The 4 Best Claude MCPs (+ The Best Prompt For Each)

What Is In This Guide

• The setup for all 4, written out for Claude in a browser, the desktop app, and Claude Code
• The best prompt to use with each one, given away in full so you feel it working tonight
• The comment-to-DM prompt for Blotato, the exact one behind the DM you just got
• My real tips for each one, including the mistakes that cost me an afternoon
• One prompt that runs all 4 back to back, from your website to a scheduled post
• The 7 things that quietly break these, none of which are in the setup docs

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Blotato partnered with me on this guide. It is the one on this list that closes the loop: Claude posts your content everywhere, then builds the comment-to-DM automation that turns the comments into followers. Try Blotato free for 7 days. When you subscribe (you need a paid plan for the Claude connection and DM automations), the code below takes 30% off for 3 months.

ZACH30

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Learn The Install Once

Out of the box, Claude is smart but stuck. It can talk about your work, but it cannot touch any of it. These 4 fix that.

• What an MCP actually is
  An MCP is just a door. It lets Claude go touch something outside the chat window, like a website, a design canvas, or your Instagram, instead of guessing at it from memory. The name does it no favors. That is the whole idea.
• Three live online, one lives on your computer
  Blotato, Perplexity and Firecrawl are web addresses. Paste one into Claude, sign in, and it works everywhere. Paper runs inside the Paper app on your computer, so it works in the Claude desktop app and Claude Code, not in a browser tab.

In Claude (browser or desktop app) it is the same five clicks every time: sidebar, Customize, Connectors, the + button, Add custom connector. Paste a name and an address, sign in. In Claude Code it is one line you paste into the terminal. Both are written out under every tool below.

1. Blotato

Number 1 · Every social account, plus comment-to-DM

This connects Claude to every one of your social media accounts, so it can post, repurpose, and pull analytics on all your content for you.

And it just dropped comment-to-DM automations. So now you just tell Claude "when someone comments this keyword on my post, DM them this link" and it builds the whole thing for you. The trigger, the follow gate, the message, the link button.

No ManyChat, no $40 a month, and you never leave Claude.

Claude in a browser, or the desktop app

1. Log in to Blotato first, in the same browser, and connect the social accounts you want Claude to reach.
2. In Claude's left sidebar, click Customize, then Connectors.
3. Click the + button, then Add custom connector.
4. Name it Blotato, URL https://mcp.blotato.com/mcp
5. Press connect and approve access. Then say "use Blotato to list my connected accounts." If your accounts come back, you are done.

claude mcp add -s user --transport http Blotato https://mcp.blotato.com/mcp

My tips

• Connect your social accounts inside Blotato first. Skip it and Claude connects fine, then tells you that you have zero accounts. Nothing is broken, the workspace is just empty.
• Be logged into Blotato in the same browser before you hit connect. The approval screen needs a live Blotato session or the handshake never finishes.
• Comment-to-DM needs a paid Blotato plan. The MCP is not part of the free trial, so subscribe (code ZACH30 takes 30% off) before you try to build the automation.
• Scope every automation to one post, not to every post. If you run more than one freebie, "all posts" means the wrong guide goes out to the wrong people.

Best prompt: Comment-to-DM, built from one sentence

This is the flow you have seen on every big account. Somebody says "comment GUIDE and I'll send it," four hundred people comment, and all four hundred get a DM. Until now that meant a separate tool and a separate subscription.

It is exactly how you got this guide. Here is what happens once it is live.

• 1. Someone comments your keyword
  Blotato is watching that post and matches the word. Case does not matter, so MCP, Mcp and mcp all fire the same flow.
• 2. The follow gate goes out first
  Instead of the link, they get a message asking them to follow. The real DM is held back until they do. This is the step that turns comments into followers instead of just traffic.
• 3. They follow, the DM lands
  The second they tap the button confirming they followed, your message goes out with the link button attached. No delay, and no you sitting there at 11pm pasting a link 400 times.
• 4. Optional: email gate and webhook
  If you turn them on, Blotato asks for an email before the DM, then calls your endpoint after it sends. The order is fixed: follow gate, email gate, your message, webhook.

Set up a comment-to-DM automation on my Instagram using Blotato.

FILL THESE IN BEFORE YOU PASTE:

- KEYWORD: [one word, all caps, the word you tell people to comment]
  Example: GUIDE

- LINK: [the URL you're sending them to]
  Example: https://yoursite.com/free-guide

- THE FREE THING: [what you're sending, in one short phrase]
  Example: the 10-minute cold email teardown

- WHICH POST: [the reel I just published, or: every post]

BUILD IT LIKE THIS:

- Name: "KEYWORD - comment to DM"
- Trigger: comment-received, keyword KEYWORD
- Follow gate: ON. Message: "Yes! Follow me first and I'll send it straight over. Tap the button below once you're following (or just reply "done" if you don't see a button)."
- Follow gate button label: "I'm following"
- DM message: "Here it is, THE FREE THING. Tap below and it's yours."
- One link button: label "Send it over", URL = LINK
- Make it live immediately

BEFORE YOU CREATE IT:

1. Call blotato_list_accounts and tell me which Instagram account you're about to attach this to.
2. Show me the exact automation you're about to create: name, trigger, keyword, follow gate message, button label, DM text, link button, and whether it's active.
3. Wait for me to say go. Do not create it before I confirm.

AFTER YOU CREATE IT:

4. Confirm it's active and give me the automation ID.
5. Remind me that my own comments will never trigger it, so I have to test from a second Instagram account.

RULES YOU MUST FOLLOW:

- The DM message has to be under 640 characters.
- Max 3 link buttons, and every button label has to be 20 characters or fewer.
- Use a link button OR a plain-text URL in the message, never both. If a message carries both, the URL stops being clickable on desktop and those readers end up with no working link at all.
- The follow gate is Instagram only. If I ever ask you to put one on Facebook, tell me it will be rejected.
- If my keyword is a word that lives inside a longer word people actually type, warn me before you build it.

What I filled in for this exact guide

• KEYWORD MCP
• LINK https://zachdoesai.com/4-claude-mcps-paper-firecrawl
• THE FREE THING the setup for all 4 + the best prompt for each one
• WHICH POST the reel I just published

Blotato is the tool I use for this. Sign up through my link for the 7-day free trial, and code ZACH30 takes 30% off for 3 months.

2. Paper

Number 2 · A real design canvas you can edit yourself

This lets Claude design literally anything. Websites, social media graphics, flyers, ad creatives.

And you watch it design in real time, right in front of you. But here is the superpower: Paper is a real canvas, so you can jump in and edit the design yourself. No more "make the blue a little darker" three times in a row in a chat. Claude does the heavy lifting and you make the final call.

That is what makes it perfect for ad creatives at scale. Ask for six versions and you get six, sitting next to each other, every word still editable.

Claude desktop app (Paper does not work in a browser tab)

1. Download Paper Desktop, open it, and open any file. Opening a file is what turns the connection on.
2. In Claude's left sidebar, click Customize, then Connectors.
3. Click the + button, then Add custom connector.
4. Name it paper, URL http://127.0.0.1:29979/mcp
5. Save, then fully quit Claude and open it again. Say "create a red rectangle in Paper." If one shows up on your canvas, you are connected.

That address looks weird on purpose. 127.0.0.1 means "this computer." It is Claude talking to the Paper app sitting right next to it, which is also why there is nothing to paste in a browser.

claude mcp add -s user --transport http paper http://127.0.0.1:29979/mcp

My tips

• The Paper app has to be open with a file open. The connection only exists while it is running, so if Claude says it cannot find Paper, open the app and any file first.
• Ask for real text layers. Say "every word is an editable text layer" in the prompt, or you can end up with words baked into an image you cannot touch.
• Fonts have to be installed on your computer. If a design comes out in the wrong font, install the font and restart Paper.

Best prompt: Six ad creatives you can actually edit

The mistake is asking for one perfect ad. The real move is volume: six headlines from six different angles, six designs side by side on the canvas, then two tall versions for Stories. You pick the winners, click in, and fix anything yourself. That is a week of ad testing designed in one sitting.

Use Paper for this. Design it on the canvas, do not just describe it.

I need a set of ad creatives I can actually run.

FILL THIS IN BEFORE YOU PASTE:
- WHAT I SELL: [the product or offer, one line]
  Example: a $49 meal-prep course for busy parents
- WHO IT IS FOR: [the person, one line]
  Example: parents who work full time and hate cooking on weeknights
- THE RESULT THEY GET: [the outcome, not the feature]
  Example: a week of dinners prepped in 90 minutes on Sunday
- MY COLORS AND FONT: [hex codes + font name, or "pick something clean"]
  Example: #1F3A2E dark green, #F4EFE6 cream, font Inter

STEP 1. Write 6 headlines first, each from a different angle:
- the result
- the pain
- a specific number
- a before and after
- a question they would nod at
- a bold claim I can back up
8 words max each. Show me the list and wait for me to pick.

STEP 2. Design 6 ads in Paper at 1080x1350, one artboard per headline, side by side so I can compare them. Each one gets:
- the headline, big
- one short supporting line
- a clear button-style call to action
- lots of empty space

STEP 3. Make a 1080x1920 version of the 2 strongest ones for Stories and Reels.

STEP 4. Tell me which 2 you would test first and why. Be honest about the weak ones.

RULES:
- Every word stays a real, editable text layer. Never bake text into an image, because I am going to edit these myself.
- Nothing smaller than 32px on a 1080-wide artboard, so it reads on a phone.
- If a font I named is not installed, tell me instead of swapping it quietly.

3. Perplexity

Number 3 · Deep research with a real source behind every claim

This connects Claude to the most powerful AI research model on the planet.

So it can do deep research on anything and pull real sources with way more accuracy than Claude can on its own. It is the difference between "I think" and "I checked, and here is where it came from."

Claude in a browser, or the desktop app

1. In the left sidebar, click Customize, then Connectors.
2. Click the + button, then Add custom connector.
3. Name it Perplexity, URL https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp
4. Press connect, sign in when the window opens, and approve access.

claude mcp add -s user --transport http perplexity https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp

My tips

• Ask for the sources out loud. "Give me a link for every claim" turns a confident paragraph into something you can actually check before you send it to anyone.
• Use it as a fact-checker on your own writing, not just a researcher. "Fact check this line by line and tell me what you could not verify" catches the one wrong number before it goes out.
• When you sign in it asks which organization pays for the calls. Pick the right one now, because changing it later means disconnecting and reconnecting.

Best prompt: The research brief you can act on

Most people use Perplexity like Google with extra steps. The real move is asking it a question you actually have about your work, then making it prove every answer. This prompt hands back what changed, what everyone believes, what nobody has noticed yet, three numbers you can quote, and an honest list of what it could not verify.

Use Perplexity for this. Do not answer from memory.

I want a research brief I can actually act on this week.

FILL THIS IN BEFORE YOU PASTE:
- MY WORK: [what I do, in one line]
  Example: I run a small marketing agency for dentists
- THE QUESTION: [the thing I keep wondering about]
  Example: is it still worth running Facebook ads for local businesses

GIVE ME:
1. The 5 most important things that changed about THE QUESTION in the last 90 days. One line each, with a link to the source.
2. What most people in MY WORK believe about this right now, and whether the evidence agrees with them.
3. The one thing almost nobody is talking about yet, and the source that made you notice it.
4. Three numbers I could quote to a client or a boss, each with where it came from and how recent it is.
5. What you could NOT verify. List anything you found that looked shaky or had no solid source.

RULES:
- A link for every single claim. If there is no source, say so instead of guessing.
- Prefer sources from the last 90 days. Flag anything older.
- Plain English, no jargon. Short lines.
- End with one sentence: "If I were you, this week I would..."

4. Firecrawl

Number 4 · Search, scrape and crawl any website

This lets Claude search, scrape, and crawl any website on the internet.

So it can pull a site's entire branding in seconds, do full competitor research for you, and turn any page into clean, usable data. One page or a whole site. Prices, headlines, colors, fonts, offers, whatever you name.

Claude in a browser, or the desktop app

1. In the left sidebar, click Customize, then Connectors.
2. Click the + button, then Add custom connector.
3. Name it Firecrawl, URL https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-oauth
4. Press connect and sign in to Firecrawl (or create a free account) when the window opens. No API key to copy around.

claude mcp add -s user --transport http firecrawl https://mcp.firecrawl.dev/v2/mcp-oauth

My tips

• Say scrape or crawl on purpose. Scrape reads one page. Crawl walks the whole site. "Crawl competitor.com" on a big site can chew through your credits fast, so ask for a map first and pick the pages.
• Ask it to pull branding by name. "Pull the hex colors, fonts and logo from this site" gets you a brand sheet you can hand straight to Paper.
• Some sites block scrapers. Tell Claude to say when a page comes back empty, otherwise it fills the hole with a confident guess.

Best prompt: The competitor teardown

This is the one people pay agencies for. Claude maps every competitor's site, pulls their real headlines, offers, prices and proof, then lines them up side by side. You get the three things everyone says (so you stop saying them) and the one angle nobody owns yet. With real quotes and links, not vibes.

Use Firecrawl for this. Scrape the real pages, do not answer from memory.

I want a teardown of my competitors' websites so I can stop sounding like them.

FILL THIS IN BEFORE YOU PASTE:
- MY BUSINESS: [what I do, one line]
  Example: I sell a done-for-you bookkeeping service for freelancers
- COMPETITORS: [2 or 3 website addresses]
  Example: competitor-one.com, competitor-two.com

FOR EACH COMPETITOR:
1. Map the site. Tell me how many pages it has and which ones matter: home, pricing, offers, about, and their most linked-to posts.
2. Scrape those pages and pull: the main headline, the offer and the price, the guarantee, the call to action, and the proof (reviews, numbers, logos).
3. Pull their brand: hex colors, fonts, logo URL, and the vibe in 3 words.

THEN GIVE ME:
- A side-by-side table of all of them
- The 3 things every one of them says (the stuff I should NOT lead with)
- The 1 angle none of them are using that I could own
- 5 headline ideas for my homepage built on that angle

RULES:
- Quote their real words, with the page URL each quote came from.
- If a page is blocked or comes back empty, say so. Do not fill the gap with a guess.
- Ask me before you crawl more than 25 pages on any one site.

All 4, In About 10 Minutes

Order matters a little, mostly so you do not get stuck on the fiddly one first and quit. Go in this order.

• 0:00
  Perplexity first, because it is the one you will use every single day. Paste the address, sign in, pick the org that pays. Done.
• 1:30
  Firecrawl second. Same clicks, sign in or make a free account. Ask it to scrape your own homepage so you know it took.
• 3:00
  Blotato third. Log in to Blotato in the same browser first, connect your socials inside Blotato, then add the connector and say "use Blotato to list my connected accounts."
• 6:00
  Paper last, because it is the only one that needs an app open on your computer. Open Paper, open a file, add it, then fully restart Claude.
• 8:00
  Run the best prompt for each one. If Claude says it cannot do something, it did not load the connector. Start a new chat and ask again with the name in the prompt.

One Prompt That Uses All 4

One connector is useful. Four working together is a different thing. This prompt goes from your website to a scheduled post: Firecrawl pulls your brand off your own site, Perplexity researches the topic with sources, Paper designs the carousel in your colors and fonts (and you tweak it by hand), and Blotato posts it and builds the comment-to-DM automation.

It stops and shows you the work at every checkpoint. Nothing gets posted, sent or created until you say go.

Run my whole content loop using the 4 connectors I have installed: Firecrawl, Perplexity, Paper and Blotato. Use each one by name. Stop and show me the output at every checkpoint before you move on.

FILL THIS IN BEFORE YOU PASTE:

- MY SITE: [your website, so the design matches your brand]
  Example: https://yoursite.com

- TOPIC: [the thing I want to post about this week]
  Example: the 3 AI tools that save me the most time

- MY NICHE: [who I make content for]
  Example: small business owners who are new to AI

- KEYWORD: [one word, all caps, what people comment to get the free thing]
  Example: GUIDE

- LINK: [the URL the DM sends them to]
  Example: https://yoursite.com/free-guide

STEP 1. MY BRAND (Firecrawl)

Use Firecrawl to scrape MY SITE. Pull:

- My brand colors as hex codes
- My fonts
- My logo URL
- My main offer and the exact words I use to describe it
- 3 words that describe how my site sounds

CHECKPOINT: show me the brand sheet. If a page was blocked or empty, say so instead of guessing.

STEP 2. RESEARCH (Perplexity)

Use Perplexity to find what actually changed about TOPIC in the last 30 days. Real sources, not your memory. Give me:

- The 5 most recent concrete facts, each with a link
- The loudest opinion online right now
- One thing most people are getting wrong, and the source that proves it

CHECKPOINT: show me the list. Do not write anything until I say go.

STEP 3. THE POST

Write a 5-slide Instagram carousel for MY NICHE using the research from Step 2.

- Slide 1: the hook, the single most surprising fact, 8 words max
- Slides 2 to 4: one idea per slide, 20 words max each
- Slide 5: comment KEYWORD and I'll send it
- Third-grade reading level, no jargon

CHECKPOINT: show me the slide copy. Wait for my edits.

STEP 4. THE DESIGN (Paper)

Use Paper to design the carousel at 1080x1350, one artboard per slide, side by side. Use the brand sheet from Step 1: my colors, my fonts, my logo small in the corner.

- Every word is a real, editable text layer, never baked into an image
- Nothing smaller than 32px, so it reads on a phone
- Lots of empty space, one idea per slide

CHECKPOINT: tell me the design is ready on the canvas and wait. I will tweak it in Paper myself. When I say done, export all 5 slides as PNG.

STEP 5. SHIP IT (Blotato)

Use Blotato to do the last mile:

1. Upload the 5 exported slides so they have public links
2. List my connected accounts and tell me which ones you are about to use
3. Write the caption. First line is: Comment "KEYWORD" and I'll send you [the free thing]
4. Schedule the carousel to Instagram for tomorrow at 9am
5. Build the comment-to-DM automation on that post:
   - Name: "KEYWORD - comment to DM"
   - Trigger: comment-received, keyword KEYWORD
   - Follow gate: ON
   - Follow gate message: "Yes! Follow me first and I'll send it straight over. Tap the button below once you're following (or just reply "done" if you don't see a button)."
   - Follow gate button label: "I'm following"
   - DM message: "Here it is. Tap below and it's yours."
   - One link button: label "Send it over", URL = LINK
   - Scope it to THIS post only, not every post

CHECKPOINT: show me the caption, the schedule and the full automation before you create either one. Wait for me to say go.

AFTER IT IS LIVE

- Confirm the post is scheduled and the automation is active, and give me the automation ID
- Remind me my own comments will never trigger it, so I have to test from a second account

RULES YOU MUST FOLLOW THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH

- Say the connector name out loud in every step. If you answer from memory instead of using the tool, you did it wrong.
- Paper only works while the Paper app is open with a file open. If you cannot reach it, tell me to open it. Do not fake the design in chat.
- Never put a link button and a plain URL in the same DM. Pick one.
- DM message under 640 characters. Button labels 20 characters or fewer.
- Keywords match whole words only. If my keyword lives inside a longer word people actually type, warn me before you build it.
- Do not create, send or schedule anything before I confirm at the checkpoint.

The 7 Things That Quietly Break These

None of these are in the setup docs. All of them have cost me time.

• Claude will not use a connector unless you point at it
  With four installed, Claude sometimes answers from memory instead of reaching for a tool. Say the name out loud in the prompt. "Use Firecrawl to scrape" beats "look at this site." This one fix solves most of the "it is not working" messages I get.
• The -s user flag is the one people drop
  In Claude Code, leaving off -s user means the connector only exists in the one folder you were standing in when you added it. Open a different project and it is gone. Add it once at the user level and it follows you everywhere.
• Paper only works while the app is open
  The connection is your computer talking to itself. Close the Paper app and the connector goes dead mid-conversation, which reads like Claude broke. Open Paper, open a file, then ask.
• Paper will not show up until you restart Claude
  A chat that was already open when you added Paper will never see it. Quit Claude completely and open it again. And it will never appear in claude.ai in a browser, because it lives on your computer.
• Blotato needs you logged in, in the same browser
  If you are signed out of Blotato when you hit connect, the approval screen never completes and you get a connector that looks added but does nothing. Log in first, then connect.
• Your own comments never trigger your automation
  You will test the comment-to-DM flow on your own post, see nothing happen, and assume it is broken. Blotato ignores comments from the account that owns the automation. Test from a second Instagram account.
• Keywords match whole words only
  MCP matches mcp. It does not match MCPs. Tell people the exact word to comment, and never pick one that lives inside a longer word people actually type.

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Connect your accounts, get a feel for it, then subscribe and paste the comment-to-DM prompt above to build the flow on your next post. Use the code below when you subscribe.

ZACH30

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