# Claude and ChatGPT Connectors for Your Files

What a connector is, the upload limits it gets around, and how to connect Folder to Claude or ChatGPT so they use only the folders you pick.

Your files in a chat without uploading them, in the folders you pick.

A connector lets Claude or ChatGPT reach an app you use, with your permission, instead of you uploading a copy. In the words of Claude's help center, connectors "let Claude access your apps and services, retrieve your data" and take actions there. A connector you add yourself is an address on the web that speaks MCP, the protocol both apps use for this.

## Upload or Connect

An upload puts a copy of a file in one chat, within limits:

- Claude: up to 500 MB a file and 20 files a chat; 30 MB a file in a project.
- ChatGPT: up to 512 MB a file, and 2 million tokens for a text or document file.

Limits and plans as listed on Claude's [Upload files to Claude](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8241126-upload-files-to-claude) and [custom connectors](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11175166-get-started-with-custom-connectors-using-remote-mcp) pages and OpenAI's [File Uploads FAQ](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8555545-file-uploads-faq) in October 2026.

A connector reads the file where it lives. There is no copy to keep in step, and a change goes back to the file itself.

## Connect Folder in Claude

Custom connectors work on Claude's Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans; Free has room for one. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner adds it for the organization.

1. In Claude, Customize › Connectors, then + Add › Add custom connector.
2. Name it Folder, enter `https://mcp.folder.dev/mcp` as the URL, and Continue.
3. Keep the sign-in settings Claude finds, and Add. Signing in opens the Connect Folder page.
4. In a chat, + › Connectors, and turn Folder on.

In Claude Code, one line: `claude mcp add --transport http folder https://mcp.folder.dev/mcp`.

## Connect Folder in ChatGPT

OpenAI's developer docs call a server you add a plugin. Which ChatGPT plans can add one, and with what access, is on [OpenAI's help page](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12584461-developer-mode-and-mcp-apps-in-chatgpt).

1. Open [chatgpt.com/plugins](https://chatgpt.com/plugins), then + › Add custom MCP server.
2. Name it Folder, and under Connection enter `https://mcp.folder.dev/mcp`.
3. Set authentication to OAuth, read the warning, and select I understand and want to continue.
4. Create as a plugin. Signing in opens the Connect Folder page.

## The Connect Folder Page

The page at mcp.folder.dev/connect asks three things:

- Sign in with Apple, with the account you use in Folder.
- Tick the folders it may use, on Folder or in your own Cloudflare.
- Choose Read Only or Read and Change, then Allow.

It signs in with OAuth 2.1, so the app never sees your Apple ID or a password. A folder on Folder is free with 5 GB and works with both apps.

## What It Can Read and Change

- Read: your folders and their files, a file found by part of its name, a text file up to 256 KB, and every version of a file.
- A photo or a PDF comes back as its link, not its contents. Search matches file names, not their text.
- With Read and Change: save text from the chat as a new file, keep a file from the chat or the web up to 10 MB, edit a text file, and put back an earlier version.
- It never deletes or moves a file, and saving a new file never replaces one. Every change is a new version in the file's [history](/docs/history), so you can put it back.
- A share link, for a folder in your Cloudflare, asks you first: the first call says who could open it, and only a second call with its confirm code makes it.

## Which Folders It May Use

- Only the folders you ticked. Every call checks that each one is still in what you allowed, and still yours.
- On Folder and in your Cloudflare. A folder on this Mac stays on that Mac.
- To stop it, folder.dev › Settings › Connected Apps, and disconnect.

Every tool, what it takes and what undoes it: [ChatGPT and Claude](/docs/chatgpt-and-claude).

## Next

[Get Folder for Mac](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6819667588?mt=12&pt=128232389&ct=folder-web) and sign in with Apple, then connect it in Claude or ChatGPT as above.

Source: https://folder.dev/guides/chatgpt-and-claude/connectors