Claude (web, desktop and mobile)

Add your institute as a custom connector in Claude, sign in on your admin portal, and choose which tools Claude may use.

Claude connects to Vacademy MCP as a custom connector. You add it once on the web or desktop app. It then works in the Claude mobile apps too.

Menus may move. These steps match Anthropic’s help article as of October 2026. If something looks different, see Getting started with custom connectors using remote MCP.

Before you start

• An admin has turned the server on and allowed your role. See the Quickstart.
• You have the server URL from Settings → MCP Server. It looks like https://<your backend>/ai-service/mcp/i/<institute_id>.
• Custom connectors are available on Claude’s Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. Free plans are limited to one custom connector.

Pro and Max (your own account)

1. Open the connectors page

   In Claude, go to Customize → Connectors (in older versions of Claude: Settings → Connectors).

2. Add a custom connector

   Click + Add, then Add custom connector.

3. Name it and paste the URL

   Enter a name you will recognise, such as your institute’s name. Paste the server URL and continue.

4. Keep the detected sign-in settings

   Claude detects how the server signs people in. Keep what it detects:

   • Authentication: Sign in now or Sign in when needed. Not No sign in.
   • OAuth client: leave the recommended option.
   • Request headers: leave empty. Vacademy MCP uses sign-in, not API keys.

   Click Add.

   

   Claude's Add custom connector dialog, with a name and the server URL filled in.

5. Sign in and approve

   A browser tab opens on your institute’s admin portal. Sign in with your own account. The page shows which app is asking and for which institute. Click Approve.

   You land back in Claude, connected.

Team and Enterprise (for the whole organisation)

An Owner adds the connector once. Then each member connects with their own account.

1. Owner: add the connector

   Go to Organization settings → Connectors. Click Add, hover over Custom and choose Web. Enter a name and the server URL, keep the detected sign-in settings, and click Add.

2. Each member: connect

   Go to Customize → Connectors, find the connector your owner added (usually marked Custom), and click Connect. Sign in on your admin portal and approve.

Because every member signs in separately, Claude acts as each person, with the areas your admin allows for their role. In the CRM, a counsellor’s Claude sees the counsellor’s leads; an admin’s Claude sees the whole institute.

Do not add a shared credential under Request headers. Everyone would then act as one account. Vacademy MCP is built for one sign-in per person.

Using it in a chat

• Turn the connector on or off for a chat: click + at the bottom left of the message box, then Connectors, and use the toggle.
• Turn individual tools off: use the Search and tools menu. For example, keep the website tools off in a chat about leads.
• Allowing tools: Claude asks you to allow a tool before it uses it. Choose Allow always only for tools that just read. Keep allowing edit tools one at a time. Allowing a tool is not the same as confirming a change: Vacademy’s previews still wait for your yes in the chat. See Confirmations.

Try:

Who am I connected as?

Which of our courses are still drafts, and what is missing before each can be submitted for review?

Claude’s Research mode can call connector tools without asking each time. Turn off any edit tools in Search and tools before you start a Research run.

If sign-in fails

The browser tab opens, but approving fails

Read the message on the approval page:

• Signed in to a different institute: sign in with your account for the institute in the URL.
• Expired or already handled: requests last 15 minutes and work once. Click Connect again in Claude.
• Not enabled or role not allowed: ask an admin to turn the server on or add your role.

Claude cannot complete sign-in with the default OAuth client option

Remove the connector and add it again. Under OAuth client, choose Register automatically. You cannot edit a connector in place, so removing and re-adding is the only way to change this.

Claude asks for a client ID

Choose Use your own OAuth client and paste Your client ID from Settings → MCP Server. It already accepts Claude’s callback addresses. Leave the client secret empty.

Connected, but no tools appear

• No tools at all: the server is off, the settings were not saved, or your role is not under Who can connect.
• Only whoami (Who is connected): you are connected, but every area is Off for your role. Ask an admin to set one to View.

Then start a new chat.

Disconnecting

• You: go to Customize → Connectors and click Remove, or use the three dots next to the connector.
• An admin: can revoke any connection in Settings → MCP Server → Active connections. It stops working on its next request.