Claude Synapse.org connectorWhat Claude can find in Synapse.org for your research.
The Claude Synapse.org connector exposes 5 tools, 5 in read and 0 in write. Claude searches Synapse, opens a project, folder or file record, reads its annotations and provenance, and walks a project's tree. It works on metadata, and Synapse's data-use terms still apply.
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What changes when Claude can search Synapse
Synapse's directory description is about discovering datasets from collaborative research projects and understanding what they contain before you download. With the connector, you describe what you are looking for and Claude does the browsing: it searches, opens the records that match and reads their metadata and provenance, so you know what a dataset holds before downloading anything.
Shortlisting datasets for a question. You describe the data you need, and Claude runs search_synapse with keyword and type filters and returns the matching entities.
Understanding a project before requesting files. Claude walks the folders of a project with get_entity_children, then opens a record with get_entity and reads the custom fields curators attached to it through get_entity_annotations.
Checking where a file comes from. get_entity_provenance retrieves the activity recorded for an entity, optionally for one version.
What it will not do: no tool on the sheet downloads files or uploads anything; the connector stays on metadata. Nothing runs by itself either: Claude searches while it answers you. And Synapse's own terms prohibit redistributing data, which its documentation says can include use by an outside AI provider. The Claude connectors hub lists the other life-science connectors, and the Integrations page covers automation platforms.
Five words before you connect
The Claude vocabulary behind this connector, in one minute.
- Connector
- The link you set up once between Claude and an account you already hold, so Claude can work with it while it answers you.
- Tool
- One named thing the connector lets Claude do on that account. Claude chooses the ones it needs, and the directory lists them by name.
- Authorization
- The Synapse sign-in screen, opened in your browser, where you grant Claude the access it will use. Given once per person, and revocable.
- Approval
- The confirmation Claude waits for before it goes ahead with something that changes an account, shown in the chat at the right time.
- MCP
- The shared standard behind connectors: it is what lets an assistant such as Claude talk to an outside service like Synapse.
Connecting Synapse.org to Claude in three steps
- 01
Find Synapse.org in Claude
Open Claude's settings, go to Customize then Connectors, and look for Synapse.org. On a Team or Enterprise workspace, an Owner or Primary Owner first enables it before members can sign in one by one.
- 02
Start the connection
Click Connect on its row. Synapse's documentation describes a browser-based login: a Synapse window opens and you sign in with your Synapse account. If the link breaks later, use Disconnect and connect again.
- 03
Read the authorization screen
Check the authorization screen before you accept. It is Synapse's screen, not Claude's, and it sets what the access covers. You can also remove that access later from your Synapse account.
The 5 Synapse.org tools, sorted by what they do
Synapse.org gives Claude 5 tools: 5 that read your account, 0 that change something in it.
All five consult Synapse metadata, and the server's documentation describes each one. Names stay as Claude shows them.
- 5 read
What Claude reads (5)
5 toolsFive tools that look up records, their fields and their history, without touching the data.
get_entity
Returns the core metadata of one Synapse entity from its ID, so Claude knows what that record is before going any further.
get_entity_annotations
Brings back the custom annotations attached to an entity: the extra fields its curators chose to record so that others can tell what the data describes.
get_entity_provenance
Retrieves the provenance, meaning the activity recorded for how an entity was produced, and can target one specific version of it instead of the latest.
get_entity_children
Lists what sits inside a container entity, such as the folders and files of a project, so Claude can walk its structure level by level.
search_synapse
Looks for Synapse entities by keyword, narrowed if needed by name, type or parent, and returns results that Synapse provides as data custodian.
What Claude asks before acting
By default, Claude stops and asks for your go-ahead before any action it takes on an account in your place. The request shows up in the conversation when it matters.
On Team and Enterprise workspaces, owners decide whether a member may let some actions through without being asked every time. They can also bound what a connector may do for the whole organisation, keeping reads and closing writes for instance, and nobody bypasses that from their own account. Claude also works with your rights only: Synapse's documentation says the login is used when the agent needs protected resources, so what your Synapse account cannot open stays closed to Claude too.
Which plans include it
None of the 819 sheets in the official directory displays availability by plan. Connector by connector, the answer is published nowhere: it is a real gap in the catalogue.
What is published is the general rule: remote connectors are open to all users on Claude, Cowork, Claude Desktop and mobile. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner or Primary Owner enables the connector for the organisation before each member signs in. For the current state of this one, check its sheet in the official directory. Note that only Synapse's own documentation covers it; no Claude help article does.
Where the Claude Synapse.org connector stops
A connector is not an automation. Claude calls these tools while it answers you: nothing fires when a new dataset is released or a project gains files.
The tool list is an observed floor, not a promise: an administrator can open actions that no public sheet shows. By default, this sheet exposes reads only. The partner badge in the directory is not a security audit, and Anthropic says on every sheet that it does not choose the tools a publisher exposes and cannot guarantee they behave as announced. The directory sheet itself reminds users to read Anthropic's data-handling policies before connecting.
Need help connecting Synapse.org to Claude?
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