---
title: "Connectors and skills"
description: "Connect the apps and tools your whale can reach, choose what each tool may do, and manage the skills your whale picks up."
works_on: [desktop]
---

# Connectors and skills

Connect the apps and tools your whale can reach, choose what each tool may
do, and manage the skills your whale picks up.

**Works on:** the desktop app, for connectors and skills on this computer.
The phone and the web: not available yet.

![Customize › Connectors with a connector open](images/connectors.png)

## Open Connectors

Choose **Customize** in the sidebar, then **Connectors**, or pick **Open
connectors** in the command palette (⌘K, or Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux).

**Settings › Tools & MCP** shows the same list under **MCP servers**. There a
connector is called a server: **Add server** adds one, and choosing a name
opens its tools.

Each row shows the connector's name, how many tools it has, its state and
where it runs (**This Mac**, or **This computer**):

| State | Means |
| --- | --- |
| Ready | Its tools are available. |
| Running | Codewhale is reaching it right now. |
| Needs you · sign in | It needs you to sign in. |
| Blocked | It couldn't start. The reason and the time are on its page. |
| Resting | It hasn't been started yet. |
| Off | Its switch is off. |

A connector a plugin added shows **From** and the plugin's name. It has no
switch of its own: "Turn it off or remove it on the plugin."

## Add a connector

Choose **Add**, then:

- **By hand:** give it a **Name**, choose **How it runs** and fill in the
  rest. **Command** runs a program on this computer, for example
  `npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-everything`. **Web address** takes an
  `https://` address. **Older web (SSE)** is "Only for older servers that
  still need it."
- **Import** from another app: lists the connectors found in Claude and in
  this project's `.mcp.json`. "Each one is added turned off. Turn it on when
  you're ready." Choose **Add, off** or **Skip** for each.
- **From directory** and **From registry**: Not available yet.

## Choose what each tool may do

![A tool set to Off](images/connectors-level-off.png)

Open a connector to see its tools. Each tool has a level:

- **Ask:** your whale asks before it uses the tool. Every connector tool
  starts here.
- **Off:** your whale can't use it. A toast offers **Undo**.
- **Always allow:** Not available yet.

The page also has **Reconnect**, the **Setup** (how it runs, the command or
address, and the names of the settings and headers it uses, never their
values) and **Remove…**, which asks once: "Its tools stop working in new
turns. You can add it again later."

## Right-click a connector

| Item | Key |
| --- | --- |
| **Reconnect** | R |
| **Turn off** or **Turn on** | O |
| **Show tools** | T |
| **Open plugin** (when a plugin added it) | |
| **Remove…** | ⌘⌫ (Ctrl+Backspace) |

**Sign in** and **Edit…** in this menu: Not available yet.

## Skills

![Customize › Skills with a skill open](images/skills.png)

Choose **Customize › Skills**, pick **Open skills** in the palette, or type
`/skills` in the composer. Skills are grouped by where they come from:

- **Yours:** skills in the `skills` folder of your Codewhale folder.
- **From plugins:** marked with the plugin's name. They keep their own
  switch.
- **From other apps:** "Read-only here; change them in the app they came
  from."
- **This project:** skills that came with the folder. When some aren't
  trusted yet, the group says **Needs you · review N skills**, and each
  skill waiting for you shows **Review** in place of its switch.
- **Built in:** the skills Codewhale comes with, behind **Show N built-in
  skills**.

Type in **Find a skill** to search. Choose a skill to read its `SKILL.md` as a
page, with its switch and:

- **Trust**, when it needs it. "Trust records that you read it. It doesn't
  give the skill more access."
- **Update**, when it's offered.
- **Audit:** whether you trust it, whether its files changed since install,
  and its content hash.
- **Uninstall…**, which asks once.
- **Show file**.

**Evaluate**: Not available yet.

### Add a skill

Choose **Add**, then:

- **From GitHub or a link:** give `github:owner/repo` or a link, and choose
  **Yours** or **This project** under **Where it goes**.
- **Make your own:** "Put a folder with a SKILL.md file here. It shows up in
  Yours right away."
- **From registry**: Not available yet.

### Right-click a skill

| Item | Key |
| --- | --- |
| **Turn off** or **Turn on** | O |
| **Trust** | T |
| **Audit** | A |
| **Show SKILL.md** | S |
| **Uninstall…** | ⌘⌫ (Ctrl+Backspace) |

**Use in this conversation**: Not available yet.

## Not available yet

- **Always allow** for a tool, and levels for a plugin's tools.
- Signing in to connectors that need it.
- **Resources and prompts** on a connector's page.
- Showing a connector's results as tables, charts or forms. Results show as
  text.

## Related

- [Plugins](plugins.md)
- [Settings](settings.md)
- [Approvals and permissions](approvals-and-permissions.md)

Previous: [Plugins](plugins.md) · Next: [Settings](settings.md)