Allow disabling claude.ai connectors from Claude Code settings

[lenny-syncra]

Problem

claude.ai-synced connectors (Canva, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar) auto-load into every Claude Code session when the CLI is authenticated with a claude.ai account. Each adds ~2K tokens of tool schema to the cached prefix, paid on every turn.

Users may legitimately want these connectors active in claude.ai web chat but disabled in Claude Code to reduce per-session token overhead — especially heavy CC users with hundreds of sessions/month.

Current state

• disabledMcpjsonServers in settings.json only targets explicit .mcp.json / claude mcp add servers, not claude.ai-synced connectors.
• No env var (e.g. CLAUDE_DISABLE_CONNECTORS) or CLI flag documented.
• No way to scope-disable per-project vs global from the CC side.
• The only workaround is disconnecting them in the claude.ai web UI, which also disables them in claude.ai chat.

Request

Add a settings.json key to disable claude.ai-synced connectors specifically. Suggestions:

• Extend disabledMcpjsonServers to match connector names like claude_ai_Canva, claude_ai_Gmail, etc.
• Or add a new key, e.g.:

{
  "disabledConnectors": ["claude_ai_Canva", "claude_ai_Gmail"]
}

Scope: should work at both global (~/.claude/settings.json) and per-project (.claude/settings.json) levels.

Why this matters

For a user with ~1000 sessions/month and 4 unused connectors, this is ~8M tokens/month of dead schema in the cached prefix. The CodeBurn community tool (npx codeburn optimize) flags this category as a top-3 cost driver for heavy CC users.

Thanks!

[CarterPape]

Adding context for anyone landing here from the v2.1.139 changelog: setting ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (or apiKeyHelper / ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN) does disable the claude.ai connectors in Code, but it's a blunt switch with two real costs:

1. It also disables /schedule, Remote Control, and claude.ai notification preferences. Users who want Code to ignore the connectors but keep using /schedule have no path today.
2. It forces billing off subscription auth (Max/Pro) onto per-token API-console billing. For heavy Code users on a Max plan, that's a meaningful cost shift just to drop ~8K tokens of unwanted tool schema per session.

So "a workaround exists" somewhat understates the gap. A granular disabledConnectors (or disabledClaudeAiConnectors) key in settings.json is the right shape — orthogonal to auth method, scoped per-config-tier like the rest of settings.json, and lets users keep /schedule + subscription billing while opting out of the connector schema bloat.

Strong +1 on this proposal.

[localden]

Thanks for the request. This is the same ask as #29368 (selectively disable claude.ai-synced connectors in Claude Code). Consolidating tracking there.

[github-actions]

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