How to connect Apify to Claude Cowork

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Introduction

Cowork is Anthropic's AI agent for knowledge work. Think of it as Claude Code for everything else. It works autonomously with your computer, local files, and applications to accomplish complex tasks.

This guide walks you through the easiest and most secure way to connect your Apify account to Cowork via Composio Connect, enabling it to create a new dataset for scraped results, fetch items from a specific Apify dataset, get details of your latest Apify actor, and more such actions on your behalf without compromising your account security.

Also integrate Apify with

Connecting Apify to Claude Cowork

1. Open Customize

In Claude Desktop, click Customize in the left sidebar, then select Connectors and click the + icon at the top.

Claude Desktop connectors screen with Add custom connector selected

2. Add the Composio MCP server

Click Add custom connector and paste in the Composio MCP server URL:

bash
https://connect.composio.dev/mcp
Add custom connector dialog with Composio MCP server URL

3. Authorize in your browser

Click Connect. You'll be redirected to a browser window where you can authorize Composio to continue.

Composio authorization screen for Claude Cowork

4. Connect your Apify account

Back in Cowork, ask the agent to connect to Apify or give it any Apify-related task.

For example, ask Cowork to:

  • "Create a new dataset for scraped results"
  • "Fetch items from a specific Apify dataset"
  • "Get details of your latest Apify actor"

It will prompt you to authenticate and authorize access.

That's it. Composio's tools are now available in Cowork, and your Apify account is ready to use.

What is Claude Cowork?

Claude Cowork is Anthropic's agent for general knowledge work. It can use your computer, files, and connected applications to complete longer-running tasks across your work tools.

With Composio Connect, Cowork can securely access apps like Apify through MCP without you sharing account credentials directly with the agent.

What is the Apify MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Apify MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Apify account. It provides structured and secure access to your web scraping and automation workflows, so your agent can create actors, manage datasets, fetch scraped data, schedule tasks, and maintain webhooks on your behalf.

  • Automated Actor Creation and Management: Easily instruct your agent to programmatically create, configure, or delete Apify actors for custom web automation or scraping jobs.
  • Dataset Handling and Data Retrieval: Let your agent spin up new datasets, organize scraped results, and pull items from datasets for downstream analysis or reporting.
  • Task Scheduling and Automation: Have your agent create and manage recurring actor tasks, making it simple to automate data extraction or browser automation at set intervals.
  • Webhook Integration and Event Handling: Direct your agent to set up or remove webhooks for actor tasks, enabling real-time notifications or downstream integrations when a task completes or fails.
  • Actor and Build Metadata Access: Empower your agent to fetch detailed metadata about actors, including build information and configuration details, for monitoring or troubleshooting purposes.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Create ActorTool to create a new actor with specified configuration.
Create DatasetTool to create a new dataset.
Create Actor TaskTool to create a new actor task with specified settings.
Create Task WebhookTool to create a webhook for an actor task.
Delete ActorTool to delete an actor permanently.
Delete WebhookTool to delete a webhook by its id.
Get Actor DetailsTool to get details of a specific actor.
Get all webhooksTool to get a list of all webhooks created by the user.
Get dataset itemsTool to retrieve items from a dataset.
Get Default BuildTool to get the default build for an actor.
Get Key-Value RecordTool to retrieve a record from a key-value store.
Get list of buildsTool to get a list of builds for a specific actor.
Get list of runsTool to get a list of runs for a specific actor.
Get list of task runsTool to get a list of runs for a specific actor task.
Get list of tasksTool to fetch a paginated list of tasks belonging to the authenticated user.
Get list of task webhooksTool to get a list of webhooks for a specific actor task.
Get logTool to retrieve logs for a specific actor run or build.
Get OpenAPI DefinitionTool to get the openapi definition for a specific actor build.
Get Task InputTool to retrieve the input configuration of a specific task.
Resurrect RunTool to resurrect a finished actor run.
Run Actor AsynchronouslyTool to run a specific actor asynchronously.
Run Actor SyncTool to run a specific actor synchronously with input and return its output record.
Run Actor Sync & Get Dataset ItemsTool to run an actor synchronously and retrieve its dataset items.
Run Task AsynchronouslyTool to run a specific actor task asynchronously.
Store Data in DatasetTool to store data items in a dataset.
Store Data in Key-Value StoreTool to create or update a record in a key-value store.
Update Key-Value StoreTool to update a key-value store's properties.
Update Task InputTool to update the input configuration of a specific actor task.

How to build Apify MCP Agent with another framework

FAQ

What are the differences in Tool Router MCP and Apify MCP?

With a standalone Apify MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Apify tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Apify and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Can I use Tool Router MCP with Claude Cowork?

Yes, you can. Claude Cowork fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right Apify tools.

Can I manage the permissions and scopes for Apify while using Tool Router?

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Apify scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

How safe is my data with Composio Tool Router?

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Apify data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

Used by agents from

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Context
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HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
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Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai

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