How to Connect Your Gmail Shared Inbox to Claude (MCP Setup Guide)

In about five minutes, you can be running your support inbox from a chat window, "show me today's unread threads, summarise the urgent ones, and draft replies", with Claude reading and acting on your real Gmail shared inbox. This guide walks through connecting Drag to Claude (and ChatGPT, Cursor, or any MCP client) step by step, with a config generator that writes the exact setup for you and a set of prompts to try the moment it works.

If you want the background on what MCP is first, see our guide to MCP for customer support. If you just want it working, read on.

Which path should I follow?

Every client connects to the same Drag MCP server. The only thing that differs is how you add it, and that splits cleanly into two paths. Pick the one that matches your tool:

• The fast path: if you use Claude Code, Cursor, or Windsurf, connecting is a single command or a built-in settings entry. No files to edit, nothing to hand-format. Jump to the fast path.
• The standard path: if you use Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot, you'll paste one generated block into a settings file and restart. Our generator writes the block for you, so there's no manual editing. Jump to the standard path.
• Using ChatGPT's connector interface? That connection type needs a hosted URL, which is what we're shipping next, see What's coming next. Today, ChatGPT works best via the standard path on clients that support local servers.

Either way you'll need a DragApp account with API access and your API key. Both paths take about five minutes.

The fast path (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf)

These clients let you add an MCP server directly, no config file to open.

1. Get your API key. In DragApp, open Settings > Integrations > Drag API and copy your key.

2. Add DragApp.

• Claude Code -- one command in your terminal:

  Copy

  claude mcp add dragapp -e DRAG_API_KEY="your-api-key" -- npx -y @dragapp/mcp-server
  

• Cursor / Windsurf -- open the app's "Add MCP Server" settings and enter the command npx, the arguments -y @dragapp/mcp-server, and an environment variable DRAG_API_KEY set to your key.

3. Verify. Ask your assistant to "list the boards in my DragApp." If it returns your boards, you're connected, skip ahead to your first prompts.

Prefer the same copy-paste block these commands use under the hood? It's identical to the one in the standard path below.

The standard path (Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Gemini)

If your client uses a config file, this is the route, and the generator below removes the only fiddly part.

Step 1: Get your DragApp API key

In DragApp, open Settings and find your API key under Integrations. Copy it. Treat it like a password: it grants access to your DragApp workspace with your existing permissions, so never share it or commit it to version control.

One quick check first: the server runs via Node.js. If you don't already have it, install the LTS version from nodejs.org, it takes a minute and you only do it once. (It's the single most common thing people miss, so it's worth confirming before you go further. The fast path clients handle this for you.)

Step 2: Generate your config

Every client uses the same MCP server. The only differences are where the config file lives and a couple of client-specific details. Rather than hand-edit JSON (the easiest thing to get wrong), use the generator below: paste your API key, pick your client, and copy the exact config.

The underlying config is always this shape:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dragapp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@dragapp/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "DRAG_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Where it goes, by client:

• Claude Desktop (macOS): ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Claude Desktop (Windows): %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json
• Windsurf: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json
• Claude Code: ~/.claude.json (or project-level .mcp.json)
• ChatGPT / Gemini / Copilot: add the server in the desktop app's connector/MCP settings (no manual file).

Step 3: Restart your client and verify

Fully quit and reopen your AI client. MCP servers load at startup, so a restart is required (a frequent stumbling point). To confirm it worked, ask: "List the boards in my DragApp." If Drag's tools are connected, the client will call list_boards and return your boards. That is the signal you are live.

Step 4: Run your first real prompt

Now the payoff. Try one of these, each maps to real Drag tools:

• "Show me unread emails on the Support board."
• "Reply to the latest email from Sarah."
• "What is our average response time this week?"
• "Assign all billing-related threads to Sarah."
• "Search our knowledge base for the refund policy."

See the full prompt library below.

What you can do once connected: 47 tools across 12 categories

Drag's MCP server (@dragapp/mcp-server) exposes 47 tools across 12 categories, so an AI client can operate your inbox end to end:

• Email (8): list, read, reply, send, search, filter, and move threads (incl. bulk).
• WhatsApp (4): read conversations, send messages, and send approved templates.
• Boards (5) and Cards (6): list/get boards and columns, create/update/move/archive cards.
• Labels (4), Comments (2), Tags (2), Tasks (1): organise and annotate.
• Contacts (3): search contacts and pull their conversation history.
• Knowledge Base (5): list, read, create, update, and search articles.
• Analytics (4): response times, daily activity, closed/resolved metrics, by prompt.
• Automations (3): list, toggle automations, and toggle AI draft generation.

For the full tool-by-tool reference, see the Drag MCP docs.

A starter prompt library

Copy-ready prompts grouped by job (each maps to real tools).

Triage

Show me all unread threads on the Support board and summarise the top 5 by urgency.

Which threads have been waiting longest for a first reply?

Reply and act

Draft a reply to the latest thread from [customer] using a warm, concise tone.

Assign all billing-related threads to [teammate].

Label everything mentioning 'refund' as Billing and move it to In Progress.

Report

What is our average first response time this week vs last week?

How many threads did we close today, and who closed the most?

Knowledge

Search our knowledge base for the cancellation policy and draft a reply citing it.

Cross-system (with another MCP server connected, e.g. Stripe/Linear)

Read the latest billing complaint, look up the customer in Stripe, and draft a reply with the correct refund.

For more on multi-tool workflows, see how to run support inside Claude or ChatGPT.

What's coming next

The steps above connect Drag by running the server locally on your machine. We're building a hosted version that removes almost all of the setup: instead of installing Node.js or editing a config file, you'll paste a single URL into your AI tool and enter your API key, then you're done.

This matters most for ChatGPT, which connects to tools by URL rather than by running them locally. The hosted version is designed for exactly that flow, and it also turns the Claude Desktop setup into a simple paste-a-URL step. We'll update this guide the moment it's live, so if you're setting up ChatGPT today, it's worth checking back.

Troubleshooting

• "The tools are not showing up." Fully quit and restart the client (not just close the window). MCP servers load on startup. Most "it did not work" cases are a missing restart.
• "npx / command not found" or the server will not start. Node.js is not installed or is not on your PATH. Install the LTS from nodejs.org and restart your terminal/client.
• "Authentication failed." Re-copy the API key (no extra spaces), confirm it is in the DRAG_API_KEY field, and that your DragApp plan includes API access.
• Invalid JSON. A stray comma or quote breaks the config. Use the generator above to avoid hand-editing, and validate the file if you edited it manually.
• Keep your key safe. It grants full access to your workspace. Never commit it to a repo; rotate it in Settings if exposed.

For a broader comparison of shared inbox tools, including which ones support MCP, see the best shared inbox software guide.