Guide

Connectors, explained like a human

You will hear the word MCP a lot in the next year, mostly from people selling something. Here is what a connector actually is, in plain English, and what to check before you plug one into your business.

Your AI cannot see your business.

You use ChatGPT or Claude, paid or the free plan, it does not matter here. It writes well. But ask it "who owes me money?" and it has no idea, because it cannot see your invoices, your inbox or your quotes. So you copy and paste your own business into a chat window, one sad paragraph at a time, every single day.

A connector fixes that. It is a plug between the AI you already use and the tools your business already runs on: your ledger, your email, your CRM. Once it is in, "what needs my attention today?" gets a real answer with real numbers in it.

What a connector actually is.

The technical name is MCP, which stands for Model Context Protocol. You do not need to remember that. What you need to know:

  • It is a standard plug, like USB. Anthropic, the company behind Claude, published it as an open standard, and ChatGPT supports it too. One plug shape, many tools.
  • You add it once, in the settings of the chat you already use, and sign in. No code, no terminal, nothing to install.
  • After that, your AI can ask questions of whatever is on the other end of the plug, and use the answers in the conversation you are already having.

That last point is the whole trick. The AI is not getting cleverer. It is getting eyes. Same brain, new information.

This is what one looks like from inside Claude. A connector is just another row in your settings, next to the ones you may already use:

Settings › Connectors
GmailSearch, read and draft emailsConnect
Harness by HeokaYour ledger, your chase queue, your morning approvalsConnected
StripeLook up payments and customersConnect
Where it lives: the Connectors list in the Claude or ChatGPT you already pay for. Sign in once and it stays.

The one thing to check before anything else.

A connector can let an AI read things, and it can let an AI do things. These are completely different powers. Reading your aged debtors is low-stakes. Sending an email to your customer is not. So the first question about any connector, ours included, is: which of its powers are read, which are do, and what stands between the AI and the do?

The best answer is an approval gate: the AI drafts and queues, and a human taps before anything leaves the building. Be suspicious of anything that sends by default and offers "review mode" as an option.

The full guide, free.

That is the whistle wetted. The full PDF is the part you will actually use when a vendor is sitting in front of you:

  • The four questions to ask before you plug anything into your business, with what a good answer sounds like and the red flags.
  • Step-by-step: how to connect one in ChatGPT and in Claude, and how to test the plug is really in.
  • The dictionary: MCP, OAuth, token, scope, approval gate and audit trail, each in one plain sentence.
  • Our own answers: how Harness answers the four questions, so you can hold us to them.

One email from Connor. No list, nothing automated.

Prefer to see a connector working instead of reading about one? Harness is ours: it watches your ledger and drafts your invoice chases overnight for your morning tap. 7 days free, then £19 a month for the whole company (£49 after the first 50 companies), on the home page.