CandleKeep for Claude Cowork & Desktop
NewUse CandleKeep inside Claude Cowork or Claude Desktop. Paste one URL, upload one zip, and Claude can search your library, read pages with citations, and draft new knowledge docs — all without a terminal.
The setup runs entirely from Claude's Customize panel. Step 1 connects Claude to CandleKeep's MCP server over OAuth. Step 2 installs the skill and four specialist subagents that drive the research workflow. After that, just talk to Claude normally — "what does my library say about…", "draft a knowledge doc on…", "find me a book on…" — and CandleKeep activates automatically.
Copy-paste version
The whole setup in plain text — no screenshots needed. Copy it for yourself, or paste it to Claude and ask it to walk you through each step. (Claude can't click these buttons for you — the Customize panel is part of the app, not something an agent controls — but it can guide you through them.)
CandleKeep — no-terminal setup for Claude Desktop / Cowork
Part 1 — Add the MCP connector (gives Claude your library):
1. Open Customize → Connectors, click the + button
2. Choose "Add custom connector"
3. Name it CandleKeep, paste this URL:
https://www.getcandlekeep.com/api/v1/mcp
4. Click Add. A browser tab opens on getcandlekeep.com —
sign in with the same account you use for the dashboard,
then click Authorize.
5. Back in Claude, the connector now lists the CandleKeep tools.
Part 1 done.
Part 2 — Upload the skill bundle (teaches Claude how to use them):
1. Download the bundle:
https://getcandlekeep.com/cowork-plugin.zip
2. Click Customize in the left sidebar.
3. Click + next to "Personal plugins", then + at the top of the
"Skills" column.
4. Choose "Upload a skill" and drag the downloaded zip onto the
upload area.
Done. Just talk to Claude normally — "what does my library say
about X?" — and CandleKeep activates automatically.What you'll be able to do
- ✓Research with citations — Claude searches your library, reads the right pages, answers with specific page references.
- ✓Marketplace auto-subscribe — if no book in your library covers a topic, Claude finds one on the marketplace, subscribes silently, then reads it.
- ✓Create & edit knowledge docs — draft new markdown books, append chapters, or update existing entries. Versions are saved automatically.
- ✓Manuscript curation — Claude proposes additions to your active manuscripts when a session produces something genuinely worth keeping.
Step 1 — Add the custom connector
This is what gives Claude access to your CandleKeep library via MCP. You only do it once.
1. In Claude, go to Customize → Connectors and click the + button.
2. Select Add custom connector.
3. Give it a name (e.g. CandleKeep) and paste the Remote MCP server URL:
https://www.getcandlekeep.com/api/v1/mcp4. Click Add. A browser tab opens on getcandlekeep.com — sign in with the same account you use for the dashboard, then click Authorize.
5. Back in Claude, the connector now lists the CandleKeep tools. You're done with Step 1.
Prefer an API key? The MCP server also accepts a ck_ API key as a Bearer token instead of the OAuth connector — handy for headless or custom clients. Grab one and see the snippet on the Developers page.
Step 2 — Upload the skill bundle
The connector gives Claude the tools. The skill bundle teaches it how to use them — the research workflow, the citation format, and four specialist subagents (librarian, item-reader, book-writer, book-enricher). Follow the four clicks below.
First, download the bundle:
Download CandleKeep skill bundleZipped skill — includes the main workflow and the four subagents.
Heads up: you'll click + twice before uploading — first next to Personal plugins, then at the top of the Skills column. The four screenshots below show each click in order.
1Click Customize in the left sidebar.
2Click the + next to Personal plugins.
3Click the + at the top of the Skills column to add a new skill.
4Choose Upload a skill from the dropdown, then drag the zip you just downloaded onto the upload area.
Claude installs the skill plus the four subagents. They appear under your custom skills list and activate automatically when you ask a research question.
Try it
Open a new chat with Claude and try any of these. The skill activates automatically from natural language — no slash command needed.
| If you ask… | CandleKeep will… |
|---|---|
| "What does my library say about Rust async?" | Search your library, read the most relevant pages, answer with citations. |
| "Find me a book on Verilog and add it." | Browse the marketplace, subscribe to the best match, then read it. |
| "Summarise chapter 4 of Refactoring UI." | Pull the table of contents, read the chapter, summarise with a citation block. |
| "Draft a knowledge doc on our incident-response runbook." | Create a new markdown document, then iterate with you. |
Permissions you'll grant
When you click Authorize in Step 1, Claude requests these scopes. You can revoke them anytime from your settings page.
- library:readlist, search, read your items and their table of contents.
- library:writecreate new markdown items, edit existing ones, enrich metadata.
- marketplace:readbrowse community-published listings.
- marketplace:writesubscribe to listings (counts against your plan's item limit).
Troubleshooting
- The connector authorised but Claude isn't triggering CandleKeep. Make sure you finished Step 2 — without the skill bundle, Claude has the tools but no idea when to use them. Then try a clear phrase like "what does my CandleKeep library say about X?".
- The Authorize page asks me to sign in twice. Open the dashboard in the same browser first, then run Step 1. Claude reuses your session.
- Behaviour seems out of date after an update. The connector (the tools) updates live, but the skill bundle is frozen at the moment you downloaded the zip. If a newly-announced workflow isn't showing up, re-download the skill bundle and re-upload it in Step 2 to get the latest version.
- A research answer mentions a Pro preview. That book is from the marketplace, owned by another user, and scoped to Pro for full access. You see the first two pages on FREE. Upgrade at /billing for the full chapter.