Connect Uku to Claude (AI assistant)

Connecting Claude to Uku lets you ask an AI assistant about your clients, tasks, and hours in plain language — and have it log time or draft tasks for you — through a personal key that never grants more access than your own Uku login.

Any Uku user who can create a personal API key, on a firm where Uku MCP is enabled. There is no separate admin role — you connect your own account, and the assistant only ever works within what your Uku user is already allowed to see and do.

Uku MCP is an Elite feature and is rolling out gradually. If the Connect an AI assistant panel is not yet visible under Settings & Apps → API Keys, it has not been enabled for your firm yet.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the open standard Claude uses to talk to Uku. Today you can connect the two apps that run on your own computer:

• Claude Desktop — the Claude app for Mac and Windows.
• Claude Code — Anthropic’s command-line assistant for developers.

Support for claude.ai on the web (as a connector, signed in with OAuth) is coming later. Until then, use one of the desktop apps above.

The key is what lets Claude sign in as you. Create it once and keep it somewhere safe — it is shown in full only when you create it.

Path: Settings & Apps → API Keys

1. Open Settings & Apps and go to API Keys.
2. Create a new personal API key and give it a name you will recognise later, for example “Claude on my laptop”.
3. Copy the key when it is shown. Store it in your password manager — you will paste it into Claude in the next step.

Everything Claude needs is on the Connect an AI assistant panel on the same API Keys page: your company ID, and the full, ready-to-paste configuration. You only supply your personal key.

Path: Settings & Apps → API Keys → Connect an AI assistant

The panel shows a configuration block in this shape — the same for Claude Desktop and Claude Code:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "uku": {
      "url": "https://app.getuku.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-Uku-Company": "<company id>",
        "X-API-Key": "<personal API key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

1. Copy the configuration from the Connect an AI assistant panel — your company ID is already filled in.
2. Paste your personal API key in place of <personal API key> if it is not already included.
3. Claude Desktop — add the block to your claude_desktop_config.json file (Claude’s own settings explain where this file lives), then restart Claude Desktop.
4. Claude Code — add the same block to your Claude Code configuration.
5. Start a conversation and ask something simple, such as “what are my tasks today?”, to confirm the connection works.

The connection is read as you: Claude gets exactly the view your own Uku login gives you, and no more.

• It sees your clients, tasks, time entries, notes, and activity.
• It can never see billing or financial amounts — a personal key does not carry financial access.
• It cannot see colleagues’ audit actions — who changed what across the firm stays out of view.

This is the core safety of the personal key: it is impossible for the assistant to reach data you could not open yourself in Uku.

Ask in plain language, the way you would ask a colleague. Useful examples:

• Find things — “find the client Apple Ltd”, “which tasks mention the annual report”, “find John’s contact details”.
• Your day — “what are my tasks today?”, “what’s overdue on my clients?”.
• Hours — “how many hours did I log on Apple Ltd this month?”, “show logged hours by person on this client”.
• KPIs — ask for a KPI overview; the assistant answers with the numbers and a link that opens the live view in Uku.
• What happened — “who changed the due date on this task?”, “what happened on client Apple Ltd this week?”.
• Responsibilities — “who is responsible for what on this client?”.
• How-to questions — “how do I set up a contract?”; the assistant answers from this Help Center.

The assistant can also make changes — log time and create tasks — but never silently.

Whenever you ask it to save something, it first shows you a preview of exactly what it will do and asks you to confirm. Nothing is written to Uku until you say yes, so you always see the time entry or task before it exists.

Your personal key is a credential to your own Uku view — treat it like a password, and remove it the moment you no longer need it.

• Delete it anytime at Settings & Apps → API Keys. Access stops immediately for any Claude app still using it.
• Every action is logged, so there is a record of what the assistant did on your behalf.
• If you leave the firm, the key stops working automatically — nothing lingers.

The panel appears under Settings & Apps → API Keys only once Uku MCP is enabled for your firm. It is an Elite feature and is rolling out gradually — if you can’t see it yet, it hasn’t been switched on for your firm. Ask your Uku contact whether it is available for your plan.

Authentication fails when the credentials don’t match. Check that the company ID and personal API key were pasted exactly as shown on the Connect an AI assistant panel, with no missing or extra characters. If they look right, the key may have been deleted — create a new personal key under Settings & Apps → API Keys and paste the fresh value into Claude.

The assistant only sees what your Uku user can see. If it can’t find a client, task, or time entry, that record is likely outside your access, or it can’t see billing amounts because a personal key never carries financial access. This is by design — the assistant can never reach data you couldn’t open yourself.

Not yet. Today the connection works with Claude Desktop and Claude Code, which run on your own computer. A web connector for claude.ai (signed in with OAuth) is planned for later — until then, use one of the desktop apps.