3 min lesson
Max connectors: the apps Max works in as you
Connect Gmail, Slack, and apps to Max. Manage MCP tools and scopes, CRM sync, email automation, and task triggers.
A Max connector is an app you connect to your Max. Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Slack, HubSpot, Stripe, Notion, and the rest of the catalog. Once it is connected, Max can use that account in chat, in playbooks, and in tasks.
This is personal. James Harrington connects his Gmail and his calendar. A teammate connects theirs. The same toolkit can exist twice in the firm, once per person.
You find them under Integrations → Max connectors, or My Connectors from Work. Search, filter by category or status, and connect with a plus. A green check means the account is live.
What is an MCP connector, and how do tools and scopes work?
Most Max connectors speak through MCP, the Model Context Protocol. That is how Max sees the app as a set of tools it can call.
Open Gmail and you get three blocks.
CRM Sync and permissions controls how mail lands in Frontline and who can read that activity.
Email automations is labeling, drafting, and follow-ups. That block needs an additional license. When the license is on, you set it from the same Gmail or Outlook page.
MCP connection is the tool list. Gmail shows dozens of tools: fetch emails, create a draft, modify labels, get an attachment, and so on. Each tool has a short description of what it does. A second tab lists scopes, the permissions granted when you connected. If a tool is greyed out, the connection is usually missing a scope. Reconnect and grant the extra permission, then turn the tool on.
You can leave a tool off. Max will not call a tool that is disabled. That is how Harrington keeps “delete message” off while leaving fetch and draft on.
What does CRM Sync do?
CRM Sync writes activity from the connected app into Frontline so the Person and Company timelines stay current.
Today that is email (Gmail and Outlook) and WhatsApp. Calendar sync is coming.
On email you choose how contacts are created, whether messages attach to People, and which record type new people get. On WhatsApp you choose the sync scope, whether group chats create people, and whether muted or archived chats stay out.
James emails a prospect about a $12M mandate. The thread lands on the Person. Max can label it, and the advisor sees the same activity on the record. Nobody copies it in by hand.
How do connectors show up in Max tasks?
A connected Max toolkit can fire an event task. New Gmail in the inbox. A Google Sheet row. A HubSpot deal stage change. A Stripe checkout. A Drive file. A calendar event starting soon.
When you create a Max task, you pick the trigger from the connectors you already have, and you pick which integrations the task may use. The task runs as Max, then can notify you on email, WhatsApp, or Slack.
A Monday brief that reads Gmail and HubSpot only works if those two connectors are connected and selected on the task.
Where should I start?
Connect the inbox you live in. Open MCP tools and leave on fetch, draft, and labels. Turn on CRM Sync so People stay current. Add one event task, such as a new inbound that looks like a mandate. Email automation waits until the license is on the account.