Connect Claude Desktop

Prerequisites

• You must have an Orcha account. Refer to the Quickstart.
• You must have a Claude plan that allows custom connectors. Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans allow them. On the Free plan, you can add only one custom connector.
• On a Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner must add the connector for the organization first. Refer to the Team and Enterprise procedure below.

You do not need an API token. Claude Desktop connects over OAuth.

Add Orcha as a custom connector

Claude Desktop connects to https://app.tryorcha.com/mcp as a remote MCP server. These steps follow the Anthropic article Get started with custom connectors using remote MCP.

On a Free, Pro, or Max plan:

1. In Claude Desktop, go to Customize > Connectors.
2. Click + Add. Then click Add custom connector.
3. Enter the name Orcha.
4. Enter the URL https://app.tryorcha.com/mcp. Click Continue.
5. Examine the authentication settings that Claude finds. Click Continue.
6. Under Authentication, select Sign in now.
7. Under OAuth client, select Register automatically. Orcha registers the client for you. You do not copy a client ID or a secret.
8. Leave Request headers empty.
9. Click Add.

Claude opens the Orcha sign-in page. Sign in to Orcha. Then, on the consent screen:

1. Select the workspace.
2. Select the permissions for the connection: read, write, and delete. For questions and citations, read is sufficient.
3. Approve the connection.

On a Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner adds the connector one time:

1. Go to Organization settings > Connectors.
2. Click Add. Move the pointer to Custom. Then select Web.
3. Enter the name Orcha and the URL https://app.tryorcha.com/mcp. Click Continue.
4. Set Authentication and OAuth client as in the steps above. Click Add.

Then each member connects:

1. Go to Customize > Connectors.
2. Find the Orcha connector. It usually has a Custom label.
3. Click Connect. Sign in to Orcha and complete the consent screen.

Each member selects a workspace and permissions on the consent screen. The connection cannot get more access than the role of that member in the workspace.

Use the connector in a chat

1. In a chat, click the + button.
2. Click Connectors.
3. Turn on Orcha for the conversation.

To test the connection, ask "What is in my Orcha workspace?" Claude must call get_workspace_overview and describe your content.

Connect with an API token

Use this method only if you cannot use OAuth. For example, your organization does not allow the OAuth sign-in, or you must use a token with a fixed folder scope.

1. Open the API Tokens page in Orcha. It is in the account menu at the bottom left of the sidebar.
2. Create a token with the permissions that you want to give Claude. For retrieval, read is sufficient. Refer to Tokens and scoping.
3. Copy the token. Orcha shows the token only one time.
4. Add the custom connector as in the procedure above. Under Authentication, select No sign in.
5. Under Request headers, add the header Authorization with the value Bearer orca_your_token_here.
6. Click Add.

Do not put the token in a file that you commit or share. Other persons can read the token in the file. If a token is exposed, revoke it on the API Tokens page and create a new token.

Usage

• "What files do I have in Orcha?"
• "Read my brand-voice.md and use that style to write a blog post"
• "List the records in my Projects database that mention launch"