Connect your Hand

ChatGPT

What you need A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan, on ChatGPT for web. The free plan cannot add a custom connector at all. On Business and Enterprise an administrator has to allow it first.

1. Turn on developer mode

   In ChatGPT, open Settings → Security and login and switch on Developer mode.

   Do this first. Until developer mode is on, the button in the next step will not create anything — which is why it looks as though the option is missing.

   

2. Open the plug-ins page

   Go to chatgpt.com/plugins, or pick Plug-ins from the sidebar. Click the + at the top right.

   

3. Fill in your Hand's details

   Name — whatever you called your Hand, so you recognize it in the tool menu later.
   Description — optional.
   Connection — leave it on Server URL and paste the connector URL from your account page.
   Authentication — OAuth.

   You do not need a client ID or a client secret, and you do not paste your access key here. Your Hand registers ChatGPT by itself.

   

4. Accept the warning

   ChatGPT tells you it has not reviewed this server and that a malicious one could try to steal data or mislead the model. Tick I understand and want to continue.

   This warning is correct and you should read it. It appears for every server OpenAI has not vetted, and ours is one of them — we are not in their directory.

   What it protects you from is real: a hostile MCP server can hide instructions in the data it returns. Yours only does what you ask it to, and write actions ask you for confirmation before they run. If you ever see this warning on a server you did not deliberately add, do not continue.

5. Authorize your Hand and scan its tools

   Choose Scan Tools. In ChatGPT's authorization window, click Log in with [name of your Hand]. The button shows the name you entered when you created the app.

   

   ChatGPT then opens the Hands MCP authorization page. Paste the access key from your Hand's Connection details and click Authorize. The connector URL belongs in ChatGPT's app form; only the access key belongs on this page.

   Treat the access key like a password. Never paste it into a chat, email or screenshot. If it has been exposed, stop using it and contact us to replace it.

   

   Return to ChatGPT, wait for the scan to finish, review the tools, and choose Create.

   Do not continue with an empty tool list. Open the app details and choose Refresh to pull the tools, descriptions and server instructions again. Reauthorise if asked, confirm that tools are listed, and start a new conversation. If Refresh still returns no tools, the Hand endpoint needs a runtime check.

6. Use it in a conversation

   In a new chat, open the + menu in the composer, choose Developer mode and select your Hand. It is not on by default in every conversation.

   Name it in your prompt and ChatGPT will reach for it: "Use Mila to open the Q3 budget and add a July tab." Anything that writes, changes or deletes asks you to confirm first.

Claude

What you need Any plan, including Free — a free account can add one custom connector and therefore one Hand. Multiple Hands may require a paid Claude plan. On Team and Enterprise only an Owner can add it.

1. Open your connectors

   In Claude, go to Customize → Connectors.

   On Team or Enterprise this is an Owner's job, under Organization settings → Connectors → Add → hover Custom → Web. Everyone else then finds it in their own connector list and clicks Connect.

   

2. Add a custom connector

   Give it the name of your Hand and paste the connector URL from its Connection details. Leave Advanced settings alone — the OAuth client ID and secret there are for servers that cannot register a client themselves. Yours can.

   Click Add.

   

3. Connect and enter your Hands access key

   Open the new connector and click Connect. Claude opens the Hands authorization flow. If Claude first shows a consent or sign-in screen, choose Log in with [name of your Hand].

   

   On the Hands MCP authorization page, paste the access key from the same Connection details window and click Authorize. The connector URL belongs in Claude; only the access key belongs on this Hands page.

   Treat the access key like a password. Never paste it into a chat, email or screenshot. If it has been exposed, stop using it and contact us to replace it.

   

   Claude warns that custom connectors link it to services Anthropic has not verified and can take actions in. As with ChatGPT, this is correct, expected, and worth reading instead of dismissing.

4. Choose what Claude may do without asking

   Connecting the Hand does not set its tool permissions. Open the connector again and choose a permission for each category. This setting belongs to Claude; Hands cannot bypass it.

   Recommended Read-only tools: Always allow
   Write/delete tools: Needs approval

   More autonomous Both categories: Always allow
   Only for your own trusted Hand.

   Always allow removes Claude's approval prompt for those tool calls. It does not guarantee that Claude will never ask a normal clarifying question when your request is ambiguous.

   

5. Switch it on per conversation

   Use the + button at the lower left of a chat, choose Connectors, and toggle your Hand on.

   One thing to know: Claude has no edit button for connectors. To change the URL later you remove it and add it again.

Perplexity

What you need Your connector URL and access key from Hands, and a Perplexity account where Custom connectors are available. In an organization, an admin may control whether you can add one.

1. Open your connectors

   In Perplexity, go to Customize → Connectors. This page contains built-in connectors and your custom ones.

   

2. Use the right + option

   Click + Add custom connector. Do not choose Connect your own API: that opens Perplexity's credential vault for external APIs and does not add a Hands MCP connector.

   

3. Fill in the connector details

   Name — the name of your Hand.
   Description — optional.
   MCP server URL — the connector URL from your Hand's Connection details.

   Leave Advanced alone. Tick the acknowledgement that custom connectors can introduce risks, then click Add.

   

4. Authorize it with your Hands access key

   Open the connector after adding it. On the Hands authorization page, paste the access key from the same Connection details window, then click Authorize. The connector URL went into Perplexity; only the access key goes on this page.

   Treat the access key like a password. Do not paste it into a chat, email or screenshot. If it is ever exposed, stop using it and contact us to replace it.

   

5. Add it where you want to use it

   Registering the connector and adding it to your current Perplexity context are two separate actions. In the project or context where you want the Hand, click + Add connector and select it. The small + on a connector card serves the same purpose.

   Then name the Hand in your prompt, for example: "Use Mila to inspect this folder."

   

Any other client

What you need The same two things as above: the connector URL and the access key from your Hand's Connection details. Anything that speaks MCP over HTTP can use them.

A client with a form asks for the URL and sends you to the authorization page afterwards. A client configured from a file takes this shape:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hands": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://<your-connector-url>"
    }
  }
}

From a command line that speaks remote MCP, the same thing in one line:

claude mcp add --transport http hands https://<your-connector-url>

Both then open your Hand's own authorization page, which is where the access key goes — the same step as in the guides above.

Written for machines: skill.md describes what a Hand can do, llms.txt indexes every page on this site.