Last updated: May 18, 2026
Claude Desktop is already the place where you think out loud, draft messages, and reason about decisions. But out of the box it does not create real forms, hold response data, or send follow-up emails for you. The moment you add a remote MCP connector, that boundary disappears.
FORMLOVA exposes a remote Model Context Protocol server that Claude Desktop can reach in one click. Once the connector is added, 128 tools across 25 categories show up in the same chat where you already work. You can draft a form from one sentence, open a preview, run a server-side publish review, filter responses, tune the auto-reply email, and add a Workflow Place recipe -- without leaving the conversation. This guide walks you from copying the connector URL to running the post-publish workflow, and it ends with a plan boundary so you know what is free and what is paid before you commit.
The Three-Step Setup -- What This Guide Covers
There are only three things to do before Claude Desktop can build forms for you.
- Copy the FORMLOVA MCP server URL:
https://formlova.com/api/mcp. - In Claude Desktop, go to Settings > MCP > Add Remote Server and paste the URL.
- A browser tab opens, you sign in to FORMLOVA, approve the OAuth prompt, and return to Claude Desktop.
That is it. There is no JSON file to hand-edit, no command line, and no extension to install. After step three, the connector appears in Claude's tool list and you can ask, "Create a contact form" and get a private draft plus a preview URL in the same reply. The whole flow usually takes about five minutes, and the rest of this guide is about what to do with that connector once it is live.
What the Claude Desktop MCP Connector Actually Is
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard that lets an AI client -- in this case Claude Desktop -- talk to outside systems through a well-defined interface. The model does not screen-scrape your form service; it calls named tools, receives structured results, and shows them back to you.
Anthropic officially supports remote MCP servers from Claude Desktop and Claude on the web. You point the client at a URL, it negotiates capabilities with the server, and the tools become available the same way slash commands or attachments are. There is no plugin store; the server announces itself.
For a form service, the practical effect is direct. Claude Desktop is no longer "the place where I draft what I want to ask my form vendor to do." It becomes the place where the work happens. When you ask, "Show me unanswered inquiries from last week," the answer is real data, not a hypothetical. The deeper rationale -- why this matters more for what happens after publication than for the act of creating a form -- is covered in Most form tools stop at creation.
Connecting FORMLOVA to Claude Desktop
The steps below are identical on macOS and Windows. As of May 2026, Claude Desktop on Claude Pro and higher plans supports remote MCP connectors at no extra cost; Anthropic adjusts plan availability from time to time, so check the official help page if you are on a different tier.
1. Copy the FORMLOVA MCP Server URL
FORMLOVA exposes one URL for every MCP client.
https://formlova.com/api/mcp
No trailing slash. No /api/sse -- that path is from an older transport convention and is not the FORMLOVA endpoint. Whether you connect Claude Desktop, Claude on the web, Cursor, Claude Code, or another MCP client, this is the URL you paste in. If you do not have a FORMLOVA account yet, sign up on the FORMLOVA setup page first; the connector will ask you to authorize through OAuth in the next step.
2. Add a Custom Connector in Claude Desktop Settings
Open Claude Desktop and click the account icon in the lower left to reach Settings. In the sidebar, choose MCP. Under the connector list you will see an Add Remote Server button.
Fill in two fields:
Name: FORMLOVA
URL: https://formlova.com/api/mcp
The name is just a label, so call it whatever helps you find it later -- "FORMLOVA," "Forms," or anything else. After clicking add, the connector appears in the list, marked as not yet authorized.
At this point Claude Desktop knows where the server lives but has not yet been authorized to act as you. One more step closes the loop.
3. Authorize the Connection with OAuth
Click Connect on the FORMLOVA row. A browser tab opens. If you are already signed in to FORMLOVA, you go straight to the OAuth approval screen; if not, you sign in first. The screen lists the scopes Claude Desktop is asking for. Click Authorize.
The browser tab closes itself, and back in Claude Desktop the connector flips to Connected. Open a new chat and you will see the FORMLOVA tools available under the tool menu next to the message box. The full set is 128 tools across 25 categories -- forms, responses, analytics, emails, webhooks, workflows, and more -- but you do not need to learn them. Claude picks the right tool based on what you ask for, and most users touch only two or three on a typical day.
Your First Conversation -- From One Prompt to a Draft
FORMLOVA is designed so that you never need a long, structured prompt to begin. The shortest version of "create a form" is usually enough.
Create a contact form.
Claude calls the FORMLOVA form-creation tool, infers a reasonable starting structure, and returns a private draft plus a preview URL. The response looks something like this:
Created a private contact form draft.
Fields:
- Name (required)
- Email (required)
- Company (optional)
- Inquiry category (required, select)
- Message (required)
- Consent to data use (required)
Preview URL: https://formlova.com/preview/...
Click the preview URL and the actual form opens in a new tab. You can see the title, field order, required and optional badges, the consent checkbox, and the submit button as a respondent would see them.
From here the conversation shifts from "create" to "refine." Keep the instructions short and specific.
Add a phone number field below company, optional.
Add a "Hiring inquiry" option to the inquiry category.
Update the consent text with our privacy policy URL.
Reopen the same preview URL to see the latest state -- it updates in place. You are not designing the form in your head and writing a spec; you are reacting to the live preview and only saying what is wrong. That back-and-forth is the real reason to pair Claude Desktop with FORMLOVA. The general "from one prompt to a draft" workflow for any MCP client is covered in ChatGPT form builder guide -- create a private draft from one short prompt.
Reviewing the Preview Before Publishing
Once the draft looks right, you move to publish review. Asking Claude to publish does not immediately publish the form. The FORMLOVA server runs a checklist, and if any blocking item is missing the reply comes back with the gaps and preview URLs instead of a public form.
Publish this form.
A typical first reply:
There are items to confirm before publishing.
- Preview URL: https://formlova.com/preview/...
- Thank-you page preview: https://formlova.com/preview/.../thankyou
- Duplicate submission prevention: not set
- Privacy policy URL: not set
- Sales-email auto-detection: not confirmed (text input fields present)
Open both preview URLs in separate tabs and walk through them as a respondent would. Check the field order, the required toggles, the thank-you message, the action buttons. When you have looked at both, return to Claude with the answers in one short reply.
Preview and thank-you page both look good.
Prevent duplicate submissions by email.
Privacy policy URL: https://example.com/privacy.
Enable sales-email detection.
Publish now.
Claude requests a confirmation token from FORMLOVA, publishes the form, and returns the public URL. The publish review is a server-side guardrail, not a Claude prompt trick -- if any blocking item is unresolved the publish call refuses, no matter what the client says. The full review flow with screenshots is covered in Review a form before publishing.
Post-Publish Operations You Can Run From Chat
Most form tutorials stop at the moment a form goes live. The harder work begins right after that, when responses start arriving and small operational tasks pile up. Claude Desktop with the FORMLOVA connector lets you do those tasks in the same conversation. Three common patterns show up almost every day.
Filter and Triage Responses
When responses come in, you rarely want to look at every row. You want a slice that fits the next decision. Claude can take a natural-language request and turn it into the right query.
Show this week's inquiries that are still unanswered.
Filter to inquiries categorized as "Pricing."
Exclude likely sales pitches and show only real inquiries.
Each request returns a structured table inside the chat, with the option to click into a single response, change its status to "In progress" or "Resolved," or add a private note. The See-Route-Act loop that this enables is the topic of How to view, filter, and manage form responses.
Tune Auto-Reply Emails
On the standard plan and higher, the auto-reply email is fully customizable. Claude can draft the new copy, preview it, and offer to send a test message before saving.
Soften the tone of this form's auto-reply email.
Open with "Thanks for reaching out."
Add our business hours (Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET) at the end.
Send a test to my address when you are happy with it.
Claude shows the proposed new copy as a preview and asks, "Save this version?" Nothing changes on the live form until you say yes. This matters because a careless edit to an auto-reply is the kind of mistake respondents see; the preview-then-save handshake keeps it safe.
Add Automations from Workflow Place
When the request becomes, "I want this to happen automatically," it is usually time to look at Workflow Place. Workflow Place is the shared catalog of FORMLOVA recipes -- some run entirely inside FORMLOVA, others orchestrate other MCP servers like Slack, HubSpot, or Notion. Ask Claude to search the catalog and pick one.
Find a workflow recipe that posts new responses to Slack.
Show me recipes that send a follow-up email three days after submission.
Claude lists candidates, you pick one, and the recipe's prompt template can be applied to your form. The full reading order is in How to find and apply Workflow Place recipes from chat.
Troubleshooting -- The Few Places to Check First
When something does not work, almost every problem with Claude Desktop and FORMLOVA falls into one of these buckets. Check them in order before opening a support thread.
The connector will not connect. Re-check the URL. The only valid value is https://formlova.com/api/mcp -- no trailing slash, no /api/sse, no extra characters from copy-paste. Remove the connector and add it again with the URL re-pasted from this guide.
The tool list is empty or partial. Quit Claude Desktop completely and reopen it. Tool discovery can take a moment after the first connection, and the list does not always refresh until the client restarts. If it is still incomplete, delete the connector and add it again.
An "Unauthorized" error appears. Your OAuth session has expired or did not complete cleanly. Remove the FORMLOVA connector, add it again, and walk through the OAuth screen one more time. This usually clears it.
The OAuth screen never appears. A popup blocker is the most common cause. Allow popups for formlova.com in your browser and click Connect again.
Claude replies in English even though you typed Japanese (or the reverse). That setting lives in your FORMLOVA profile, not in Claude. Just say, "Set my profile language to English" in the chat and the next reply switches.
The full list maintained against the live product is on the FORMLOVA setup page troubleshooting section.
Plan Boundary -- What Each Tier Unlocks
The connector itself works on every FORMLOVA plan, including the free one. The differences are in what the tools can do after you are connected. Prices are in JPY because FORMLOVA bills in JPY; if you are paying from another currency, your bank handles the conversion.
| Capability | free (¥0) | standard (¥480/month) | premium (¥980/month) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connect Claude Desktop via MCP | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Form creation, preview, and publish | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Response list, search, and CSV / Excel export | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customize auto-reply emails | No | Yes | Yes |
| Reminder emails | No | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced analytics, traffic analysis, PDF reports | No | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk email to mailing lists | No | No | Yes |
| Stripe Connect (paid events) | No | No | Yes |
| Team management and audit logs | No | No | Yes |
| Monthly email send limit | 100 | 1,000 | 10,000 |
The free plan covers everything you need to evaluate the loop end to end -- create, preview, publish, collect responses, export to CSV. Most people upgrade to standard the first time they want to rewrite the auto-reply email or schedule reminders. Premium tends to come into the picture when bulk sends, paid events, or team workflows arrive. There is no need to commit to a tier before you know which one of those tasks actually shows up in your operations.
FAQ
Can I connect FORMLOVA on Claude Desktop Free?
As of May 2026, remote MCP connectors in Claude Desktop are available on Claude Pro and higher; the free tier has had limited connector availability at times, and Anthropic adjusts the policy from time to time. If you are on a paid Claude tier, the steps in this guide work directly. Check the Anthropic help article in the references for the current state.
Does Claude on the web work the same way?
Yes. The flow on claude.ai is the same: Settings > MCP > Add Remote Server, paste https://formlova.com/api/mcp, complete the OAuth screen. The post-connection experience is functionally identical to Claude Desktop.
Do I need to edit a JSON config file?
No. The Add Remote Server dialog is the supported path. JSON config files are a Cursor and Claude Code convention, not a Claude Desktop one.
Is the URL different for ChatGPT, Cursor, or Claude Code?
No. Every MCP client uses the same FORMLOVA URL: https://formlova.com/api/mcp. The difference is only the client's own connector dialog. Per-client notes are summarized on the FORMLOVA setup page.
Can Claude publish a form or send a bulk email without my approval?
No. Any operation with real-world impact -- publish, unpublish, delete, send bulk email, send a filtered reply -- is gated server-side. FORMLOVA returns a confirmation token request and refuses to act on user_confirmed=false. The protection is enforced by the FORMLOVA MCP server, not by Claude's prompt, so it works regardless of what the model decides to do.
Will my data leave FORMLOVA when I use Claude Desktop?
Claude reads the tool output Claude needs to answer your message, the same way you read it in the chat. FORMLOVA does not send unrelated data into the conversation. The auto-detection model used for sales-email classification runs on FORMLOVA's side at a few hundredths of a cent per response and never sends respondent text to Claude unless you explicitly ask for it.
Related Articles
- MCP Form Service Guide -- From AI Creation to Form Operations
- Claude Code FORMLOVA Guide -- From One CLI Command to Form Creation, Publishing, and Operations
- Cursor FORMLOVA Guide -- From IDE MCP Setup to Form Creation, Publishing, and Operations
- ChatGPT Form Builder Guide -- Create a Private Draft Form From One Short Prompt
- Review a Form Before Publishing with FORMLOVA
- Find a Recipe in Workflow Place and Set It Up From Chat
References
- Anthropic: How do I connect to remote MCP servers from Claude Desktop? (accessed 2026-05-18)
- Model Context Protocol: Introduction (accessed 2026-05-18)
- Claude: Building agents that reach production systems with MCP (accessed 2026-05-18)
- FORMLOVA setup guide (accessed 2026-05-18)
Disclosure and Verification
This guide is written by the FORMLOVA development team. The Claude Desktop connection steps were verified against Anthropic''s official remote MCP help article, the Model Context Protocol specification, and the FORMLOVA setup page on May 18, 2026, then walked through end to end against the live product before publication. Claude''s plan structure, remote MCP availability, and UI labels can change without notice on Anthropic''s side; before adopting this workflow for production use, confirm the current state in the linked Anthropic help article.
