The app's scopes ¹	Your profile, permission sets, field-level security and sharing rules ²	Your Zoho CRM permissions ³	Your Attio user ⁴	Your Pipedrive role and visibility settings ⁵
Reads	Contacts, deals, pipelines, timelines, emails, meetings, forms, bookings, the Playbook, a deal's invoices	CRM objects, engagements, users and teams, campaigns, pages and blog posts ¹	Records of standard and custom objects, by query and search ²	Records across modules, by COQL query ³	Contacts, companies, lists, notes, calls and emails ⁴	Deals, activities, contacts, leads ⁵ ⁶
Writes	Contacts, deals, stages, forms, events, booking pages, pipelines, the Playbook; decides cards	Contacts, companies, deals, tickets, quotes, invoices and other CRM objects, plus calls, emails, meetings, notes, tasks ¹	Create and update, in the mutations server ²	Create and update records, modules, fields, layouts and workflow rules ³	Notes, tasks, lists, comments ⁴	Contact details, notes, meeting notes, leads ⁶
Deletes	Contacts and deals, restorable for 30 days	Not stated ¹	Only in the deletes or the all-in-one server ²	Yes, in the Data Operations server ³	Not stated ⁴	Not stated ⁵ ⁶
Who sets it up	Any user: add the address, sign in	The account admin connects first; then each user ¹	An admin enables the servers and creates the External Client App ²	You create the server and pick its tools in the console ³	Any user: add the address, sign in ⁴	Any user, from Claude's connector directory ⁶
Agent can open a new account	Yes, `create_workspace`	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated

HubSpot's MCP server

HubSpot runs a remote MCP server at mcp.hubspot.com. HubSpot's developer page lists read and write access to CRM objects (contacts, companies, deals, tickets, carts, products, orders, line items, invoices, quotes, subscriptions and segments) and to engagements (calls, emails, meetings, notes and tasks). Users, teams, owners and roles, and marketing content such as campaigns, landing pages and blog posts, are read only.¹

Sign-in is OAuth 2.0 through a user-level app on HubSpot's Developer Platform, given the scopes for the objects you want. The account's admin must connect first; other users of the account connect after that.¹

HubSpot also offers a separate Developer MCP server that runs locally from its CLI, for building apps on its platform, not for working with CRM records.¹

Salesforce's hosted MCP servers

Salesforce calls them Hosted MCP Servers. Salesforce announced them as generally available in April 2026, for Enterprise Edition orgs and above, after a beta in October 2025.²

Salesforce offers several servers instead of one. For records, there is a read-only server (query, search, relationships), a mutations server (create and update, no delete), a deletes server, and an all-in-one server with full create, read, update and delete. Salesforce also offers servers for Data 360, Tableau Next and custom servers that expose your own flows and Apex actions.²

Setup takes an admin: switch the servers on in Setup, under API Catalog and MCP Servers, then create an External Client App with the mcp_api and refresh_token scopes. Every call runs as the signed-in user, and Salesforce applies the same object permissions, field-level security and sharing rules as anywhere else in the org.²

Zoho CRM's MCP servers

Zoho builds the servers for you in its MCP Console: you create a server, choose its tools, authorize it and connect it to your client. Zoho's overview describes four pre-built servers: Data Insights (read only, queries in COQL), Data Operations (create, read, update and delete records, with bulk operations), Module Customization (custom modules, fields and layouts) and Workflow and Process Automation (workflow rules and their actions).³

The first call opens a browser window to sign in to Zoho, and every operation is scoped to your Zoho CRM permissions. Zoho names Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code and Windsurf in its setup guides and says the servers work with any MCP client.³

Attio's MCP server

Attio's hosted server is at mcp.attio.com/mcp. You sign in with your Attio account over OAuth, with no API keys. Attio lists Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, ChatGPT and Cursor as clients.⁴

Attio's page describes looking up contacts and companies, logging notes and activity, creating and managing tasks, managing lists and pipelines, adding comments, finding information in calls and emails, and running report-style questions such as deal counts. The agent is authenticated as your Attio user.⁴

Pipedrive's MCP server

Pipedrive's server is at mcp.pipedrive.ai/mcp, and since August 18, 2026 it is also a listed connector in Claude's directory, so you can connect it without typing the address.⁵ ⁶ Pipedrive says the connector can retrieve activities and deals, update contact information, add notes, capture meeting information, and create, retrieve and update leads. In its first month, 65% of the calls were reads and 35% writes or updates.⁶

Claude sees only what your Pipedrive user may see: permissions follow your role and visibility settings. Pipedrive's help page also notes that Claude may not load every tool at the start of a conversation by default.⁵

Tommos's MCP server

Tommos (tommos.ai) is a CRM whose AI agents, the tommos, take a B2B inquiry to a signed contract. Its MCP server at app.tommos.ai/api/mcp speaks streamable HTTP and signs a person in with OAuth 2.1 and PKCE; the agent then acts with that person's role, from Viewer (reads only) to Owner. An agent with no person behind it, such as a nightly job, uses an API key the owner issues with only the scopes it needs.

Three things in Tommos's server have no row in the other vendors' docs:

The work, not only the records. where_the_work_stands returns, for each open job on a lead or a deal, the tommo's last step, what it waits for and when it looks again. read_the_money_of_a_deal returns a won deal's payment schedule and each invoice's status.
Outward acts stay with a signed-in person. A card that sends something out, such as an email, is approved through MCP only by a person who signed in, and the record says who approved it and that it came through MCP. An API key can read cards and refuse them.
The agent can open the account. create_workspace needs no credential: it takes the company and the owner's work address. Nothing leaves the workspace and nothing is charged until the owner confirms that address.

Every tool writes through the same code as the screen, with the same rules: a deal moved to Lost needs a reason from the company's list. A deleted contact or deal can be restored within 30 days.

Three questions to ask before you connect any of them

Who has to act before you can? If an admin must enable servers or approve an app, plan for that day. In Salesforce and HubSpot, an individual user cannot start alone.
Can the agent delete? Where reading, writing and deleting are separate servers, as in Salesforce, connect the read-only one first. Where one server holds everything, your CRM role is the limit, so connect with a role you would give a new colleague.
What does the agent find when it arrives? A server that exposes records lets the agent look things up and type them in. If the CRM also holds work in progress, the agent can ask where each deal stands and pick up from there.

For the steps to connect Claude itself, see how to connect Claude to your CRM.

Questions about CRM MCP servers

Which CRMs have an official MCP server?
As of October 15, 2026: HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho CRM, Attio, Pipedrive and Tommos each publish an official, hosted MCP server, according to their own documentation. Each signs you in with OAuth and acts with your CRM permissions.

Does HubSpot have an MCP server?
Yes. HubSpot's remote MCP server is at mcp.hubspot.com. It reads and writes CRM objects such as contacts, companies, deals and tickets, plus calls, emails, meetings, notes and tasks. The account's admin connects first, through a user-level app with OAuth 2.0 scopes. HubSpot's developer page, read October 15, 2026.

Is the Salesforce MCP server free?
Salesforce's announcement says hosted MCP servers are available to Enterprise Edition orgs and above. An admin enables them and creates an External Client App for the OAuth sign-in. Salesforce's developer blog, read October 15, 2026, through search because the page did not load for our reader.

Can an AI agent delete records through a CRM MCP server?
In Salesforce, only through the deletes server or the all-in-one server, which an admin must switch on. Zoho's Data Operations server can delete records. In Tommos, a Member's agent can delete a contact or a deal, and either can be restored within 30 days. HubSpot's, Attio's and Pipedrive's pages do not say.

What is a CRM MCP server?
It is a service the CRM vendor runs that exposes CRM actions, such as finding a contact or updating a deal, as tools an AI client can call over the Model Context Protocol. You add its address to Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, sign in, and ask for CRM work in plain words.

Do I need an API key?
Not for a person: all six use OAuth sign-in. Tommos also takes an API key for an agent with no person behind it, such as a scheduled job, and that key cannot approve an outgoing email.

Sources

HubSpot Developers, "HubSpot MCP server", https://developers.hubspot.com/mcp, read October 15, 2026.
Salesforce Developers: "Salesforce Hosted MCP Servers Are Now Generally Available" (April 2026), https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2026/04/salesforce-hosted-mcp-servers-are-now-generally-available, and the Hosted MCP Servers guide, https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/hosted-mcp-servers/guide, read October 15, 2026 (both pages render by script; read through search results).
Zoho, "Zoho CRM MCP Servers: overview", https://www.zoho.com/crm/developer/docs/mcp/overview.html, read October 15, 2026.
Attio, "MCP", https://attio.com/apps/mcp, read October 15, 2026.
Pipedrive Knowledge Base, "Pipedrive MCP for Claude", https://support.pipedrive.com/en/article/mcp-claude, read October 15, 2026.
Pipedrive newsroom, "Pipedrive MCP Connector Is Now Available in Claude's Official Marketplace" (August 18, 2026), https://www.pipedrive.com/en/newsroom/pipedrive-mcp-connector-is-now-available-in-claudes-official-marketplace, read October 15, 2026.