Enterprise Search & Connectors Basics
8 examples to get you started with Enterprise Search & Connectors - 5 basic and 3 intermediate.
Prerequisites
- You need admin or workspace-owner access to your Claude.ai plan to enable connectors for the first time; individual users can usually connect their own personal accounts (like their own Drive) without admin help.
- Have login credentials ready for the tool you plan to connect first, since connecting requires an authorization step with that tool.
- Know roughly which folder, channel, or space you want Claude to search - deciding this before you connect makes the permission step much faster.
Basic Examples
1. Understanding What a Connector Does
A connector is a live, permissioned link between Claude and one of your company's tools.
- It lets Claude search that tool's content instead of relying only on what you paste into a chat.
- Search happens live against the source, so answers reflect current documents, not a stale copy.
- Nothing is connected by default - a person has to set it up and approve what it can see.
Related: How Claude's Enterprise Search Connects to Your Company's Knowledge - the concept behind connectors.
2. Connecting Your First Data Source
Most first connections start from account or workspace settings.
- Open Settings, then look for a "Connectors" or "Integrations" section.
- Choose the tool you want to connect (for example Google Drive) and select "Connect."
- You will be redirected to that tool to sign in and approve access - this is a standard OAuth-style authorization, not a Claude-specific login.
- Once approved, the connector appears as "Connected" and is ready to search.
3. Trying Your First Connected Search
Once a source is connected, you can ask Claude a question that draws on it directly.
- A sample prompt: "Summarize the latest updates from the #product-launch Slack channel."
- Claude searches the connected source for relevant content and answers using what it finds.
- The answer should include citations pointing back to the specific messages or documents used.
- If Claude says it found nothing relevant, the content may be outside the connector's permission scope.
4. Checking What a Connector Can See
Before relying on a connector, confirm its scope rather than assuming it.
- Open the connector's settings from the same "Connectors" screen where you set it up.
- Look for the list of folders, channels, or record types it was authorized against.
- If the scope looks too broad (an entire Drive account instead of one shared folder, for example), narrow it.
- Re-check this after any major reorganization of the connected tool, since folder structures change.
5. Reading a Citation Back to Its Source
Every answer that draws on a connector should be traceable.
- Claude marks which parts of an answer came from a connected source.
- Clicking or opening a citation takes you back to the original document, message, or record.
- Use this to verify an answer before acting on it, especially for anything consequential.
- If an answer has no citation, treat it as general knowledge rather than something pulled from your company's data.
Related: How Claude Cites Internal Sources in Answers - a closer look at citation behavior.
Intermediate Examples
6. Comparing Two Connectors Before You Commit
Not every tool is connected the same way, and it is worth knowing why before you set one up.
- Some connectors are first-party, built and maintained directly by Anthropic.
- Others are MCP-based, using the open Model Context Protocol to reach a wider range of tools.
- Both let Claude search outside data; the practical difference is who builds and maintains the integration over time.
- If you need a tool without a first-party option, an MCP-based connector may be the only path available.
Related: First-Party vs MCP-Based Connectors: What's the Difference - the full comparison.
7. Connecting a Second Source and Cross-Referencing
Once one connector works, adding a second lets Claude combine sources in a single answer.
- A sample prompt after connecting both Slack and Notion: "Compare what was decided in the #roadmap channel with what's documented in the Q3 planning page in Notion."
- Claude searches both connected sources and reconciles what it finds, citing each one separately.
- Discrepancies between sources become visible instead of hidden, which is often the most useful part of the answer.
- This pattern scales to more sources as your team connects them.
Related: Connecting Slack and Notion to Claude Step by Step - a full walkthrough of this exact setup.
8. Preparing a Connector for Team-Wide Rollout
Moving a connector from "one person tried it" to "the whole team uses it" needs a deliberate check first.
- List every folder, channel, or record type the connector would expose once every team member is included.
- Confirm the scope matches what the team actually needs, not the tool's widest available access.
- Assign an owner (usually IT or an admin) to review and approve the rollout.
- Only enable it broadly after that review, not before.
Related: Connector Rollout Checklist for IT Admins - the full pre-rollout checklist.
Stack versions: Written against the Claude model lineup current as of ~June 2026 - Claude Fable 5, Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Sonnet 5 (the default), and Claude Haiku 4.5. Model names, pricing, and product features move quickly - verify current specifics at platform.claude.com/docs before relying on them.