Connect your agent to an app with no connector or plugin
Let your agent help you read or update another app, even when no ready-made connector or plugin does your task.
Outcome
A connection that has done one small task, with access you chose and a result you checked.
Member starter
Members onlyStart with your agent
Copy the directions into your AI app. Your agent can help with the setup; the steps below explain what to do and what to check.
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How it works
Suppose you want your agent to list your upcoming events or draft a new one in another app. The usual route is a ready-made link your AI app offers: Claude calls it a connector, and ChatGPT and Codex call it a plugin. When none exists for your app, or none can do your particular job, your agent may still be able to do the task.
An API lets other software ask an app for data or actions, such as listing events. An MCP connection uses the Model Context Protocol to give an AI application access to information or actions exposed by an MCP server. It may be supplied by an existing integration or configured separately. Computer use lets an agent operate on-screen buttons and fields the way you would, including on a web page in a browser. Your agent can check which route supports your task and help set it up. You choose the account and what it may access, then check the result of one small test before relying on it.
Connect the app, then try one small task
01 Find a way to do your task
You have a particular job in mind, in a particular app. Before building anything, check that some route can do that exact job, because an app may let software read an event but not publish one.
Tell your agent the app and action, such as “list my upcoming Eventbrite events.” Ask it to compare the routes that support it and explain which needs the least setup.
Ask your agent to find a connection
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Check: The agent names a supported option, links to its official instructions, and explains any account requirements.
An example of the API route: Eventbrite's developer documentation lists what other software can ask for. 02 Choose what the connection can access
Before the connection works, you choose which account it uses and what it may do there, such as read only. Often you grant this by signing in to the app. Some routes instead need an API key or token, a secret code that works like a password for software. Anyone holding it may be able to use that access, so it never goes in the chat.
Ask your agent to guide the sign-in and explain each permission. If the route needs a key or token, enter it yourself where your agent recommends, outside the chat.
Get help with sign-in and permissions
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Check: You know which account is connected and whether it can read, create, or change items.
For a work account, follow your organization’s rules. If a setting you need is locked, ask your administrator.
Eventbrite's help page for creating an API key. Eventbrite reviews each request and emails you when the key is approved. Many connections use a normal sign-in instead; follow the current instructions for yours. 03 Ask your agent to prepare the action
With access set up, the agent needs to know exactly what to ask the app for. A connector, plugin, or MCP connection may already include that action. On the API route, the agent may write a small script, a saved set of computer instructions, that sends the request.
Describe one thing to read or change and the result you expect. For example: “List my upcoming events and save their names and dates in my project notes.” Ask the agent to prepare that action through the route you chose.
Prepare the app action with your agent
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Check: The agent explains what it will read or change and gives instructions for running the action again.
The agent's plan and the script it writes for the API route. 04 Check a small result in the app
A successful sign-in only shows that the connection can get in. To learn whether it does your job correctly, have it read an item you know well and compare the details with the app. If your task creates or changes something, have it make a draft instead and check the draft in the app.
Ask your agent to state the expected result and run the agreed test. Open the app yourself and compare the item with what the agent reported.
Test the connection with your agent
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Check: The returned information or draft matches what you see in the app. If it does not, show your agent both versions and ask it to find the cause before you continue.
Understanding
Each connection can do only what its permissions allow
A connection might be allowed to read your events but not change them. Some actions also depend on your account plan or an administrator. Ask your agent to explain what the connection can do, then grant only the access your task needs. A successful test shows only that the action you tested works with the access you granted.
If you get stuck
There is no connection that supports my task.
Ask your agent to recheck official sources for connectors or plugins, MCP connections, the app's API, and any browser or computer use the app's terms allow. If none supports the action, do that step by hand rather than working around the app’s restrictions.
The app says I do not have permission.
The app knows who is asking but will not allow this action. Share the error with your agent, leaving out the key or token, and ask it to check the account, granted permissions, plan, and administrator settings against the official docs.
The connection fails with an authentication error.
The app does not accept the sign-in, key, or token. Share only the error, and ask your agent to check the secret's stored name and location, its expiration, and the sign-in method, without printing it.
Sources and further reading
Official sources and check dates
The dates below show when each official source was checked against the steps on this page.