# Claude Code with your WhatsApp: one command, one token > Circles lets Claude Code read the WhatsApp chats you choose, over MCP. Make a token in Circles, run one command, and Claude Code can read what a client or a community said without you leaving the terminal. **To add WhatsApp to Claude Code:** link your number in Circles, make a token under *New token*, and run `claude mcp add --transport http circles https://app.usecircles.app/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer circ_..."`. Claude Code then reads and searches the chats you opened, voice notes as text, with a Free plan for 2 chats and Pro at $29 a month (₪99 in Israel), 14 days free, as of October 2026. Source: https://usecircles.app/en/agents/claude-code · Updated 2026-10-27 ## Three steps, one paste 1. **Link your WhatsApp in Circles**: Start your trial, then link your number as a linked device: a code typed on your phone, or a QR on your computer. Same number, same WhatsApp on your phone. History arrives in about 5 to 15 minutes, and you can connect your agent meanwhile. 2. **Make a token**: On Circles' Agents page, choose *New token*, pick Claude (or Other), keep MCP, and choose what it allows: reading, files, sending. The token starts with `circ_` and is shown once. 3. **Add Circles to Claude Code**: Run the command below with your token, or use *Copy config* for the JSON. Then `claude mcp list` shows `circles` connected. ## The command Replace `circ_...` with your token. Add `--scope user` to have Circles in every project. ``` claude mcp add --transport http circles https://app.usecircles.app/api/mcp \ --header "Authorization: Bearer circ_..." ``` ## Or the JSON Circles' *Copy config* gives you the address and the header. In a project's `.mcp.json`, Claude Code also wants the type of server: ``` { "mcpServers": { "circles": { "type": "http", "url": "https://app.usecircles.app/api/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer circ_..." } } } } ``` ## Keep the token out of the repo A `.mcp.json` is often committed with the project. Never commit the token: use the command above, which keeps it in your own settings, or have Claude Code read it from an environment variable. If a token leaks, disconnect it in Circles; it stops working at once. Why a token? Claude Code supports sign-in for remote servers, and Circles accepts the local return address it uses. That path has not been tested with Claude Code yet. The token is the path we know works. ## What to ask Claude Code For developers whose clients, testers and users write on WhatsApp. Invented examples, real shapes. - **"Pull the bug Avi reported in the client group this morning into a GitHub issue"**: Claude Code reads the group, voice notes as text, and writes the issue with steps, using the GitHub tools it already has. - **"Draft release notes for the community group from the commits since the last tag"**: It reads the git log and how the group talks. It posts only if you opened that group for sending, otherwise it hands you the text. - **"Find the API spec the partner sent last month and check our endpoints against it"**: Claude Code finds the PDF with `documents`, fetches it, and reads it itself. - **"Which of my client chats asked for something this week that has no issue yet?"**: `activity` first, so it reads only the chats that moved. ## What Claude Code can and cannot do here **Claude Code can:** - See which chats you opened, and which of them moved since a time, with counts and no text (`allowed_chats`, `activity`). - Catch up and search, in one chat or all of them, with senders by name and voice notes already transcribed (`catch_up`, `search`). - See who you talk with and who is in a group, by the name you saved; group member lists never include numbers (`people`, `group_members`). - List the documents sent in your chats and open a photo, PDF or file, up to 50 MB (`documents`, `get_media`). Claude Code opens the file and reads it itself. - Send a message or a file, only in chats you opened for sending and within your daily cap (`send`). **Claude Code cannot:** - See a hidden chat. It is not listed, not searchable, and never named, not even in a refusal. - Send in a chat you opened for reading only, go past the daily cap (default 5 across all your agents), or have a send retried automatically. - Reply with a quote or react with an emoji. Those exist only in the [HTTP API](https://usecircles.app/en/whatsapp-api-personal-number). - Keep access after you disconnect it. Disconnecting ends it at once, and every request it made stays in your activity log. ## Questions and answers ### Can Claude Code access WhatsApp? Yes, with Circles. Circles is a hosted WhatsApp MCP server: add it to Claude Code with one command and a token, and Claude Code reads the chats you open. Nothing to run on your machine. ### How do I add a WhatsApp MCP server to Claude Code? Make a token in Circles, then run `claude mcp add --transport http circles https://app.usecircles.app/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer circ_..."`. Or paste the JSON block into `.mcp.json`. ### Can I connect Claude Code with the address alone? Circles accepts the local sign-in Claude Code uses, so it should work. No run with Claude Code has been tested yet, so use the token, which is the tested path. ### Is this a way to talk to Claude Code from WhatsApp? No. Circles lets Claude Code read the WhatsApp chats you choose. ### Can Claude Code send WhatsApp messages? Only if the token allows sending, and only in chats you opened for sending, within your daily cap. A send is never retried automatically. ### How long does the token work? Until you disconnect it, unless you chose 90 days or a year when you made it. Circles keeps only a hash of it and shows it once. ## Keep reading - [Codex](https://usecircles.app/en/agents/codex): One address and an approval, no token. - [Cursor](https://usecircles.app/en/agents/cursor): The same config, in mcp.json. - [The WhatsApp MCP hub](https://usecircles.app/en/whatsapp-mcp): The nine tools and what they return. --- 14 days free. Link your number, pick the chats, then connect Instinct with one tap or Claude, ChatGPT and Codex with one address. Start: https://usecircles.app/start?agent=claude&lang=en