How to
How to connect Claude to Clio
Clio runs the matters, contacts, time entries, and billing your firm lives in, but there is no first-party Claude connector. Here is how a custom MCP connector puts Claude to work inside Clio, with billing gated behind your approval.
Connect Claude to Clio with a custom MCP connector, since Clio ships no first-party Claude integration. The connector authenticates to Clio's REST API with OAuth as your own account, gives Claude read tools for matters, contacts, and tasks, and write tools like `Open a new matter` and logging billable time, with billing actions gated behind your approval.
Key takeaways
- Clio has no official Claude or MCP connector, so any Claude access to your practice-management data is custom-built on its REST API and OAuth.
- A custom connector lets Claude open a matter and attach the contact, create and assign tasks with due dates, and log a billable time entry to the correct matter and activity.
- Anything that touches billing is separated from routine write tools and only runs after you confirm it, so invoices stay under your control.
- The connector authenticates as your Clio account, inherits your permissions and matter visibility, and can be restricted to specific IP ranges if your firm requires it.
Does Clio have an official Claude connector?
No. Clio exposes a REST API and OAuth, but there is no first-party Claude or MCP connector, so any Claude access to Clio today is custom-built. A scoped custom connector can let Claude read matters, contacts, and tasks and add write actions like creating tasks and logging time.
That gap is worth naming plainly, because law firms tend to assume a platform as established as Clio ships an AI integration. It does not. If you connect Claude to your firm's data at all right now, it happens through a connector someone built on Clio's API.
The upside of building custom is that the connector matches how your firm actually works: which matters Claude can see, which write actions flow freely, and which steps, like anything that touches billing, always pause for a person.
The wider pattern holds beyond this one tool: in our June 2026 review of 264 business tools, 77 percent had no Claude connector at all, and none shipped full read-write out of the box.
How do I set up a custom Clio connector for Claude?
A custom Clio connector is a small MCP server built for your firm. It authenticates to Clio with OAuth 2.0 using the narrowest scopes the work needs, separates read tools from write tools, and gates anything that touches billing or sends data out behind your confirmation.
The path from request to working connector:
- 1Describe the Clio work Claude should handle: intake, task management, time entries, matter updates, and where your firm draws the approval line.
- 2We build a small MCP server with read tools for matters, contacts, and tasks separated from write tools like create task, log time, and update note.
- 3You authenticate through OAuth 2.0 as your own Clio account, so Claude inherits your existing permissions and matter visibility, never more.
- 4Claude starts working inside your matters in conversation, and anything that touches billing or sends data out waits for your confirmation.
Access is revocable at any time, and the connector can be restricted to specific IP ranges if your firm requires it.
What can Claude do in Clio with write access?
With full read-write access, Claude can open a new matter and attach the relevant contact, create and assign tasks with due dates, log a billable time entry to the correct matter and activity, update contact records, draft activity notes for your review, and create calendar entries tied to a matter.
The tool set maps to the intake and admin steps that usually mean tabbing through Clio:
Open a new matter and attach the relevant contactso intake starts from the conversation, not a blank form.Create and assign tasks with due dates against a matterto turn next steps into tracked work.Log a billable time entry to the correct matter and activityso time capture happens where the work happened.Add or update a contact recordto keep client details current.Draft an activity note or matter update for your reviewbefore anything lands on the record.Create a calendar entry tied to a matterso deadlines live next to the file.
Each of these runs inside the matter you are already working on, so the admin follows the work instead of interrupting it.
Will Claude touch billing or invoices without my approval?
No. Billing-related write actions are separated from read and routine write tools and are gated behind a confirmation step. Claude can prepare a time entry or note, but anything affecting an invoice is only applied after you approve it, so financial records stay under your control.
In practice, most firms let matter lookups and task creation flow freely, keep time entries fast, and reserve confirmations for anything that touches an invoice or sends data outside the firm. The line is yours to draw, and it can be different per person.
Claude only sees the matters you see
The connector authenticates as your Clio account through OAuth and inherits your existing permissions and matter visibility. It never grants Claude more access to client data than you already have, and scopes plus optional IP allowlisting keep the surface as small as your firm needs.
Is a custom Clio connector safe for client confidentiality?
The connector holds no standing access beyond your own Clio login. It uses OAuth with the narrowest scopes the work needs, inherits your matter visibility, and can be restricted to specific IP ranges. Nothing leaves the firm without a gated, confirmed action, and access is revocable at any time.
Confidentiality is a scoping question, and a custom build lets you answer it precisely. If a paralegal authenticates the connector, Claude sees what that paralegal sees. If your firm restricts Clio access by network, the connector runs behind the same IP allowlist. There is no shared service account with firm-wide reach, and no write action your own login could not perform.
That is also the argument for building rather than waiting: a purpose-built connector encodes your firm's approval rules directly, instead of asking you to trust a generic integration's defaults with client data.