Claude connector guide

How to connect Claude to Salesforce

Salesforce connects to Claude through its hosted MCP servers. A Salesforce admin creates an External Client App and turns on the MCP servers the team needs. Then each rep adds Salesforce in Claude as a custom connector and signs in. Salesforce also lists a beta connector in Claude’s directory. Every action runs as the signed-in user, with that user’s Salesforce permissions.

Updated . Part of our guide to Claude connectors for sales.

Set it up in five steps

Steps 1 to 3 are a one-time job for a Salesforce admin. Steps 4 and 5 are for each rep. Try it in a sandbox first: sandbox server URLs add /sandbox/ before the server name.

  1. Create an External Client App

    admin

    In Setup, search for External Client App Manager and click New External Client App. Turn on OAuth and set the callback URL to https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback. Salesforce doesn’t support Connected Apps for MCP.

  2. Add the scopes and security settings

    admin

    Add the scopes Access MCP servers (mcp_api) and Perform requests at any time (refresh_token). Under Security, select JWT-based access tokens for named users. Create the app and copy its consumer key. It can take up to 30 minutes to start working.

  3. Turn on the servers your team needs

    admin

    In Setup, search for MCP Servers under API Catalog and toggle on the ones you want. They’re all off by default. SObject Reads (read and query only) is the safe start for reps. SObject All adds create, update, and delete.

  4. Add the custom connector

    each rep

    In Claude, go to Customize, then Connectors, and add a custom connector. Name it Salesforce and paste the server URL, for example https://api.salesforce.com/platform/mcp/v1/platform/sobject-reads. In the advanced settings, paste the consumer key as the OAuth client ID.

  5. Connect and approve access

    Click Connect. Claude sends you to Salesforce to log in and approve. Back in Claude, click Configure on the connector and set any tool that changes data to Needs approval.

What Claude can do in Salesforce

From Salesforce’s and Anthropic’s own docs, as of October 20, 2026.

Reads

  • Any standard or custom object your Salesforce user can see: accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities, cases, and activities
  • Queries and searches across those objects
  • Data 360 and Tableau Next data, through their own servers

Changes

  • Create and update records, through SObject Mutations or SObject All
  • Delete records, only through SObject All or SObject Deletes
  • Run Flows, Apex actions, and named queries an admin exposes as custom tools
  • Log a call and other tasks through Headless 360 (beta)

Can’t do

  • Nothing works until an admin turns the servers on. Clients can’t connect to a disabled server, even with the right login.
  • Claude can’t do anything the signed-in user can’t do in Salesforce. Audit trails attribute every action to that user.
  • Standard servers have fixed tool sets. Admins can’t edit them, but they can build custom servers.

Claude or Agentforce for your reps?

Agentforce is Salesforce’s own agent platform. Your admins build and run it inside Salesforce, on Salesforce data.

Claude connected through MCP works from outside Salesforce, in the same chat where a rep also has email, calendar, and call notes. It reaches into Salesforce as that rep, which suits the quick questions and updates that would otherwise mean building a report or editing a record by hand.

Three prompts to try with Salesforce

Copy one, swap in your own deal, and run it with Salesforce turned on. The replies are examples with a made-up company, Acme.

  1. Prompt 1

    Pipeline check without building a report

    Ask for exactly the view you need. Claude queries opportunities as you and returns them in a list you can act on.

    You

    Using Salesforce, list my open opportunities closing this quarter with stage, amount, and next step. Flag any where the next step is empty or the close date has already passed.

    ClaudeExample

    3 opportunities closing this quarter

    • Acme: Negotiation, $64,000, next step empty
    • Globex: Proposal, close date passed Oct 15
    • Initech: Discovery, $18,000, demo Oct 30
  2. Prompt 2

    Log the call and update the opportunity

    Give Claude your notes and the changes. With write tools on Needs approval, you confirm each one before it saves.

    You

    Log a call on the Acme opportunity in Salesforce with these notes, set the next step to “pricing review with their CFO,” and push the close date out two weeks. Show me each change before you save it.

    ClaudeExample

    Changes to save on Acme

    • Call logged with your notes
    • Next step: pricing review with their CFO
    • Close date: Nov 14 to Nov 28
    • Save these 3 changes?
  3. Prompt 3

    Account brief before a call

    Claude pulls the account, its open opportunity, and recent activity, so you walk in knowing what was last promised.

    You

    Before my call with Acme, pull the account and its open opportunity from Salesforce: contacts and roles, recent activities, open cases, and what we last promised them.

    ClaudeExample

    Acme account brief

    • Contacts: Jordan Lee (champion), Sam Ortiz (CFO)
    • Open case: an SSO setup question
    • Last promised: revised pricing by Friday

Claude with Salesforce vs Arrows

Claude can drive one tool when one rep asks. Arrows drives the whole team’s stack on every deal, with no prompt. Arrows reads the context on the opportunity and writes the property changes back, so nobody has to keep two systems in step by hand.

Claudewith the Salesforce connectorArrows
Who starts the workA rep types a prompt.Arrows starts on its own when something happens on a deal. No prompt.
How many dealsThe one the rep is asking about.Every deal in the pipeline.
What it followsThat rep’s prompt.Your team’s playbook and each deal’s gameplan.
Which toolsSalesforce, plus whatever else that rep has connected.Your team’s CRM, email, call recorder, and docs, through MCP.
Who decides what can happenEach person’s tool permissions: Always allow, Needs approval, or Blocked.Leaders set Off, Ask first, or Allow for every tool, for the whole team.
Logging the callA rep asks Claude to log it, one call at a time.Arrows updates Salesforce from the call, the emails, and the deal’s gameplan, for the rep to approve.
SetupAn admin builds the External Client App, then each rep adds a custom connector.We connect Salesforce at your agent kickoff, along with your email, calendar, and call recorder.

Arrows is its own product, not part of Claude. Your reps can keep using Claude alongside it.

Agent kickoff

Every tool. Every deal. No prompts.

An Agent Architect connects your stack and sets what Arrows can do in each tool. Then Arrows does the follow-through on every deal, and your reps approve what matters.

Book an agent kickoff
Tool permissionsExample settings
  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot
  • Gmail
  • Gong
  • Granola

Salesforce and Claude: common questions

Is there a Salesforce connector for Claude?

Yes, two routes. Salesforce’s hosted MCP servers connect as a custom connector once an admin sets up an External Client App. Salesforce also lists a beta connector, Headless 360, in Claude’s directory. For reps working deals, the SObject servers are the simpler choice.

Does Salesforce have an MCP server?

Yes. Salesforce hosts standard MCP servers: SObject All, SObject Reads, SObject Mutations, and SObject Deletes for records, plus servers for Data 360, Tableau Next, and Headless 360 (beta). They’re off by default, and an admin turns on the ones the team needs.

How do I connect Salesforce to Claude?

An admin creates an External Client App with the callback URL https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback and the mcp_api and refresh_token scopes, then turns on the MCP servers. Each rep adds a custom connector in Claude with the server URL and the app’s consumer key, then signs in to Salesforce.

Can Claude update Salesforce records?

Yes, if an admin turns on SObject Mutations or SObject All. Claude can then create and update records as the signed-in user, within that user’s object permissions, field-level security, and sharing rules. Delete is a separate server.

Is it safe to connect Claude to Salesforce?

It runs inside Salesforce’s security model: per-user OAuth, the user’s own permissions on every call, and an audit trail. Admins can limit who connects with a permission set, shorten token life, and start reps on the read-only server. In Claude, set write tools to Needs approval.

Should reps use Claude or Agentforce?

They do different jobs. Agentforce is Salesforce’s agent platform, built by admins inside Salesforce. Claude works from outside it, next to email and call notes, when a rep asks. Neither works every deal on its own. That’s the part Arrows does.

What is Claudeforce?

Claudeforce is the partnership Salesforce and Anthropic announced on August 26, 2026 to put Salesforce data, workflows, and governance to work inside Claude. It launched with Salesforce in Claude, a plugin with 37 prebuilt sales skills. As of October 2026, Salesforce lists it as a pilot for select customers. An open beta was planned for September 2026.

More Claude connector guides

All sales tools that connect to Claude →Arrows CRM integrations →

Sources