Cold email from Claude Desktop.

With FoxReach MCP

Connect Claude Desktop to FoxReach in under 5 minutes. Ask Claude to draft a campaign, import leads, triage replies, or pull performance. Claude has 64 FoxReach tools available and knows which to chain. No code, no dashboard switching.

What this unlocks

Claude Desktop is the closest thing to a real personal assistant most of us have on our laptops right now. With FoxReach connected, Claude can run your cold email operation in the same conversation where you read a contract, draft a memo, or triage your inbox. The tools are named, typed, and chainable - Claude picks which ones to call.

Under the hood, it is the FoxReach MCP server - 64 tools across leads, campaigns, sequences, templates, and email accounts. You do not write code. You do not parse tool schemas. You ask Claude to do the thing and Claude calls the right tools in the right order.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop (Mac or Windows)

Download free from claude.ai/download. This guide uses the native desktop app.

A FoxReach account

Free plan is enough to try this end-to-end. Sign up at foxreach.io and connect at least one sending inbox.

Your FoxReach sign-in

The connection uses the FoxReach sign-in page, not an API key. Google, an emailed sign-in link, your password or a passkey all work; the tools act as the account you sign in with.

Install in 5 minutes

Step 1: Open Connectors

In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors and click Add custom connector. No config file, no editor - the whole setup happens in this dialog.

Step 2: Add FoxReach

Enter FoxReach as the name and this as the remote MCP server URL, then save:

Remote MCP server URLtext
https://api.foxreach.io/mcp

There is no API key to paste and no token to manage. Authentication happens in the next step, in your browser.

Step 3: Sign in and verify

Claude Desktop opens a browser window on the FoxReach sign-in page. Sign in the way you normally do and click Allow. The tools act as the account you sign in with, so pick the right one if you have several.

Check the tool icon near the message input - FoxReach should appear in the list with 64 tools. Type a first prompt to verify the connection works:

List my FoxReach campaigns. Show me the name, status, and open rate for each.

Claude calls list_campaigns, summarizes the result in a table, and asks if you want to drill into any of them. If that works, every other FoxReach workflow does.

Alternative: config file setup

Prefer claude_desktop_config.json? One catch: a plain url entry does not work for remote servers like FoxReach. Use mcp-remote, a small local proxy, instead. Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config and add this block (Node.js required):

claude_desktop_config.jsonjson
{
 "mcpServers": {
 "foxreach": {
 "command": "npx",
 "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://api.foxreach.io/mcp"]
 }
 }
}

Save the file, fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q on Mac, File → Exit on Windows), and reopen it. On first use, mcp-remote opens your browser on the same FoxReach sign-in page. Sign in and click Allow here too.

Prompts that work

Six prompts you can paste into Claude Desktop after connecting FoxReach. Each is designed to exercise a specific set of tools and give Claude enough context to chain calls cleanly.

Daily review

Show me my active campaigns and their open + reply rates this week. Flag any under 30% open.

Draft a campaign

Draft a campaign for SaaS founders. 3-step sequence, soft value-first opener, 3 days between steps. Leave it in draft.

Bulk lead import

I'm pasting 40 leads. For each, create a lead in the 'SaaS Founders April' campaign with their email, first name, and company.

Reply triage

Read my 10 most recent inbox replies. Classify each as hot, cold, or unsubscribe. For the hot ones, draft a reply to each.

Deliverability check

Check warmup status on all my connected email accounts. Flag any with a reputation score below 80.

Performance deep-dive

Pull campaign performance for the last 30 days. Which subject line patterns correlate with higher reply rates? Suggest two new variants to test.

A daily outreach workflow

How a founder or SDR actually uses Claude Desktop + FoxReach in a morning check-in. Five minutes, one conversation, everything done before the first coffee.

  1. Pull yesterday's performance. "Show me yesterday's campaign stats by campaign. Flag anything with a reply rate under 2%."
  2. Triage the inbox. "List unread inbox messages from the last 12 hours. Classify each as hot, cold, unsubscribe, or OOO. For hot replies, draft a response."
  3. Review the drafts. Claude shows you the drafted responses. You edit inline or tell Claude to rewrite with a different tone.
  4. Send. "Send the draft to Prospect A. Flag Prospect B for me to call personally."
  5. Queue new sends. "Import these 25 new leads into the SaaS Founders campaign. Start sending today."

The entire exchange is five to eight prompts. Claude chains list_inbox_threads → get_inbox_conversation → send_inbox_reply automatically. You describe the outcome, not the sequence.

Troubleshooting

The tools work in the wrong FoxReach account

Tool calls act as whichever FoxReach account you signed in as in the browser window. If you have more than one, remove the FoxReach connector, add it again, and sign in as the account you want Claude to work in.

Auth failed / 401 error

Your sign-in session is stale or expired. Remove the FoxReach connector in Settings → Connectors, add it back, and sign in to FoxReach again when the browser window opens.

"No FoxReach tools available" in Claude Desktop

Check the connector URL is exactly https://api.foxreach.io/mcp - no trailing slash, no extra path. Then fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q on Mac, not just close the window) and reopen it. The tools appear in the tool menu within a few seconds of reopening.

Tools appear but calls time out

Check your network - the MCP server is hosted at api.foxreach.io over HTTPS. Corporate proxies and VPNs occasionally block the streamable_http transport. Try from a different network to confirm.

Claude refuses to call a destructive tool

Claude Desktop asks for confirmation on destructive actions (delete_campaign, remove_lead) by design. Click Allow when the confirmation appears. If you want auto-approval for a session, toggle 'Allow once' vs 'Always allow for this session' in the dialog.

Config file route not loading

If you used the mcp-remote setup, validate claude_desktop_config.json with a JSON linter (the most common mistake is a trailing comma) and make sure Node.js is installed so npx can run. Then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Beyond Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop is the fastest on-ramp for conversational outreach. For code-first workflows, the same MCP server works with Claude Code (terminal-native), Cursor (IDE), and custom agents built on LangChain or CrewAI.

Connecting Claude Code or Cursor follows the same pattern - the same api.foxreach.io/mcp URL, the same FoxReach sign-in, the same 64 tools. Framework agents talk to the REST API instead, using an API key from Settings → API Keys.

Frequently asked
questions.

No. The free Claude Desktop app supports MCP servers. A Pro subscription gives you higher message limits and priority access during peak times but MCP works on either tier. If your plan does not show the Connectors option, the config file route with mcp-remote works too.

On plans that show Settings > Connectors on the web, yes - add the same https://api.foxreach.io/mcp URL and sign in to FoxReach the same way. This guide focuses on Claude Desktop (Mac and Windows), which is the most reliable path.

Claude Desktop uses the hosted MCP server at api.foxreach.io/mcp - no local install, works in natural-language conversation. Claude Code is the terminal-native agent where the FoxReach plugin adds slash commands (/leads, /campaigns, /analytics) and context-aware workspace data. Many builders use both: MCP for conversational review, plugin for coding sessions.

Yes. Each team member adds the connector and signs in to their own FoxReach account. Access is scoped to that member, so each Claude Desktop instance sees exactly the leads, campaigns, and inbox that person has access to in FoxReach.

No, not for Claude Desktop specifically - its connector UI only offers the FoxReach sign-in page (Google, an emailed sign-in link, your password or a passkey), so there is nothing to generate, paste, or rotate. Other MCP clients that let you configure headers (the Claude Messages API connector, Claude Agent SDK, headless agents) can authenticate with a FoxReach API key instead.

Run cold email
from Claude Desktop.

Free plan, no credit card. Five minutes from signup to first agent-managed campaign.