Clear Ideas + Claude Code via MCP

Claude Code supports direct integration with Clear Ideas sties, enabling seamless search, analysis, and content creation without leaving your development environment.

This integration transforms how technical users collaborate with business teams. Instead of switching between applications or creating separate documentation, you can now:

Configure Claude Code to securely access your Clear Ideas sites.
Run conversational prompts that retrieve and analyze organizational documents.
Generate structured insights and save them directly into your business collaboration workspace.

This creates a bridge between technical analysis and business communication, using your existing AI subscription alongside Clear Ideas' secure data platform.

1. Setting Up Claude Code with Clear Ideas

Claude Code natively supports remote server integration. Clear Ideas exposes its secure document and context platform as a server endpoint, enabling Claude to access your organizational data directly.

Step 1: Set Your API Key

Configure your Clear Ideas API key as an environment variable:

On Mac/Linux:

export CLEARIDEAS_API_KEY="mcp-your-api-key-here"

On Windows (Command Prompt):

set CLEARIDEAS_API_KEY=mcp-your-api-key-here

On Windows (PowerShell):

$env:CLEARIDEAS_API_KEY="mcp-your-api-key-here"

Step 2: Configure Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http clearideas https://api.clearideas.com/mcp \
  --api-key $CLEARIDEAS_API_KEY

This command registers Clear Ideas as a server named clearideas, using your API key for secure authentication.

Step 3: Verify Connection

Confirm the setup:

claude mcp list

You should see clearideas listed as an available server.

Important: This setup uses your existing Claude Pro subscription for AI processing, with Clear Ideas providing secure data access. AI costs are part of your Claude subscription, not Clear Ideas.

2. Exploring Your Sites from the CLI

Let’s test the connection. Ask Claude:

claude> What sites do I have in Clear Ideas? Use clearideas.

And you’ll get back a list of sites you have access to, including their IDs. For example:

Site A – siteId: abcd1234
Site B – siteId: efgh5678

3. A Real Example: Research, Analyze, Save

Let’s walk through a practical workflow:

Prompt:

claude> In the "Due Diligence – Company X" site, retrieve context about "customer churn" and write a detailed analysis. Save it as a markdown file in that site called "Churn Analysis.md".

Step 1: Retrieve Context

Claude will call the appropriate tool based on the site you have selected, to retrieve the context from the site. This fetches AI-ready text from documents inside the site.

Step 2: Analyze

Claude then processes the context, producing a structured analysis, for example:

# Customer Churn Analysis – Company X

## Key Findings
- Churn has increased by 12% over the last quarter.
- Primary drivers: lack of onboarding support, weak mid-market pricing strategy.

## Recommendations
1. Introduce a customer success “first 30 days” program.
2. Re-evaluate mid-market packaging.
3. Expand NPS tracking into monthly cadence.

Step 3: Save File

Finally, Claude calls the appropriate tool to save the file in the site.

Now your analysis is stored securely in Clear Ideas, versioned, and instantly available to your team.

4. Why This Transforms Collaboration

Claude Code brings the research and drafting loop right into the command line. Technical users can explore sites, pull grounded context, and shape it into clean summaries without ever leaving their flow. The moment that work is saved, it appears in Clear Ideas with the same versioning and access controls as any other document, so business teams see a complete picture rather than a patchwork of notes.

This pattern differs from pushing updates into code‑first tools. Those systems are excellent for source control but rarely offer a great reading experience for non‑engineers. By writing back to Clear Ideas, engineers communicate in a space designed for collaboration, where context, citations, and document history are easy to navigate. It reduces the friction of producing business‑ready updates and shortens the path from technical investigation to organizational decision.

5. Clear Ideas AI Chat: The Purpose-Built Experience

Use Claude Code when you want the speed and precision of a CLI‑driven workflow. When the goal is cross‑functional review, Clear Ideas AI Chat is still the best place to start. It anchors every response in source documents, lets readers jump straight to the right page, and sits next to search, AI Workflows, and the document viewer. There is no configuration step for colleagues—everything they need is already in the workspace. Together, Claude Code and AI Chat cover both sides of the collaboration loop: rapid technical exploration and smooth, verifiable handoff to the broader team.

6. Try It Today

If you're using Clear Ideas, configure Claude Code integration to expand your analysis capabilities. Automate context retrieval, draft stakeholder reports, and save insights directly into your secure collaboration workspace.