Bring your own builder
Build Workflows, Skills, and Projects from Claude Cowork, Microsoft Copilot Cowork, or the AI tool you already work in, then let Sema4.ai run them on a schedule or trigger, even when your laptop is closed.
Audience: builders, with a note for IT
Start with one prompt
Paste this into Claude Cowork or Microsoft Copilot Cowork. It works in any other AI tool that can connect to MCP servers, too.
Help me connect Sema4.ai if it isn't connected yet. My workspace connector URL is on the Bring your own builder page in Sema4.ai. Once it's connected, read sema4.ai/docs/v3/byob/get-started and follow its instructions to show me what I can build.
Your agent connects to your workspace, looks for work you keep repeating, and offers to turn the best candidate into something Sema4.ai runs for you.
How it works
Every Sema4.ai workspace publishes an MCP server. When you connect your AI tool to it, the tool can do the building that you would otherwise do in the Sema4.ai chat: create a Project, write a Workflow and its trigger, teach the Project a Skill, attach a data source, and submit Work items.
You stay in the tool you think in. What you build lands in your workspace, where your team can see it, review it, and run it. Sema4.ai is where the work runs: on its schedule or trigger, with the audit record behind every run.
Get your connector URL
Your workspace connector URL is on the Bring your own builder page in Sema4.ai. You can reach it three ways:
- Select the Bring your own builder icon in the app dock.
- On Home, select Show me how.
- Open an empty Project: its start page shows the URL too.
Copy the URL with Copy URL. It is the whole setup: there is no API key to create and nothing else to paste. Copilot Cowork does not need it: its plugin carries the URL for you.
Connect Claude Cowork
Claude Cowork and Microsoft Copilot Cowork are the two main ways to build with Sema4.ai. Each takes about a minute, once.
Add the connector
In Claude, go to Customize › Connectors › + › Add custom connector.
Name it Sema4, paste your workspace connector URL, and select Add.
On Claude Team and Enterprise, an Owner does this once for everyone under Organization settings › Connectors. Everyone else skips to the next step.
Connect and approve
Select Connect. Your browser opens the Sema4.ai sign-in. Keep All current and future teams, or choose Only selected teams and pick them, then select Approve.
Turn it on in a task
In Cowork, turn Sema4 on from the + menu › Connectors, then paste the prompt above.
The same connector works in Claude on the desktop and on the web. Anthropic's guide: Get started with custom connectors (opens in a new tab).
Connect Microsoft Copilot Cowork
Download the Sema4 plugin
On the Bring your own builder page, select Copilot Cowork under Connect your tool and download the plugin. The ZIP file is already set up for your deployment, so there is no URL to paste.
Add the plugin to Cowork
In Copilot Cowork, go to Customize › Plugins › Add plugin. Choose the ZIP file you downloaded and install Sema4.
Sign in and approve
Ask Cowork to use Sema4. Your browser opens the Sema4.ai sign-in. Keep All current and future teams, or choose Only selected teams and pick them, then select Approve. Then paste the prompt above.
Microsoft's guide: Cowork plugins (opens in a new tab).
Connect another tool
Any client that supports remote MCP servers works. On the Bring your own builder page, pick your tool under Connect your tool for the exact steps, with the URL already filled in.
| Tool | Who sets it up | Vendor guide |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | You, with one claude mcp add command from the page. | MCP in Claude Code (opens in a new tab) |
| ChatGPT (Business and Enterprise) | A workspace admin creates and publishes the app once, then each person connects it. | Developer mode and MCP apps (opens in a new tab) |
| Codex (desktop) | You. | Connect Codex to an MCP server (opens in a new tab) |
| Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, and others | You. Add a remote MCP server, choose HTTP (streamable) as the transport, paste the URL, and choose OAuth if asked. | Your tool's documentation |
Every tool finishes the same way: your browser opens the Sema4.ai sign-in, you choose which teams the connection can see (all current and future teams by default), and you select Approve.
Stuck on a step? Select Ask the assistant for help at the bottom of the Bring your own builder page. It opens Sai with the question already written.
What your tool can and cannot do
The connection acts as you, inside the limits you set when you approved it.
- Only the teams you allowed. By default, the tool sees the Projects of every team you belong to, including teams you join later. If you chose Only selected teams at sign-in, it sees those teams' Projects and nothing else. To change this, reconnect from your tool and choose again.
- Only what you are allowed to do. Your own permissions in each Project still apply. A connection never has more access than you do.
- Drafts wait for review. Your tool can save files directly, but changes made through a sandbox run stay pending until someone reviews and applies them. Ask your tool to propose a change when you want to look before it lands.
- Decisions stay yours. When a Workflow is waiting for a person, your tool can show you the question, but it answers only when you tell it what to answer.
- Everything is on the record. The Bring your own builder page lists Recent changes through your MCP connector, and every change carries a revision you can go back to.
For IT. The connector signs people in through the workspace's own OAuth server, using the same sign-in and single sign-on as the web app. Clients register themselves, so there are no client IDs or shared secrets to issue or rotate. For Claude Team and Enterprise and for ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, the connector is added once at the organization level by an Owner or workspace admin. On a self-hosted deployment the URL is on your deployment's own domain.
Troubleshooting
Claude Code refuses to add the server because the name is taken. The command names the server after your deployment, and two deployments can end up with the same name. Change the name in the command to anything unique and run it again.
The browser sign-in finishes but the tool never connects. The sign-in returns to the machine the tool runs on. If your tool runs on a remote machine or in a container while your browser runs locally, the callback cannot reach it. Run the tool where your browser is, or use a client that signs in through its own web page, such as Claude on the web.
The tool connects but sees no Projects. You shared teams that have no Projects yet, or none at all. Connect again and choose the teams whose Projects you want to build in.
Something else. Select Ask the assistant for help on the Bring your own builder page, or press Ctrl+J (or Cmd+J) to ask Sai.