Collaboration & Communication · Sideshow + Claude
Sideshow MCP with Claude: Publish and Update Team Work Through Natural Language
The short answer
Claude works with Sideshow through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a secure standard that lets Claude use the tool with permissions you set. Once connected, Claude can publish rich posts, update interactive surfaces, query recent workspace updates and discuss feedback, all through natural language instructions from your team.
What is Sideshow?
Sideshow is a collaborative visual workspace for rich, interactive posts. Teams use it to share work in one shared place rather than scattering updates across email and chat. Both people and software agents can publish, update and discuss material there. It suits project teams, product groups, operations staff and anyone who needs a clear, visual record of progress that colleagues can respond to.
How Claude connects to Sideshow through MCP
The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that acts like a universal adapter between Claude and other software. It lets Claude securely read information and take actions in a tool, using permissions your organisation controls. Instead of copying content by hand, your team gives Claude a clear instruction and the connection does the rest.
Once Sideshow is connected, Claude can typically publish new rich posts, update interactive surfaces that already exist, look up what has changed in the workspace and summarise recent discussion. Someone might ask Claude to turn a weekly report into a visual post, or to pull together the open feedback on a design.
Permissions and approvals keep people in charge. Access is granted through an API key with the least privileges the job needs, so Claude sees only what it is meant to see. Consequential actions such as publishing to a wide audience can be routed for human review before they go live, and activity can be logged for audit.
What you can automate
Weekly progress posts
A project manager asks Claude to gather the week's milestones, risks and decisions and publish them as a visual post in Sideshow. The team sees one consistent update each Friday without anyone formatting slides by hand. Claude drafts the content and a reviewer approves it before it goes live.
Keeping interactive dashboards current
Operations teams often maintain interactive surfaces showing stock levels, service status or delivery schedules. Claude can update these surfaces from figures supplied by other systems, so the workspace reflects current facts. Staff can see changes at a glance and comment where something looks wrong.
Summarising feedback
A product lead can ask Claude to review the discussion on a Sideshow post and list the main objections, questions and agreed actions. This saves time for busy reviewers and makes sure quieter contributors are represented. The summary can then be posted back to the workspace for the group to confirm.
Onboarding and training hubs
HR and learning teams can use Claude to publish and refresh onboarding material, such as a visual guide to a new policy. When the policy changes, Claude can update the relevant posts so new starters always see the latest version. Human owners check the wording before changes are published.
Cross-team status tracking
Leaders who depend on several departments can ask Claude to query recent updates across the workspace and produce a short status overview. This helps executives spot blockers early without attending every meeting. Claude reports what it finds, and people decide what to escalate.
An end-to-end workflow: Weekly delivery update from ticketing to Sideshow
TriggerEvery Friday at 3 pm, a scheduled request asks Claude to prepare the weekly delivery update.
Claude reads the week's closed and open tickets from the service desk system.
Claude groups the results by project and flags items that are overdue or blocked.
Claude drafts a visual post in Sideshow with a summary, a status table and the key risks.
The project lead receives the draft for approval and can edit the wording.
Once approved, Claude publishes the post and tags the relevant teams for comment.
Claude later returns to the post, summarises the replies and adds them to the next week's plan.
OutcomeStakeholders receive one consistent, visual update each week, prepared in a fraction of the usual time. Blockers surface earlier, and the discussion stays in one place where it can be tracked. Typical results depend on how clean the source data is and how quickly approvals happen.
How we set it up
Free automation audit
We review how your teams currently share updates and discuss work, and identify the Sideshow workflows worth automating. You leave with a clear list of priorities and an honest view of what is practical.
Secure connection with an API key
We connect Claude to Sideshow using an API key, which your administrator issues and can revoke at any time. The key is stored securely and scoped to the access the workflows need, following least-privilege principles.
Workflow design and approvals
We design the end-to-end workflow across Sideshow and your other systems, such as ticketing or Microsoft 365. We define which actions need human approval before anything is published or changed.
Testing with real cases
We test the workflow against past posts and real examples from your team, checking accuracy, tone and formatting. We adjust instructions until the output meets your standards.
Launch, monitoring and training
We launch with monitoring and audit logs, so every action Claude takes can be reviewed. We train your team on giving clear instructions, reviewing drafts and handling exceptions.
Who benefits
- Project and programme managers
- Publish consistent progress updates without rebuilding slides each week.
- Operations leads
- Keep interactive status surfaces current from the systems that hold the facts.
- Department heads and executives
- Get clear summaries of feedback and cross-team status without attending every meeting.
- IT and security teams
- Control access through API keys with defined permissions and a full activity record.
Security and control
- Use an API key with the least privileges each workflow needs, and rotate or revoke it when people or systems change.
- Require human approval before posts are published to wide audiences or existing surfaces are overwritten.
- Keep audit logs of what Claude read, published and changed, so every action can be reviewed.
- Test workflows on non-sensitive content first and expand access only after results are checked.
- Restrict which workspaces and channels Claude can reach, matching your internal policies.
For teams in the US, UK, India and the Middle East
Organisations in the United States and the United Kingdom can align the workflow with their own data protection and records requirements. Indian businesses can design around the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and organisations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia can meet their local data protection laws. We choose the hosting region for any custom application to meet your data residency needs.
Learn more about Claude and MCP
Anthropic's AI model and assistant.
Secure links between Claude and business tools.
How engineers build and change software with Claude.
Hosted agents that run multi-step work.
The open standard Claude uses to connect to tools.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Sideshow MCP server do?
The Sideshow MCP server is the bridge that lets Claude work with your Sideshow workspace. It allows Claude to publish rich posts, update interactive surfaces, query workspace updates and discuss feedback. It works through the Model Context Protocol, so access is defined and limited by the permissions you grant.
Is connecting Claude to Sideshow secure?
Security depends on how the connection is set up. Access uses an API key that your administrator controls and can revoke. We scope it to the minimum access needed, require approval for significant changes and keep audit logs. We do not guarantee any particular security outcome, but we design with these controls from the start.
What can Claude actually do in Sideshow?
Typically, Claude can create new rich posts, update existing interactive surfaces, look up recent workspace changes and summarise discussion on posts. Exactly what it can do depends on the API key permissions and the workflow we design together.
How long does setup take?
Many straightforward connections can be set up in a few weeks, including the audit, testing and training. More complex workflows that span several systems take longer. The free audit gives you a realistic timeline before you commit to anything.
What access or permissions do we need?
You need an administrator who can issue an API key with appropriate permissions within your Sideshow workspace. The exact permissions depend on your workflows and your internal policies. We confirm the requirements during the audit so your administrator can prepare before build work begins.