# Connect Zira to Claude

Source: https://help.zira.us/developers/how-to-guides/connect-zira-to-claude
Summary: Let Claude read your production data and act in Zira — ask about a line's readings, find a task, or open one — by connecting Zira as a tool.
Updated: 2026-09-07

Connect Zira to Claude and you can ask about your plant in plain language:

```text
Why did the trim saw stall last night? Check its readings around 22:00.
```

```text
Open a task for maintenance on line 3, high priority, due tomorrow.
```

Claude reads the data itself and does the work in Zira. You do not paste readings in or copy
results out.

This is different from the [documentation MCP server](/developers/how-to-guides/connect-the-documentation-mcp-server),
which teaches Claude *how Zira works*. This one gives Claude access to *your Zira data*. Most teams
want both.

## The quick way

Zira can set this up for you. In Zira, click your **profile picture** in the top right and choose
**Connect to Claude** — or go straight to [my.zira.us/connect](https://my.zira.us/connect).

1. Choose the site you want Claude to work with.
2. Choose whether Claude may make changes, or only read.
3. Click **Connect to Claude**.
4. Pick your client, click **Copy**, and paste what you copied where it tells you.

That is the whole setup.

**One connection covers one site.** If you look after several sites, come back and connect each one
you want Claude to reach — there is no single connection that covers them all.

Everything below is the manual version, for integrators who would rather assemble it themselves.

---

## The manual way

### What you need

An **API key**. It identifies which Zira data the connection can reach, and you can revoke it at
any time.

### Step 1 — Get an API key

1. In Zira, open **Channels** and go to the relevant channel or company.
2. Open the **Applications** tab.
3. Click the add action.
4. Name it something you will recognise later — **Claude**.
5. Generate the key and **copy it before closing the dialog**. It is shown once.

The key can only reach the site and company it was created under. If you want Claude limited to one
part of your operation, create the key there.

### Step 2 — Add the connection in Claude

#### Claude Code

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http zira https://my.zira.us/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR-API-KEY"
```

#### Clients configured with a JSON file

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zira": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://my.zira.us/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR-API-KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Replace `YOUR-API-KEY` with the key from step 1.

Claude Code picks the connection up in your next session. Claude Desktop reads its config file when
it starts, so restart it. Other clients vary — reload yours if the tools do not appear.

### Step 3 — Try it

Ask something only your Zira data can answer:

```text
List my data sources.
```

If Claude comes back with your real data sources, you are connected.

## Read-only connections

To let Claude look but never change anything, add `?mode=read` to the URL:

```text
https://my.zira.us/api/mcp?mode=read
```

That connection can query readings, data sources, tasks and files, and cannot post, create, or
update anything. It is a good default for a first trial, or for anyone who only needs answers.

## What Claude can do

**Look at things** — read a data source and its schema, query and export readings, list and search
tasks, fetch a file, get an import URL.

**Change things** (unless you used `?mode=read`) — post readings, create and update tasks, post to a
channel, set a device's status, start a file upload.

The tools that change things are marked as such, so Claude asks before using them. Treat that prompt
as a real confirmation: **creating a task notifies the assignee, and posting to a channel is visible
to everyone following it.**

## Good to know

- **The key is the connection.** Anyone holding it has the access it was created with. Store it the
  way you would a password, and revoke it from the **Applications** tab if it leaks or if you stop
  using it.
- **Ask for names, not IDs.** "The bandsaw in Plant 2" is enough — Claude searches for it and finds
  the ID itself.
- **Narrow your time ranges.** "Last night between 21:00 and 23:00" gets a fast, precise answer;
  "this year" returns far more than Claude can read at once.
- **It cannot see everything.** The connection covers the data sources, readings, tasks and files
  the API exposes. Dashboards, forms and vision models are not reachable this way.

## Related pages

- [Connect the Documentation MCP Server](/developers/how-to-guides/connect-the-documentation-mcp-server)
- [Generate an API Key](/developers/how-to-guides/generate-an-api-key)
- [Authentication and Conventions](/developers/api-reference/authentication-and-conventions)