Overview
What Is In This Guide
The two kinds of MCP, and why half of people get stuck before they install anything
All 5 connectors ranked, with the exact setup for browser, desktop and Claude Code
My real tips for each one, including the mistakes that cost me an afternoon
The full comment-to-DM prompt for Blotato, given away in full
One prompt that runs all 5 back to back on a real post, so you see the whole machine
The 8 things that quietly break these, none of which are in the setup docs
Number 1 On This List
Blotato free for 7 days, then 30% off
Blotato partnered with me on this guide, and it earned the top spot. It is the only one of the five that closes the loop: Claude writes it, schedules it everywhere, and then builds the comment-to-DM automation that turns the comments into followers and email subscribers. Try the whole thing free for 7 days before you pay anything. When you subscribe, the code below takes 30% off for 3 months.
ZACH30 First
The Part Nobody Explains
An MCP is just a door. It gives Claude the ability to go touch something outside the chat window instead of guessing at it from memory. That is the whole idea, and the name does it no favors.
Here is what trips people up, and it is why most setup videos leave half the comments section confused. There are two completely different kinds, and they do not install the same way.
Remote
Higgsfield, Perplexity, Composio, Blotato
These live on the internet as a URL. You paste the URL into Claude once and sign in. Nothing runs on your machine, so they work everywhere: claude.ai in a browser, the Claude desktop app, and Claude Code.
Local
Paper
This one runs on your own computer, inside the Paper app. There is no public URL to paste. That means the desktop app or Claude Code, and it cannot work in claude.ai in a browser. Nothing is broken if you cannot find it there.
So if you are working in claude.ai in a browser, four of these five go in tonight and the fifth needs the desktop app or Claude Code. That is not a limitation you did something wrong to hit. It is just what a browser can and cannot reach.
Every remote one installs the exact same way, so learn it once: sidebar, Customize, Connectors, the + button, Add custom connector, paste a name and a URL, sign in. That is it, five times.
5 — Remote
Higgsfield
This connects Claude to basically every AI image and video model on the market, from the chat window you are already in.
Claude cannot make images on its own. With Higgsfield on, it can reach for Seedance, Kling, Nano Banana, GPT Image 2, and the rest, and pick the right one for the job instead of forcing everything through one model. Ask for a thumbnail, a product shot, or a short clip and it makes it right there.
Claude in a browser, or the desktop app
In the left sidebar, click Customize, then Connectors.
Click the + button, then Add custom connector.
Name it Higgsfield, URL https://mcp.higgsfield.ai/mcp
Press connect, sign in when the window opens, and approve access.
Claude Code, one line
My tips
Name the model. "Make a video" gets you whatever Claude feels like. "Use Seedance 2.0" or "use GPT Image 2 because there is text in it" gets you the right tool for what you actually asked for.
Generations burn Higgsfield credits, not your Claude usage. Check your balance before you ask for 20 videos in one message.
Video takes a minute. If Claude says it started a job and then goes quiet, just say "check the status of that Higgsfield job." It is not stuck.
Say one of these the second it connects
Use Higgsfield to make 3 versions of a thumbnail for this video, different model each time, then tell me which one wins and why.
Use Higgsfield to turn this image into a 5-second clip where the camera slowly pushes in.
Which Higgsfield model should I use for a talking-head style ad, and what will it cost me in credits?
4 — Remote
Perplexity
This gives Claude access to the most powerful AI research model on the planet.
It pulls live information off the internet with actual sources attached, instead of Claude answering from memory and hoping. It is the difference between "I think" and "I checked, and here is where it came from." If you only install one thing on this list, install this one.
Claude in a browser, or the desktop app
In the left sidebar, click Customize, then Connectors.
Click the + button, then Add custom connector.
Name it Perplexity, URL https://api.perplexity.ai/mcp
Press connect, sign in when the window opens, and approve access.
Claude Code, one line
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 publish it.
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.
Say one of these the second it connects
Use Perplexity to research what changed in AI agents in the last 30 days, with a source for every claim.
Use Perplexity to fact check this paragraph line by line and tell me which parts you could not verify.
Use Perplexity to find 5 companies hiring for this exact role right now and what they pay.
3 — Remote
Composio
This connects Claude to all the apps you already use. Gmail, Notion, Slack, Stripe, Google Calendar, hundreds more.
The best part is that it does all of that through one connector. Instead of setting up every app one at a time, you connect Composio once and add apps behind it whenever you want.
Claude in a browser, or the desktop app
In the left sidebar, click Customize, then Connectors.
Click the + button, then Add custom connector.
Name it Composio, URL https://connect.composio.dev/mcp
Press connect, sign in when the window opens, and approve access.
Claude Code, one line
My tips
Connecting Composio does not connect your apps. The first time you ask for Gmail it hands you a sign-in link for Gmail. Do that once per app and it sticks.
Name the app and the action. "Search Gmail for the latest thread with Acme" works. "Check on Acme" makes Claude guess which of your hundred tools to open.
Say "draft" when you mean draft. Send and create-a-draft are one word apart in a prompt and very different in real life. Start every new app with a read-only ask.
Say one of these the second it connects
Use Composio to find my unread Gmail from today and sort it into urgent, needs a reply, and can wait. Do not send or change anything.
Use Composio to pull this month’s Stripe revenue and compare it to last month.
Use Composio to turn my Notion page called "Ideas" into a to-do list, then show me before you change anything.
2 — Local
Paper
Paper is a design tool I just started using and it is stupid good. Websites, social graphics, anything that needs to look nice.
The reason it beats asking Claude for an image is that Paper is a real canvas. Claude designs on it, and then you click in and edit anything it made. No more "make the blue a little darker" three times in a row in a chat. You grab it and fix it yourself.
And you can do it at scale without ever leaving Claude. Ask for ten versions of a graphic and you get ten, sitting next to each other, ready to pick from.
Claude desktop app
Download Paper Desktop, open it, and open any file. Opening a file is what turns the connection on.
In Claude, go to Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
Name paper, URL http://127.0.0.1:29979/mcp. Save, then fully quit and reopen Claude.
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 Code, one line
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 first and open any file.
Test it with "create a red rectangle in Paper." If a red rectangle shows up on your canvas, you are connected and you can stop debugging.
Fonts have to be installed on your computer. Paper reads your system fonts and Google Fonts, so if a design comes out in the wrong font, install the font and restart Paper.
Ask for variations, not revisions. "Make 10 versions of this graphic next to the original" is the whole reason to use it. Then you click into the one you like and fix it by hand.
Say one of these the second it connects
Design a 1080x1350 Instagram graphic in Paper that says "3 things I learned this week." Clean, lots of white space.
Look at the frame I have selected in Paper and make 10 color variations of it next to the original.
Build a landing page hero in Paper for my business, then give me the code for it.
1 — Remote
Blotato
This connects Claude to every one of your social accounts. Posting, repurposing, analytics, post graphics, all of it from the chat window you are already in.
And it just dropped comment-to-DM automations, which is the part that makes it number 1. You 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.
The link goes out the second someone comments. It can make them follow you before they get it. And you can build a dozen of these from one message. No ManyChat, no $40 a month, and you never leave Claude.
Claude in a browser, or the desktop app
Log in to Blotato first, in the same browser, and connect the social accounts you want Claude to reach.
In the left sidebar, click Customize, then Connectors.
Click the + button, then Add custom connector.
Name it Blotato, URL https://mcp.blotato.com/mcp
Press connect and approve access. Then say "use Blotato to list my connected accounts." If your accounts come back, you are done.
Claude Code, one line
The Unfair Part
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 recently that meant a separate tool and a separate subscription.
Now it is four sentences inside Claude. Here is exactly what happens once it is live.
Someone comments your keyword
Blotato is watching that post and matches the word. Case does not matter, so TOOLS, Tools and tools all fire the same flow.
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.
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, no you sitting there at 11pm pasting a URL 400 times.
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.
The full prompt. Fill in 4 lines, paste it, done.
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
TOOLS
https://zachdoesai.com/5-claude-mcps
the setup guide for all 5 connectors
the reel I just published
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.
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.
Your own comments never trigger your automation. Blotato ignores the account that owns it. Test from a second Instagram account or you will think it is broken.
Say one of these the second it connects
Use Blotato to list my connected accounts.
Use Blotato to show me my 5 best posts from the last 30 days and what they have in common.
Use Blotato to schedule this caption to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts for tomorrow at 9am. Show me before you schedule it.
Blotato is the tool I use for this. Sign up through my link and code ZACH30 takes 30% off for 3 months.
Do It Tonight
All 5, In About 10 Minutes
Order matters a little, mostly so you do not get stuck on the hardest one first and quit. Go in this order.
Perplexity first, because it is the one you will use every single day. Paste the URL, sign in, pick the org that pays. Done.
Higgsfield next. Same three clicks, no API key. Ask it for one image right away so you know it took.
Composio third. Connect it, then connect one app behind it, usually Gmail. Do not try to connect nine apps tonight.
Blotato fourth. Log in to Blotato in the same browser first, then connect, then say "list my connected accounts" to prove it worked.
Paper last, because it is the only one that needs an app open on your computer. Open Paper, open a file, then add it.
Test each one with a single sentence that names it. If Claude says it cannot do something, it did not load the connector. Restart, then ask again.
The Whole Machine
One Prompt That Uses All 5
One connector is useful. Five working together is a different thing entirely. This prompt takes one topic and runs the whole loop: Perplexity researches it with sources, Composio pulls your own emails and notes so it sounds like you, Paper designs the cover, Higgsfield makes the b-roll, and Blotato schedules it and builds the comment-to-DM automation on the post.
It stops and shows you the work at every checkpoint. Nothing gets posted, sent or created until you say go.
Copy-paste prompt
Run my whole content loop using the 5 connectors I have installed. Use each one by name. Stop and show me the output at every checkpoint before you move on. FILL THIS IN BEFORE YOU PASTE: - TOPIC: [the thing I want to post about this week] Example: why most people's AI setup is broken - MY NICHE: [who I make content for] Example: beginners who want to use AI at work - KEYWORD: [one word, all caps, what people comment to get the free thing] Example: TOOLS - LINK: [the URL the DM sends them to] Example: https://yoursite.com/free-guide STEP 1. RESEARCH (Perplexity) Use Perplexity to find what actually changed about TOPIC in the last 30 days. I want real sources, not your memory. Give me: - The 5 most recent concrete facts, each with a link - What the loudest opinion online is 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 2. CONTEXT (Composio) Use Composio to pull my own material so this sounds like me and not like the internet: - Search my Gmail for the last 5 threads where someone asked me about TOPIC - Pull my Notion page of content ideas and find anything related - Tell me which of my own past examples I should use, and why that one If an app is not connected yet, say so and give me the sign-in link. Do not guess at the contents. CHECKPOINT: show me what you found and which example you picked. STEP 3. THE SCRIPT Write a 40-second short-form script for MY NICHE using the research from Step 1 and my own example from Step 2. Rules: - Open with the single most surprising fact, not a question - One idea per line, short lines, spoken language - Third-grade reading level, no jargon - End with: comment KEYWORD and I'll send it CHECKPOINT: show me the script. Wait for my edits. STEP 4. THE GRAPHIC (Paper) In Paper, design a 1080x1350 cover graphic for this post. Pull the hook line from the script. Clean, lots of white space, one accent color, big readable type. Then make 3 variations of it next to the original so I can pick. CHECKPOINT: tell me when the frames are on my canvas. STEP 5. THE VISUAL (Higgsfield) Use Higgsfield to make the b-roll. Name the model, do not let it pick for you: - 3 still images for the hook, using GPT Image 2 because there is text involved - One 5-second clip from the best of those three, using Seedance 2.0, slow push-in Check the job status if it goes quiet. Tell me the credit cost before you run anything. CHECKPOINT: show me the three stills first. I pick one, then you make the clip. STEP 6. SHIP IT (Blotato) Use Blotato to do the last mile: 1. Call blotato_list_accounts and tell me which accounts you are about to use 2. Write the caption. First line is: Comment "KEYWORD" and I'll send you [the free thing] 3. Schedule the post to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts for tomorrow at 9am 4. 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. - 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.
Before You Message Me
The 8 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 five installed, Claude sometimes answers from memory instead of reaching for a tool. Say the name out loud in the prompt. "Use Perplexity to research" beats "research". This one fix solves most of the "it is not working" messages I get.
You have to restart after adding a local connector
Paper will not appear in a session that was already open when you added it. Quit Claude completely and start it again. Not a bug, and not something the install output tells you.
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.
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.
Never put a button and a plain URL in the same DM
A message carrying both leaves the URL unclickable on desktop, so those readers end up with no working link at all. Pick one. Button for a mobile audience, plain URL for a desktop-heavy one.
Keywords match whole words only
TOOLS matches tools. It does not match toolstack. Pick a word nobody types inside a normal sentence, and never pick one that lives inside a longer word people actually use.
Install all 5, then point at them by name. That is the whole thing.
Start With Number 1
Try Blotato free for 7 days
Connect it to Claude, paste the comment-to-DM prompt above, and watch it build the flow on your next post. When you are ready to subscribe, use the code below.
ZACH30 30% off, valid 3 months