Reader setup
Scholias runs in Claude today: on the desktop app, on claude.ai in a browser, or on mobile. ChatGPT and other assistants will follow, and your books carry over when they do.
Choose a free classic or the subscription shelf in the library, or open the link your author gave you. It might be in the back of the book, in their newsletter, or on their website. Either way, you get access on that book's page.
Your free book needs only your email. Paid checkout is handled by Stripe, so your card details never reach Claude, the author, or us. An author's book is a single payment, and nothing renews. If it is not for you, email us within 24 hours of your purchase for a full refund. The library is seven days free, then $20/month.
Use an email address you actually check. That email is your account. There is no password to choose.
Right after checkout we send a sign-in link to the email you used. Open it in the browser you are going to use with Claude. That is your whole account: no password to choose, nothing to remember.
Do this before the next step and the rest of the setup goes through without stopping to ask who you are.
After checkout you land back on the book page, and the same URL is in your confirmation email. It is the same address for every book and every author, so you only ever do this once.
https://app.scholias.com/mcp
Copy it now. The next step asks you to paste it.
Open Claude, go to Settings, then Connectors. On some versions of Claude that list sits one level in, under Customize. Click the + button, choose Add custom connector, name it Scholias, paste the URL, and click Add. Leave the OAuth Client ID and Secret blank: there is nothing there for you to fill in.
This works in the Claude desktop app, on claude.ai in a browser, and in the mobile apps. A free Claude account is enough.
A page opens asking you to authorize Scholias. This is expected. Check the address is the one you just pasted, then click Approve.
Approve in the same browser you signed in with at step 3. That is the one thing that trips people up. If it asks who you are, use the same email as before and it will send you a fresh link to click. There is no password anywhere in this flow.
You land back in Claude and see no new window, no new button, no welcome message. A connector is not an app. It sits quietly behind the chat until you call on it.
If you want to see that it is there, click the + at the bottom left of any chat and choose Connectors. Scholias should be in the list with its toggle on. That same menu is how you switch it off for a particular conversation.
Open a chat and say so. Any of these works, in a brand new conversation or in one you already had going:
Ask MikalOpens that author's book, in their voice.
I never have enough timeFinds the few books in your library that speak to it.
What else did Carnegie write?Lists that author's books.
If something goes wrong
Look at the top level of Settings first. On some versions of Claude it sits one level in, under Customize. If you are on a Team or Enterprise plan and there is no way to add one, that is by design: an owner adds it for the organization first, and then it appears in your list for you to connect.
Request a fresh one at app.scholias.com/login, using the same email as before. Check your spam folder too: it is a one-time link from an address you have not seen before, which is exactly what filters hold back.
That is expected. Getting access and connecting are two separate steps. Go back to the book page or your confirmation email, copy the Scholias URL, and do step 5.
Almost always this is two browsers. Claude opened the authorize page in one browser while you are signed in to Scholias in another. Copy that authorize address into the browser where you opened your sign-in link, or sign in again from app.scholias.com/login in the browser Claude opened.
It will not announce itself. Open a new chat and name an author, like Ask Mikal, or describe the problem you want help with. If it still does nothing, click the + at the bottom left of the chat, choose Connectors, and check that Scholias is toggled on for this conversation.
Name the author in a fresh chat, like Ask Mikal, or describe the problem and let it find the right place to start. You can steer once it is running: name a chapter, or describe what is going on and let it take you to the part that answers it.
No. One connector covers every book and every author. Name the author (Ask Dale) or describe the problem. You can work with both books in the same chat.
Write to hello@scholias.com with the book title and the email you used, and we will sort it out.