Zapier MCP

Zapier MCP

Connect your AI agent to 8,000+ apps via Zapier's MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration. This skill provides:

Overview

Zapier MCP exposes your configured Zapier actions as tools your agent can call. Unlike Pipedream (which requires OAuth token management), Zapier MCP uses a simple URL-based authentication — just paste your MCP URL and you're connected.

Prerequisites

1. Zapier Account — Sign up at zapier.com 2. mcporter — MCP tool runner (npm install -g mcporter) 3. Clawdbot Gateway — v2026.1.0 or later with UI enabled

Quick Start

Step 1: Get Your Zapier MCP URL

1. Go to zapier.com/mcp and sign in 2. Configure which actions to expose (e.g., "Send Slack message", "Create Google Sheet row") 3. Copy your personalized MCP URL (looks like https://actions.zapier.com/mcp/...)

Step 2: Configure in Clawdbot UI

1. Open Clawdbot Dashboard → Tools → Zapier 2. Click Configure 3. Paste your MCP URL 4. Click Save

That's it! Zapier will validate the URL and show how many tools are available.

Step 3: Use Your Tools

Once connected, tools are available via mcporter:

# List available tools
mcporter list zapier-mcp --schema
Call a tool
mcporter call zapier-mcp. --args '{"instructions": "your request"}'

Usage Patterns

The instructions Parameter

Every Zapier tool accepts an instructions parameter. Zapier's AI interprets this to fill in missing parameters:

# ❌ Vague - may prompt for clarification
mcporter call zapier-mcp.slack_send_message \
  --args '{"instructions": "Send a message"}'
✅ Specific - AI can resolve parameters
mcporter call zapier-mcp.slack_send_message \
  --args '{"instructions": "Send \"Hello team!\" to the #general channel"}'

The output_hint Parameter

Control what data is returned:

mcporter call zapier-mcp.google_sheets_find_row \
  --args '{
    "instructions": "Find row where email is bob@example.com",
    "output_hint": "name, email, phone number"
  }'

Common Tool Patterns

# Slack
mcporter call zapier-mcp.slack_send_message \
  --args '{"instructions": "Send \"Build complete!\" to #deployments"}'
Gmail
mcporter call zapier-mcp.gmail_send_email \
  --args '{"instructions": "Send email to bob@example.com with subject \"Meeting\" and body \"See you at 3pm\""}'
Google Sheets
mcporter call zapier-mcp.google_sheets_create_row \
  --args '{"instructions": "Add row with Name=John, Email=john@example.com to Sales Leads spreadsheet"}'
Notion
mcporter call zapier-mcp.notion_create_page \
  --args '{"instructions": "Create page titled \"Meeting Notes\" in the Team Wiki database"}'
Calendar
mcporter call zapier-mcp.google_calendar_create_event \
  --args '{"instructions": "Create meeting \"Team Standup\" tomorrow at 10am for 30 minutes"}'

Architecture

How It Works

1. You configure actions in Zapier's MCP dashboard 2. Zapier generates a unique MCP URL for your account 3. Clawdbot stores the URL in mcporter config 4. When you call a tool, mcporter sends a JSON-RPC request to Zapier 5. Zapier executes the action and returns results

Files Modified

| Location | Purpose | |----------|---------| | ~/clawd/config/mcporter.json | MCP server configuration with Zapier URL |

Backend Endpoints

The skill uses these gateway RPC methods:

| Method | Purpose | |--------|---------| | zapier.status | Get connection status and tool count | | zapier.save | Validate and store MCP URL | | zapier.test | Test the connection | | zapier.disconnect | Remove Zapier from mcporter config | | zapier.tools | List all available tools |

SSE Response Format

Zapier MCP uses Server-Sent Events format:

event: message
data: {"result":{"tools":[...]},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1}

The backend automatically parses this format.

UI Features

The Zapier page in Clawdbot dashboard provides:

Tool Grouping

Tools are automatically grouped by app:

Comparison: Zapier vs Pipedream

| Feature | Zapier MCP | Pipedream Connect | |---------|------------|-------------------| | Setup | Paste URL | OAuth + credentials | | Token refresh | Not needed | Every 45 minutes | | Apps | 8,000+ | 2,000+ | | Cost | Zapier subscription | Pipedream subscription | | Complexity | Simple | More control |

Use Zapier when: You want simple setup and already use Zapier.

Use Pipedream when: You need fine-grained OAuth control or prefer Pipedream's pricing.

Troubleshooting

"Connection test failed"

"No tools available"

"followUpQuestion" in response

Tool not found

Adding App-Specific Skills

Once Zapier MCP is connected, you can create app-specific skills for commonly used integrations. See:

These skills provide deeper documentation for specific apps while using the same underlying Zapier MCP connection.

Reference Files

This skill includes reference implementations:

These are for reference when building custom integrations or debugging.

Security Considerations

| Behavior | Description | |----------|-------------| | URL contains auth | Your MCP URL includes authentication — treat it like a password | | Stored in config | URL saved to ~/clawd/config/mcporter.json | | External API calls | Calls actions.zapier.com |

Best practices:

Support

Step 1: Get Your Zapier MCP URL

1. Go to zapier.com/mcp and sign in 2. Configure which actions to expose (e.g., "Send Slack message", "Create Google Sheet row") 3. Copy your personalized MCP URL (looks like https://actions.zapier.com/mcp/...)

Step 2: Configure in Clawdbot UI

1. Open Clawdbot Dashboard → Tools → Zapier 2. Click Configure 3. Paste your MCP URL 4. Click Save

That's it! Zapier will validate the URL and show how many tools are available.

Step 3: Use Your Tools

Once connected, tools are available via mcporter:

# List available tools
mcporter list zapier-mcp --schema
Call a tool
mcporter call zapier-mcp. --args '{"instructions": "your request"}'

1. Zapier Account — Sign up at zapier.com 2. mcporter — MCP tool runner (npm install -g mcporter) 3. Clawdbot Gateway — v2026.1.0 or later with UI enabled

"Connection test failed"

"No tools available"

"followUpQuestion" in response

Tool not found