Some founders do their thinking in Claude. They draft the investor memo there, argue with it about pricing, and paste in numbers from five tabs. Connecting Nautis removes the pasting. Claude can look up your pipeline, runway and tasks itself, from real records.
This is a channel into Nautis, not an agent action out of it. It's also different from asking Nautis's own Chief of Staff, which already lives in the app. If you're choosing between the two rather than combining them, the Nautis vs Claude comparison covers that.
What MCP is, and which way the data moves
The Model Context Protocol is an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to outside systems. Its own docs compare it to a USB-C port: one standard plug, many devices. Claude supports it as custom connectors.
Direction matters here. Integrations let Nautis agents act inside Slack or Linear. The MCP connector does the reverse and lets Claude act inside Nautis, as the person who approved it, within that person's role and sharing limits.
Before you start
- Your Nautis plan must include developer access. Without it, the Developers tab is missing and the connector shows Not available on your plan. Check pricing or ask an owner.
- Owners, admins and developers can open the Developers tab. Any member can connect once they have the connector address.
- On Claude's side, Claude's help center lists custom connectors on Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise, with one custom connector on Free.
- On Claude Team, only owners and primary owners can add a connector for the organization. Members then connect it individually.
Set up the Nautis Claude integration, step by step
- In Nautis, click your organization name in the sidebar, open Developers, and find the MCP connector entry for Claude and ChatGPT, and click its copy icon.
- In Claude, go to Customize, then Connectors, click + Add and choose Add custom connector. On Team or Enterprise, an owner does this under Organization settings, Connectors, then Add, Custom, Web.
- Paste the address, give it a name, and continue through Claude's authentication screens to Add.
- A browser window opens. Sign in to Nautis if you aren't already.
- On the Connect screen, choose the Workspace. Only workspaces whose plan includes this are listed.
- Decide on Create and update records. It starts unticked. Leave it that way if you only want answers.
- Click Allow access. Claude now appears under Connected AI Apps on the Developers tab.
Claude controls those menus, and the Nautis guide notes their names may vary by plan. The steps above follow Claude's custom connector guide as of today. If a label has moved, look for custom connectors.
What Claude can read and change
| Access | What it covers | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Read | Modules your plan includes and your workspace has active, such as contacts, leads, tasks, goals, meetings, deals, invoices, expenses, notes, business plans, data rooms, Startup Health and decisions | Always included |
| Credentials | Names and details such as type and web address | Secret values are never shown |
| Create and update | Contacts, leads, notes, tasks, goals, decisions, expenses, data rooms, deals, business plans, GTM, sheets, routines and the company profile | Only if you ticked the box. Waits for approval by default |
| Credentials Vault writes | Adding or updating an entry | Never waits, because a pending approval would have to store the secret |
| Removing Sheet rows, approving a business plan | Those two actions | Always wait for approval |
| Deleting records | Anything else | Never allowed |
Claude can add or update a routine, but it can't make one run on demand.
Two approval layers: Claude's and Nautis's
Claude shows tool approval requests, and its guide tells you to use Allow always only for servers and tools you trust to run unsupervised. It also warns that during Research, Claude can call connector tools without asking again, so it suggests switching off write-capable tools there.
Nautis adds its own layer. When Claude tries to write, Nautis holds the change and tells Claude it's waiting. An owner or admin decides in Chief of Staff, under Approvals, and every write is logged in AI Governance. To skip that, an admin sets AI Copilot & connected-app writes to Run without asking under Agent Autonomy, or uses Per-action overrides for single actions.
The better setup: be relaxed about Claude's prompts, and keep Nautis at Ask every time. Claude's prompt confirms that you meant to call a tool. The Nautis card shows what would actually change in your records, which is the review that counts.
Workflows that suit Claude
- Monday planning. Ask Claude for overdue tasks, deals with no activity in two weeks, and current runway. It reads them live, so the numbers match the app.
- Investor memo drafting. Claude pulls Startup Health and pipeline figures into a draft. You edit in Claude, and nothing in Nautis changes.
- After a call. Ask Claude to add a lead note and a follow-up task. Both wait as approvals until someone signs off.
- Comparing plans. Ask Claude to read two business plans and list where their assumptions differ.
Limits and fixes
- Up to 120 requests a minute per connection, and up to 25 writes waiting for approval.
- A connection unused for 30 days expires. Connect again to restore it.
- Pending requests nobody decides expire on their own.
- If your plan loses developer access, or the workspace is paused for billing, the connection stops but isn't deleted.
- Claude says a write is pending. An owner or admin needs to approve it in Approvals.
- You want writes after connecting read-only. Disconnect, connect again, and tick Create and update records.
- Claude can't find a module. It only sees modules on your plan, active in your workspace, and within your permissions.
- To revoke it, click the trash icon next to Claude under Connected AI Apps and confirm. Access ends immediately.
FAQ
Does the Nautis Claude integration need an API key?
No. The connector signs you in through Nautis in your browser, so there's no key to copy. API keys are for scripts, chatbot builders and tools that ask for a fixed token.
Can Claude delete my Nautis data?
No. Records can't be deleted through a connection. The only removal available is deleting rows inside a Sheet, and that always waits for an owner or admin to approve.
Does Claude get my Nautis password?
No. You sign in on Nautis's own page, and Claude receives its own access rather than your password. You can revoke it from the Developers tab at any time.
Whose permissions does Claude use?
The person who approved the connection. Claude sees and does only what that person's role and sharing allow, so a teammate with narrower access gets a narrower Claude.