Connecting Claude to Notion

My First MCP Experiment

The Problem: Trapped Knowledge

For a long time, I wanted to connect my Notion to Claude or ChatGPT, to access my notes, journals and previous project documents. Yesterday, when I started experiments with MCP I realized this might actually be possible. Could I really connect my AI assistant directly to my knowledge base? I decided to find out.

What is MCP?

Although I am still trying to understand it, I think MCP is a way for AI assistants like Claude to connect with external tools and services like Notion, GitHub, or Spotify. An API integration might do the same, but I think MCP are well designed API systems with well structured prompts, instructions and permissions.

Setting Up Notion + Claude

Step 1: Create a Notion Integration

- Visited Notion's integration page (https://www.notion.so/my-integrations)

- Created a new integration and got an API token

- Selected appropriate permissions (like "Read content")

Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop

- Found Claude's configuration file at `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

- Added the Notion MCP server configuration:

{"mcpServers":{"notionApi":{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@notionhq/notion-mcp-server"],"env":{"OPENAPI_MCP_HEADERS":"{\"Authorization\": \"Bearer NOTION_API_KEY\", \"Notion-Version\": \"2022-06-28\" }"}}}}

- Restarted Claude

Step 3: Connect Your Notion Pages

- Opened specific Notion pages I wanted Claude to access

- Clicked the "..." menu in the upper right

- Selected "Add connections" and chose my integration

Step 4: Test the Connection

- Asked Claude to list my Notion pages

- Requested information from specific documents with prompts like:

• List all pages in my Notion workspace

• Show me the contents of my page titled "Project Ideas"

• Search my Notion workspace for documents containing "meeting notes"

Results: What Worked Well

The basic functionality worked as expected. Claude could:

- Access and read my Notion pages

- Search for specific content

- Generate ideas based on the content

This made it possible to ask questions about my notes without manually copying information into the chat.

My Experiment: Extracting Blog Topics

- I had my project notes and journaling from almost a year

- I tried to extract topics for blogs that I can write based on the context

- I was able to generate a lot of topics for the blogs based on my content

- The subsequent step of generating articles is next thing I want to try out

Limitations I Discovered

While the connection worked, I found some significant limitations:

1. Basic Search Only

- Claude relies on simple keyword search rather than understanding the meaning of my content

- Large workspaces become difficult to navigate effectively

2. No Smart Connections

- Claude doesn't automatically understand relationships between different pages

- It can't easily synthesize information across multiple documents

⚠️ Assumption: Claude may only be able to search for content using the exact terms you provide—it doesn't adequately understand the semantic meaning across documents.

Personal Insights

What surprised me most was how straightforward the technical setup was compared to the practical limitations. Setting up the connection took just minutes, but I quickly realized that having access to my notes and truly understanding them are two different things.

The experience reminded me that current AI tools are still in their early stages when it comes to working with personal knowledge bases. They can retrieve information, but the kind of deep understanding and synthesis I was hoping for still requires more sophisticated approaches.

Next Steps

For my next experiment, I'm considering:

- Trying another MCP integration like GitHub or Google Drive

- Exploring RAG-focused MCP servers that might offer better search capabilities and understand relationships between my notes and documents

Privacy and Security Considerations

When setting up this integration, I was cautious about giving Claude write access to my Notion workspace. I deliberately limited permissions to "Read content" only, as I was concerned about potential data corruption.

⚠️ Security Tip: Consider creating a separate or duplicate Notion workspace specifically for AI experimentation. This isolates your important data from any potential issues while you're testing these integrations.

If you do decide to grant write permissions, start with non-critical pages and carefully monitor what changes are being made. The API token you create has significant access to your workspace, so treat it like any other sensitive credential.

Alternatives

Don't have Claude Desktop? Similar integrations are possible with:

Cursor: This code editor has built-in MCP support and can connect to many of the same services, including Notion

Zapier: For a more no-code approach, Zapier offers integrations between various AI tools and Notion

Resources for Your Own Setup

- Notion MCP Server: https://github.com/makenotion/notion-mcp-server

- Notion API Documentation: https://developers.notion.com/

- MCP Protocol Documentation: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/

- Directory of MCP Servers: https://github.com/punkpeye/awesome-mcp-servers

Quick Start Checklist

If you want to try this yourself, here's what you'll need:

□ Claude Desktop app installed

□ A Notion account with content you want to access

□ Basic familiarity with editing JSON configuration files

Setup Steps:

1. □ Create Notion integration at notion.so/my-integrations

2. □ Copy your integration token (starts with ntn_)

3. □ Find Claude's config file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/

4. □ Add the Notion MCP configuration (see code snippet above)

5. □ Connect your Notion pages to the integration

6. □ Restart Claude and test with a simple query

Expect to spend about 15-20 minutes on the initial setup.

Have you tried connecting AI assistants to your knowledge base? What was your experience?