Connect your novel to Claude
Add Chapter & Worse to Claude once, and any chat can open your manuscript, on your laptop or your phone. Always the current draft, and it can't change a word.
What you need
- A Chapter & Worse account with a book in it. Sign in with Google: the first 14 days are free, with no card to enter.
- A Claude account. It works on every Claude plan, and the free plan allows one custom connector.
- On a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner adds the connector for the organisation, then you press Connect.
What it can do
- List books. The books you can open, with their word counts.
- Book outline. Every chapter in order, with its word count.
- Read a chapter. One chapter in full.
- Search a book. Every paragraph with a word or a name in it, and the chapter it's in.
- Read the whole book. The manuscript in order, for questions about structure, pacing or an arc. A long book comes in parts.
That's the whole list, and all five only read. Claude can suggest a line in the chat, and you decide whether it goes in.
Add it to Claude
Press Add to Claude on your shelf in Chapter & Worse. It opens Claude with everything filled in, and you'll see the four screens below. To add it by hand, use Add custom connector in Claude's connectors, with this address:
https://chapterandworse.com/api/mcpFour screens, one button each.
Claude asks a few questions the first time. Here's what you'll see, and the one thing to press on each.
- 1A warning
“Suggested by an external link.” That's Claude checking it was you. If it says chapterandworse.com, press Continue.
- 2Some settings
Claude has already picked the right ones (they say Detected). Change nothing. Press Add.
- 3Our card
Back on Chapter & Worse (sign in with Google if it asks). Press Allow.
- 4Let it read
Claude lists the five reading tools, set to Needs approval. Change it to Always allow: they can only read.
Try it first, with no account
A separate demo connector reads one book, Pride and Prejudice, with nothing to sign in to. It's a different connector from the real one, so there's nothing to undo when you start your own. Claude's free plan allows one custom connector, so there you'd remove the demo first.
Try it in ClaudeIf something looks wrong
Claude says a connector with this address already exists
It's already in your Claude, so don't add it again. Open Claude's connectors, click Chapter & Worse and press Connect. If it says Disconnect, press that first, then Connect.
Claude shows a tick, but it can't read my books
Claude's tick can be out of date, because it doesn't hear when a connection is stopped from our side. In Claude's connectors, click Chapter & Worse, press Disconnect, then press Connect and Allow.
Claude can see the wrong account's books
One Claude account connects to one Chapter & Worse account at a time. Sign in to Chapter & Worse with the account you want, then press Disconnect and Connect in Claude's connectors, and Allow.
Claude doesn't use it in a chat
Check it's turned on for that chat, from the + button in the message box. Asking by name helps: "Using Chapter & Worse, where are we up to with my book?"
Claude asks permission every time it reads
In Claude's connectors, click Chapter & Worse and set Read-only tools to Always allow. They can only read.
I want to stop it reading my books
Press Disconnect on it in Claude's connectors. If you can't get into Claude, you can also stop it from the Connect to Claude page in Chapter & Worse's menu, and that works straight away.
Your book and your privacy
Claude reads your book only when you ask it something, and what it reads falls under Anthropic's own privacy terms. The privacy page says what we keep and who can see it. Still stuck? Email hello@chapterandworse.com.