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How to connect Candid MCP to Claude

Connect Claude Web, Desktop and Cowork to Candid MCP. Find funders for education nonprofits, summarize nonprofit's funding history and trends, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

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Candid MCP is a nonprofit research service exposing organization, funder, and opportunity data. Use it to surface authoritative social-sector data and funding insights quickly.

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Introduction

Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant, available on the web, in the desktop app, and on mobile. Cowork is its agent for knowledge work, and it runs on all of those surfaces too. Connected to your apps, Claude can work with your files and services to accomplish complex tasks on your behalf.

This guide walks you through the easiest and most secure way to connect your Candid account to Claude via Composio Connect, enabling it to find funders for education nonprofits, summarize nonprofit's funding history and trends, list active grant opportunities for youth programs, and more such actions on your behalf without compromising your account security.

Setup is the same on Claude Web, Desktop, and Cowork, and you only need to do it once. The connector is tied to your account, so it's available in all three.

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Connecting Candid to Claude Web, Desktop, and Cowork

Two ways to add the Composio connector. Pick whichever you prefer.

1. Add with one click

Click the button. Claude opens with the Composio connector filled in. Click Add, then go to step 2.

Add to Claude

Add manually

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

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

2. 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 Web, Desktop, and Cowork

3. Connect your Candid account

Back in Claude, ask it to connect to Candid or give it any Candid-related task.

For example, ask Claude to:

  • "Find funders for education nonprofits"
  • "Summarize nonprofit's funding history and trends"
  • "List active grant opportunities for youth programs"

It will prompt you to authenticate and authorize access.

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

What is the Candid Claude Connector, and what's possible with it?

The Candid MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Candid account. It provides structured and secure access so your agent can perform Candid operations on your behalf.

Troubleshooting

1. Why does Claude not use the Composio connector for Candid?

The connector can show as connected, but Claude must use it in each Candid conversation.

  • Click + at the lower left of the chat, or type /.
  • Hover Connectors.
  • Turn on Composio.
  • Ask Claude to connect to Candid again.

2. Why does Claude show an MCP server error before Candid connects?

Claude can show Couldn't reach the MCP server or Authorization with the MCP server failed when you add the connector for Candid.

  • Check that the connector URL is https://connect.composio.dev/mcp.
  • Connectors run from Anthropic's cloud, so your device network is usually not the problem.
  • Add the connector again from Customize > Connectors, then ask Claude to connect Candid.
  • If it fails again, send the error and the ofid_ reference id to support@composio.dev.

3. Why does the Candid authorization link not work?

The Composio connector is one server. Your Candid account connects separately when Claude asks for it.

  • If the browser does not open, or the link expires, ask Claude to retry the Candid connection.
  • Composio creates a fresh Candid authorization link.
  • Open that link in your browser and finish the Candid sign-in.

4. Why do Candid actions fail after they worked before?

The Candid connection can expire or lose permission.

  • Ask Claude to inspect the Candid connection.
  • If the connection is unhealthy, disconnect it when Claude prompts you.
  • Reconnect the Candid account and retry the action.
  • If Claude shows a permission prompt, approve it before Claude changes data in Candid.
  • If the action still fails with a permission error, check that the connected account has that permission in Candid itself.

5. How do I switch to a different Candid account?

Claude can manage the Candid connection for you.

  • Ask Claude to disconnect or delete the current Candid account.
  • Ask Claude to connect Candid again.
  • Open the new Composio authorization link for Candid.
  • Sign in with the other Candid account in the browser.
  • After the account connects, ask Claude to retry the Candid task.

6. Why is my Candid connection missing in Claude Desktop or on a Team plan?

The connector belongs to your Claude account, so your Candid connection works in Claude Web, Desktop, and Cowork.

  • In Claude Desktop, open Customize > Connectors.
  • Next to Composio, click ⋮ and click Clear cache.
  • If Candid tools still do not appear, click ⋮, disconnect, remove the connector, and add it again.
  • On Team or Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner must enable the connector before you can connect Candid.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every Candid MCP action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Current date

Get the current day to reference for any time-sensitive data requests.

Identify locations

Uses natural language processing to find and match named geographies found in the supplied text.

Identify mentioned organizations

Resolve and link organization names to official Candid nonprofit profiles.

Knowledge resources

Get answers to questions about the social and philanthropic sector directly fom Candid's subject matter experts.

Search organizations

Find nonprofits and grantmaking organizations in Candid's database by name, mission, EIN, location, or type of work.

Taxonomy terms

Uses natural language processing to align input text to Candid's taxonomy, the Philanthropy Classification System (PCS).

FRAMEWORKS

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ChatGPT logo

ChatGPT

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Hermes logo

Hermes

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Atomic Agent logo

Atomic Agent

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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

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 Candid tools.

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Candid 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.

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 Candid data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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