---
title: "Connect Claude to Xero and 1,000+ apps via MCP - actionlake"
description: "Add actionlake to Claude Code in one command, run a free public action, connect Xero or your PSA, then ask across both systems. No code. 100,000 calls free."
canonical: https://actionlake.com/docs/quickstart
updated: 2026-10-22
---

Connect Claude via MCP

/docs/quickstart

# First answer in four steps.

This quickstart connects Claude Code to actionlake's MCP server, runs a public action that needs no credential, connects a system that needs a credential (an API key for HaloPSA or Autotask, or the tokens from your own QuickBooks app after one admin sign-in), and asks one question across two systems. It needs no code and stays inside the 100,000 free calls.

[Start free](https://actionlake.com/console?start=sandbox) [Prefer REST?](https://actionlake.com/docs/api)

100,000 free calls a month. No card, no email, no password: press Start a free sandbox on the next screen and keep the key it shows you.

1. [01 Connect your agent the agent, alone](https://actionlake.com/docs/quickstart#connect)
2. [02 Ask for something real the agent, alone](https://actionlake.com/docs/quickstart#ask)
3. [03 Connect a system a person, once, only for OAuth](https://actionlake.com/docs/quickstart#system)
4. [04 Ask across two systems the agent, alone](https://actionlake.com/docs/quickstart#across)

**The steps**

Free to 100,000 calls a month while you evaluate.

[See pricing](https://actionlake.com/pricing)

## Connect your agent.

Any agent that speaks MCP connects to one address. From Claude Code it is one command:

`claude mcp add --transport http actionlake https://connect.actionlake.com/mcp`

Using ChatGPT, Copilot, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini, Grok, Codex or something else? [Connect an agent](https://actionlake.com/docs/connect) has the exact steps, config and one-click installs for each, with a key or with sign-in.

Signing in opens the actionlake consent page. No account yet? The same page creates one: 100,000 free calls, no card. Prefer REST? The same surface answers on `api.actionlake.com`; see the [API reference](https://actionlake.com/docs/api).

## Ask for something real.

Ask your agent for today's exchange rate, or whether Monday is a public holiday. The public services need no credential, so the first call is real.

what the agent did

```
find_actions  "exchange rates"  → public.rates.latest · 1 call
do            ✓ 1 call · cache miss · 73 ms
```

Illustrative timings. A person never types a tool call; they ask in plain words and the agent picks the tool.

## Connect a system that needs a credential.

Hold an API key for HaloPSA, Autotask or ClickUp? Give it to your agent once; it connects the system itself, and the secret is sealed on arrival and never returned by any endpoint. To keep the secret out of the chat entirely, paste it in the console (Connections) instead. Only an OAuth system, QuickBooks, for one, needs a person, once: register your own app with the vendor, sign in as an admin, and store the tokens. The [Xero guide](https://actionlake.com/guides/connect-claude-to-xero) walks through it for Xero.

what the agent did

```
account  connections.create · clickup · api_token: pk_…
         ✓ connected · secret sealed on arrival · never returned
```

## Ask across two systems, and read the receipt.

Ask which clients are overdue and have an urgent ticket. Your agent checks the plan first, free, sends nothing, then runs it.

what the agent did

```
check    steps: quickbooks invoices overdue 30+ days · connectwise tickets urgent · join on customer
         ✓ ok · permitted · up to 2 calls · billed for checking: 0
ask      ▶ running
```

Every response carries its own accounting: calls, cost, whether the cache answered, and how much of the wait was ours versus the vendor's.

## Before you scale: keys with caps.

Give every agent its own key with the actions it may run and a cap in calls. A key may mint keys with a subset of its own permissions and a share of its own cap, never more.

account

```
keys.create  "desk agent" · service.ticket.create · service.ticket.update · read:* · cap 500 · approver ops@…
```

Over REST the same call is `POST https://api.actionlake.com/v1/account/keys.create`, sent with an API key, or use the console. Keys are never minted over an OAuth connection, so an agent signed in through the consent page cannot mint them.

## Free to 100,000 calls a month while you evaluate.

[Start free](https://actionlake.com/console?start=sandbox) [See pricing](https://actionlake.com/pricing)

When you are ready, pricing is one page and one meter. Hard caps on any key. Cached answers are free.

---

Source: https://actionlake.com/docs/quickstart
More: https://actionlake.com/llms.txt