Free · the toolbox · what I actually use

"What CRM
do you use?"

Honest answer: they're mostly the same. Here's the one I run on, and the part nobody talks about.

By J Ritter, AutoJate·Last updated June 2026
The short version

Every CRM does the same core things, so the one you pick matters less than the skin you put on it and whether you can reach it by API. I run on GoHighLevel because it is cheap and does all of it, then I hand Claude an API token so it reads the whole account and does the work in plain English instead of me clicking around. The one thing it can't do is build the automations themselves, so you wire those once in GHL and Claude runs everything around them.

I get this question more than any other, so here's the real answer with no affiliate pitch. Every CRM does the same core things: contact records, custom fields, pipelines, marketing automations. The biggest difference between them is the interface. That's it.

I use GoHighLevel because it's on the cheaper side and it does all of it well. Sub-accounts, all the bells and whistles. I guarantee you nobody is using every single thing in there. Whatever you need to do, you can do.

The underused part

The thing almost nobody turns on

Webhooks. Driving things in from outside tools, a voice agent, a lead form, a scheduler, and running automations off those triggers. That's where the real leverage sits, and most people never touch it.

The look, not the tool

I use their forms. I just never use their look.

Their forms work fine. I put my own front on them so they don't read as a generic CRM form, and that alone sets you apart from everyone still shipping the default look. (Their voice agents I skip. Better options out there.)

The part nobody talks about

I barely click around in it anymore

My Claude runs it through the API. Hand Claude an API token and it stops being a chat window and starts running the CRM for you. This is the actual surface I work through, not a wish list.

Read the whole account
  • Pull any contact, their tags, custom fields, and open tasks
  • Read conversations and message history
  • See every opportunity and what stage it sits in
  • Read calendar events and appointment notes
  • Look up payments, orders, and transactions
Do the work
  • Create, update, and merge contacts; add or strip tags
  • Move opportunities through your pipeline stages
  • Send texts and emails inside a conversation
  • Draft and publish blog posts, author and category and all
  • Schedule and edit social posts across your accounts, then pull the stats back
Where the line is (the honest part)
  • It can NOT build the workflows themselves. GHL keeps automation-building inside their own builder. So you wire the automation once, and Claude runs everything around it.
  • Net: it kills about half the busywork. Not magic, just a different speed.
Set it up

Connect Claude to your GHL

HighLevel shipped a new way to do this in 2026: OAuth, so there's no token to make or store. You point your client at their server, sign in, and approve. About two minutes, and you connect one account at a time. The full old-vs-new breakdown is in this guide.

01

Point your client at the v2 server

Add HighLevel's server to your client. No token, no headers. The endpoint is https://services.leadconnectorhq.com/mcp/anthropic/v2. In Claude Code that's one entry in your .mcp.json (name it after the account):
.mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ghl-yourbusiness-v2": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://services.leadconnectorhq.com/mcp/anthropic/v2"
    }
  }
}
On the Claude app, add it as a custom connector with the same URL.
02

Sign in and approve

Run /mcp in Claude Code, or open the connector in the Claude app, then sign in to GoHighLevel, pick the one sub-account this connection is for, and approve. That single approve grants the whole account, hundreds of operations across around forty domains.
03

One account at a time

If you run more than one sub-account, add and authorize them one at a time. Every connection uses the same URL, so authorizing several at once collides the location picker and it won't connect right. Then just talk to it in plain English. The prompts below are a good first run.

OAuth means there's no token sitting in a file to store or rotate, and you can see and revoke the connection from inside GoHighLevel any time. That's the whole setup. Now Claude can reach the account.

Try it

Once it's connected

Talk to it like a teammate who can see the whole account:

Starter prompts
Pull every open opportunity and tell me which have gone quiet more than 7 days.

Find every contact tagged quote-requested with no reply, and list them with phone numbers.

Draft this week's blog post from my last three jobs, then schedule it.

Which of last month's leads never got a second touch? Build me the follow-up list.
Quick answers

Before you ask

This is the boring, useful part of AI for people who run real businesses.

I put out one of these a week. No hype, no jargon. Just what I actually use and how I wire it.

Want your business wired to run like this?→

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