Installing the Claude plugin

Basic  If you use Claude Code, this is the fastest way to connect Protocol: two lines, no connector URL to copy, no key to paste.

What it is

The Protocol CRM plugin is an official package for Claude Code that bundles the Protocol connection with a set of ready-made skills: reviewing a client, building and assigning programs, running a check-in cycle, managing your schedule, and clearing your inbox. It’s a different route to the same AI agent feature described elsewhere in this section, built specifically for coaches who already run Claude Code.

Install it

In Claude Code, type these two lines:

/plugin marketplace add dejankeri/protocol-claude-plugin
/plugin install protocol-crm@protocol

That’s it. Claude connects to Protocol on its own the first time you ask it to do something there; there’s no separate setup step before that.

What the consent screen asks

The first time you ask it to do something in Protocol, Claude opens a sign-in screen for api.protocolcrm.com. You sign in and approve the connection, the same way you’d approve any app asking for calendar or email access.

The screen asks you to pick an access level, and read + write is preselected:

• Read only. It can look things up and answer questions, but cannot change anything. Most requests people actually make will not be available.
• Read + write (the default, and right for most coaches). It can build programs, update clients, log progress, manage tasks, and book or cancel appointments. It cannot send anything to a client.
• Read + write + send. Adds the three actions that reach a client: firing an appointment reminder, arming a recurring one, and running an automation on request. Pick this only if you want the agent doing those things.

You can change your mind by disconnecting and reconnecting. Whatever you pick, open the AI Agent page from your profile menu to disconnect at any time, and it stops immediately. See Safety, scopes & privacy for what that access does and doesn’t cover.

Already connected Protocol by hand? Remove the old one

If you previously added a “ProtocolCRM” connector yourself, through claude.ai’s connector settings, remove that one, before or after installing the plugin. Otherwise the same Protocol connection ends up registered twice under two different names, and Claude won’t know which one to use. Removing it takes a minute: open your connector settings, find the manually added “ProtocolCRM” entry, and remove it.

Turn on auto-update

This matters. Plugins from a third-party marketplace like this one do not update themselves by default. Skip this step and you’ll stay on today’s version forever, even after fixes and new skills ship.

To turn it on:

1. Type /plugin.
2. Choose Marketplaces.
3. Select protocol from the list.
4. Choose Enable auto-update.

Takes about ten seconds, and you only do it once.

When you’d want a REST key too

Almost no coach needs this. The plugin’s normal connection, the one you just installed, covers everyday coaching work: reviewing clients, building and assigning programs, scheduling, inbox triage, reports. It’s an agent key, and the hard limits still hold: it can’t message a client, touch billing, permanently delete anything, or generate with Protocol’s own AI.

There are two situations where you’d add a REST API key (pk_live_) on top:

• Pulling a lot of data at once. For example, one client’s full progress history across years of check-ins, instead of dozens of one-off lookups.
• The rare request the normal connection can’t do, because it falls outside what the bundled skills cover.

If either applies, here’s the difference to understand before you set it up: a REST key authenticates as you, with full account access, the same as signing in yourself. None of the hard limits above are enforced by the platform for that key; they hold only because the assistant chooses to follow them as policy, not because Protocol blocks them. It only works from Claude Code (Claude Desktop and the Claude web app have no terminal to run it from), and it’s owner only: only the account owner can see Integrations at all. If you’re a coach on someone else’s team, ask the owner to create the key and pass it to you.

To set it up: in Protocol, open your profile menu, then Integrations, then API keys, and create one. It starts with pk_live_. Then set it as an environment variable named PROTOCOL_API_KEY wherever you run Claude Code. Treat it like a password: whoever holds it can do anything your account can do. See Creating & using API keys for the full walkthrough.

If you’re not sure you need this, you probably don’t. The plugin’s normal connection covers everyday coaching work on its own.

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See also: AI agent overview · Connecting your assistant · Safety, scopes & privacy