---
type: entity
subtype: tool
title: "Zapier"
description: "Automation platform whose MCP server connects agents to 8,000+ apps (video sponsor)."
resource: "https://zapier.com"
tags: [automation, integration, no-code, mcp]
videos: [i-built-my-second-brain-with-claude-code-obsidian-skills-heres-how, ai-exploded-in-2025-heres-everything-that-happened, turn-any-ai-agent-into-a-live-person-voice-chat-setup-in-minutes, get-qualified-leads-while-you-sleep-with-ai, youre-wasting-time-coding-your-ai-agents, build-a-chatbot-for-your-website-in-4-minutes-no-code]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# Zapier

Zapier is a no-code automation platform, and in Cole's more recent videos its role has shifted from classic "Zap" workflows to being a single MCP server that snaps an agent onto thousands of SaaS tools at once. As he describes it, "the Zapier MCP server ... allows you to connect your agent to over 8,000 different applications." That breadth is the whole pitch: rather than write a bespoke integration per service, you point an agent at Zapier's [MCP](../../concepts/mcp.md) endpoint and inherit its entire connector catalog, which is why it recurs as the fast path to giving a personal agent real-world reach.

## How Cole uses it

The flagship use is **Zapier MCP as the connective tissue of his [second brain](../../concepts/second-brain.md)**. He wires Claude Code to his everyday services through it: "I have this Zapier MCP server to connect my second brain to my Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack and Asana," and stresses one deliberate constraint, "it's only read operations." The appeal is speed and coverage, not depth: "I love using Zapier to connect really quickly to all my different services." Because a single MCP server exposes many tools, this is also where Zapier bumps into [MCP's problems](../../concepts/mcp-problems.md), a big connector surface eats context, which is the tension [progressive disclosure](../../concepts/progressive-disclosure.md) and [Skills](../../concepts/skills.md) are meant to relieve.

Two other framings recur. First, Zapier as the **no-code automation baseline** he benchmarks other tools against, grouped with the usual suspects: "there are a ton of workflow Builders out there already like n8n Zapier make.com," and offered as a ready escape hatch when a platform lacks a native integration, "if there's an integration that's not available ... that's available in something like Zapier or make.com you can just use those Integrations." Second, Zapier as a **cost cautionary tale**, part of why he moved workflows in-house: "at one point I was paying $174 a month for Zapier ... this can save you thousands and thousands of dollars." So Cole treats Zapier as the quickest way to get broad [context engineering](../../concepts/context-engineering.md) reach for an agent, while flagging that convenience carries a price in both dollars and context. It is the read-mostly counterpart to his self-hosted [n8n](./n8n.md) flows.

## Realizes

- [Visual Workflow Builder](../../concepts/visual-workflow-builder.md) - A drag-and-drop canvas of nodes (triggers, messages, AI responses, logic, API calls, and typed audio/text I/O) wired together to define how a conversation or automation flows.

## Works with

- [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](../../concepts/mcp.md) - An open protocol for packaging tools, data, and RAG capabilities as servers that any AI coding assistant or agent can connect to and call with a standard interface.
- [Skills](../../concepts/skills.md) - Reusable, model-invoked capability packages that load specialized instructions and tools on demand to extend an agent.
- [Progressive Disclosure](../../concepts/progressive-disclosure.md) - Loading context, skills, and tools on demand only when a task needs them instead of front-loading everything into the context window.

## Contrasts with

- [n8n](./n8n.md) - A no-code AI automation platform for building agents and workflows that integrate with 500+ applications.
- [Make.com](./make.md) - No-code integration and automation platform, alongside Zapier, that a no-code agent can bridge to for services it doesn't natively integrate.

## Related

- [The Problems With MCP Servers](../../concepts/mcp-problems.md) - MCP's practical failure modes, tool overload and context/token bloat that overwhelm LLMs, JSON setup friction, and early production gaps like missing built-in auth and security.
- [Context Engineering](../../concepts/context-engineering.md) - The deliberate practice of curating exactly what goes into an LLM's limited context window - system messages, schemas, chat history, and dynamic variables - to avoid overload and keep outputs sharp.
- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)](../../concepts/rag.md) - Grounding an LLM's answers by retrieving relevant documents from an external knowledge base and injecting them into the prompt at query time.
- [Knowledge Bases](../../concepts/knowledge-bases.md) - Curated bodies of knowledge an agent can retrieve from, distinct from raw model weights, that ground responses in trusted source material.

## Sources

- [I Built My Second Brain with Claude Code + Obsidian + Skills (Here's How)](../../sources/i-built-my-second-brain-with-claude-code-obsidian-skills-heres-how.md) - "[0:09:05] I have this Zapier MCP server to connect my second brain to my Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack and Asana ... it's only read operations"
- [AI Exploded in 2025 - Here's Everything That Happened](../../sources/ai-exploded-in-2025-heres-everything-that-happened.md) - "[0:07:26] the Zapier MCP server, which allows you to connect your agent to over 8,000 different applications"
- [You're WASTING TIME Coding Your AI Agents](../../sources/youre-wasting-time-coding-your-ai-agents.md) - "[0:00:33] at one point I was paying $174 a month for Zapier and my business still had a lot of room to grow so this can save you thousands and thousands of dollars"
- [Turn ANY AI Agent into a Live Person - Voice Chat Setup in Minutes](../../sources/turn-any-ai-agent-into-a-live-person-voice-chat-setup-in-minutes.md) - "[0:06:13] if there's an integration that's not available ... that's available in something like Zapier or make.com you can just use those Integrations"
- [Get Qualified Leads While you Sleep with AI](../../sources/get-qualified-leads-while-you-sleep-with-ai.md) - "[0:12:34] It also integrates with Zapier if you use that"
- [Build a Chatbot for Your Website in 4 Minutes (No Code)](../../sources/build-a-chatbot-for-your-website-in-4-minutes-no-code.md) - "[0:03:27] there are a ton of workflow Builders out there already like n8n Zapier make.com"
