There’s a long and growing list of ways to get Claude access to read and write information, as well as a growing list of Claude surfaces(Chat, Cowork and Code at this point).
Because there are so many different approaches and it does at times get confusing, we wanted to put together a “field guide” that helps people answer the question “which of these do I need and when?”
Here’s the summary of different integration methods in roughly the order of simplest to most complex:
A few hopefully helpful ways to think about this:
Cowork is (kind of) not a separate app. Cowork is a feature inside Claude Desktop — the tab where Claude can reach into the files on your machine and run real work against them. When people say "I'm using Cowork,"they mean they opened Claude Desktop and clicked the Cowork tab.
Local MCP and remote MCP are different beasts. Remote MCP is what most people mean when they say "connectors." You click Connect, do a login, and Claude can talk to HubSpot or Microsoft 365 or other systems from anywhere (web, mobile,Desktop, all the same).
Local MCP means Claude Desktop is reaching out from your specific machine to something running on or near it. That's the one that requires Node.js, JSON edits, and a restart. This can also be a first step for prototyping integrations before moving custom MCPs to remote models.
Skills aren't connectors but they’re still useful to mention in this context. A Skill is a packaged set of instructions that teaches Claude how to do something specific in a repeatable way. There’s even a skill to make skills to help you get started. Skills sit on top of whatever connectors and tools you already have. If MCP is the wiring, Skills are the playbook.
Projects are maybe the most underappreciated feature on this list. Drop your reference docs into a Project, set the instructions once, and every chat inside that Project starts with the right context already loaded. For repeating work, like for a specific client, a specific standing meeting, a specific committee… Projects are helpful to avoid briefing Claude every time and just getting started.
Where to start
If you're new to Claude beyond the chat box, the order is roughly this:
· Start with Projects. It's straightforward, fast, and probably improves how you work overnight.
· Move to Connectors for the systems where you spend the most time (usually email, calendar, and maybe your CRM).
· If you're on a desktop and you have files that matter, install Claude Desktop and try Cowork.
· Once you have a workflow you find yourself running every week or more, write a Skill for it.
· If you’ve hit the limits of what hosted connectors can do, start thinking about local MCPs and the API.
In other words, build from the simple side. The complex tools are still there when you need them (but you might not need them as soon as you think).
