How to connect Claude to your rental property records, step by step

What you are actually adding

A custom connector is a link between Claude and an outside system, built on MCP, the Model Context Protocol. MCP's own introduction calls it an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to external systems, and compares it to a USB-C port: one shape that fits many devices. The system on the other end, here your property software, is an MCP server. It lists the tools it offers, and Claude calls them when your question needs them.

The practical difference from pasting a spreadsheet into a chat: Claude asks the software for the answer at the moment you ask, so it reads today's rent roll instead of whatever you copied last week.

The steps in Claude

Anthropic documents the flow in Get started with custom connectors using remote MCP. Menu names have changed over time (Anthropic's page says Customize, then Connectors), so go by the words rather than the position.

1. Open Claude's settings and find Connectors.
2. Choose Add custom connector.
3. Enter a name and paste the connector address your software gives you. For DoorKeeping that is https://doorkeeping.com/mcp.
4. Choose Connect. A sign-in page from the software opens. Sign in as the owner and read the Allow screen.
5. Tap Allow. If the software covers more than one portfolio, this is where you pick which one.
6. In a new chat, use the plus button, then Connectors, and switch the connector on for that conversation.

Anthropic's page says custom connectors are available on Free (limited to one), Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. On a Team plan only an Owner or Primary Owner can add a connector, and members then connect individually. Plans change, so check the page.

What to check on the Allow screen

With OAuth, the software shows you a sign-in and a consent page, and Claude never sees your password. Anthropic's guidance is to review the permissions requested and deny any that seem unnecessary. On a rental connector, look for three things:

• Which portfolio or company the connection will read. Pick only the one you mean.
• What the permission covers. A single permission tied to your account role is easier to reason about than a long list.
• Whether you can end it. You should be able to remove the connector in Claude and have it stop working right away.

Control which tools Claude can use

Anthropic's page says Claude can call the tools a server exposes, that you should read tool approval requests carefully and be cautious with the Allow always choice, and that the Search and tools menu lets you switch off tools you do not want used. A sensible first setup for a landlord: leave the read tools on (rent roll, who owes rent, leases ending), and leave anything that creates or changes records on ask-every-time until you have watched it behave.

Example a made-up owner of a 6 unit building connects Claude and asks "Who still owes rent this month?" Claude calls a read tool, shows two late tenants with their balances, and nothing in the software changes. The same owner asks "Log a leaking faucet in unit 3." Claude shows the repair it is about to create and waits for a yes. Reading and changing are separate kinds of tools.

If it will not connect

• Check the address character by character, with https:// at the start and nothing after it.
• Finish the sign-in in the browser window that opened and tap Allow in that same window.
• Anthropic notes the server must be reachable from the public internet, so a private or VPN-only address will not work.
• To change a connector, Anthropic says to remove it and add it again with the new details.

How to disconnect

In Claude, go back to Connectors, open the menu next to the connector and choose Remove. The connection stops working right away, and your records stay in the software either way.

How DoorKeeping handles it

DoorKeeping's connector address is https://doorkeeping.com/mcp. The steps above are the ones on its connect page: add a custom connector in Claude, paste the address, choose Connect, then tap Allow on DoorKeeping's own Allow screen, where you choose the portfolio. One connection covers every portfolio you own. The tools are grouped as reads, drafts you say yes to, and items that wait for your tap on doorkeeping.com, and the connect page lists every one. Claude can reject an item in your approvals queue but can never accept one.

Sources

1. Anthropic: Get started with custom connectors using remote MCP, read Oct 30, 2026
2. Model Context Protocol: What is MCP?, read Oct 30, 2026
3. DoorKeeping: Connect Claude or ChatGPT (steps and tools list), read Oct 30, 2026

Questions

Do I need to know how to code to connect Claude to my rentals?

No. You paste an address and sign in. The connector settings take a name and a URL, then a normal sign-in and Allow screen.

Does Claude see my password?

Not with OAuth. You sign in on the software's own page, and Anthropic's page says Claude never sees your password.

Can I use a connector on the free Claude plan?

Anthropic's page lists Free among the plans that support custom connectors, limited to one. Check the page, because plan limits change.

How do I stop Claude from changing things in my records?

Switch off the tools that create or change records in Claude's tool menu, or leave them on ask-every-time. Money and legal steps in DoorKeeping also wait for your tap on the website.