Let Claude read and update your Notion

After this guide, you can ask Claude things like “what did we decide in last week’s planning notes?” or “add these five tasks to my Projects database”, and it will do the work inside your Notion workspace. You’ll use Notion’s own hosted MCP server, which is listed in Claude’s connector directory as made by Notion and marked “Anthropic verified”.

An MCP server is a plug-in that gives Claude a new ability. Notion’s server gives Claude a set of Notion tools: search, fetch a page, create pages, update pages, add comments, and more.

What you’ll have at the end

• Notion connected to your Claude account, usable on web, desktop and mobile.
• Tool permissions set so Claude can read freely but must ask before it changes or deletes anything.
• Three prompts you can reuse for weekly summaries, task capture and page clean-up.

What you need

• A Claude account with access to connectors (see our first-connector guide for plan details).
• A Notion account where you are a workspace member. Notion’s docs say “Only workspace members can connect Notion MCP”; guests are refused.
• Optional: Claude Code, if you want Notion inside your terminal or coding projects.

How much access are you giving?

This is the part to understand before you click Connect. Notion’s help center says MCP tools act with your full Notion permissions: anything you can open, Claude can open once connected. There is no per-page picker during sign-in.

Some tools on Notion’s published list can move or remove content:

Tool	What it does
notion-move-pages	Moves pages or databases to a new parent
notion-delete-pages	Moves up to 20 pages (including database rows) to Trash
notion-delete-databases	Moves up to 20 databases, with all rows, to Trash
notion-update-page	Can replace or search-and-replace page content
notion-delete-comment	Deletes a comment you wrote

Notion says the two delete tools require a user_confirmed: true flag, and deleted items go to Trash, where notion-restore-pages can bring them back. Still, set these tools to Needs approval (step 6 below).

Step-by-step

In claude.ai or Claude Desktop

1. Go to Customize > Connectors (claude.ai/customize/connectors). In the desktop app, choose Customize in the sidebar, then Connectors. If your app shows Settings > Connectors instead, use that; the label varies by version.
2. Select Discover and search for Notion. Open the listing and check it says it is made by Notion.
3. Select Connect to Claude. On a Team or Enterprise plan you may need an Owner to add Notion for the organization first; you’ll see Request if so.
4. Notion’s sign-in page opens. Choose the workspace you want to connect and approve access.
5. Back in Claude, Notion should show Connected under Your connectors.
6. Open the Notion connector’s page and look at Tool permissions. Set read tools (search, fetch, list) to Always allow if you like, and set create, update, move and delete tools to Needs approval. You can set Blocked on any tool you never want used.
7. In a chat, click + > Connectors and make sure Notion’s toggle is on.

In Claude Code

1. In your terminal, run Notion’s documented command:

   claude mcp add --transport http notion https://mcp.notion.com/mcp

   Add --scope user before the name if you want Notion in every project, not only the current folder.

2. Start Claude Code (claude), type /mcp, select notion, and complete the browser sign-in.

3. If you already connected Notion in claude.ai and you sign in to Claude Code with the same Claude account, it’s available there automatically, so you can skip step 1.

Notion also offers an older SSE address (https://mcp.notion.com/sse) for apps that can’t use the standard one. You won’t need it for Claude. Notion notes its open-source notion-mcp-server package is no longer actively maintained, so use the hosted server.

Make it useful: prompts to try

Start read-only. Once you trust the results, let Claude write.

Search my Notion for pages edited in the last 7 days about "launch". Summarize each in two lines with a link, then list any open decisions or questions you find. Don't edit anything.

In my Notion database called "Tasks", create one page per item below. Set Status to "Not started" and Due to the date I give. Show me the list of pages you plan to create and wait for my OK before creating them.
- Draft newsletter (Friday)
- Book venue (Tuesday)
- Send invoice to client (Monday)

Open the Notion page titled "Team handbook". Suggest a cleaner heading structure and point out duplicated sections. Add your suggestions as a comment on the page instead of changing the text.

Asking Claude to show a plan and wait, or to comment instead of edit, gives you a review step even when a tool is set to Always allow.

What changes by Notion plan

Notion’s setup docs list several features that depend on your Notion plan:

• notion-search uses Notion’s AI search only on Business or Enterprise with Notion AI. Other plans get keyword search.
• SQL-style database queries are unlimited on Business or Enterprise with Notion AI; other plans get a limited number, on one data source at a time.
• Rate limits are higher on Business and Enterprise (Notion doesn’t publish the numbers on the setup page).
• File uploads through MCP are capped at 20 MiB.

Troubleshooting

• “Only workspace members can connect.” You’re a guest in that workspace. Ask an admin to make you a member, or connect a workspace you own.
• Claude can’t find a page you know exists. Check you connected the right workspace (ask Claude “which Notion workspace and user am I connected as?”; the notion-get-self tool answers this). Then make sure you can open the page yourself in Notion. On non-Business plans, search is keyword-based, so try the exact page title.
• Searches ignore “last edited by” or date filters. Notion drops some filters outside Business and Enterprise and says so in the result.
• Enterprise workspace blocks the connection. Workspace owners can limit AI apps under Settings > Connections > Permissions > AI apps with “Only from approved list”. Ask your admin to approve Claude.
• Need to disconnect. In Claude, open the Notion connector and select Disconnect, or Remove from the three-dot menu.

Next steps

• Make Claude create Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF files from what it finds in Notion.
• Add your first MCP server or connector for the wider picture of connector routes and permissions.