Claude Code Tools: How to Extend Claude Code with MCP

Claude Code is powerful out of the box — it reads files, writes code, runs commands, and manages git operations. But its real potential comes from extending it with external tools through MCP (Model Context Protocol). Adding the right Claude Code tools turns it from a coding assistant into a general-purpose agent that can search the web, generate images, send emails, and more.

Why This Matters

Without external tools, Claude Code is limited to what it can do locally. It can’t search the internet for current information. It can’t generate images. It can’t send an email or look up a business on Google Maps. These limitations don’t matter for pure coding tasks, but modern development involves a lot more than writing code.

MCP is the protocol that lets Claude Code connect to external tool servers. Each MCP server provides one or more tools that Claude Code can discover and use automatically. You don’t write integration code — you run a config command and the tools appear.

How Claude Code Tools Work

When you add an MCP server to Claude Code, it queries the server for its available tools. Each tool has a name, description, and input schema. Claude Code uses this information to decide when and how to call the tool during your session.

For example, if you add a web search tool and then ask Claude Code a question about a library’s latest version, it recognizes that it needs current information, calls the search tool, and incorporates the results into its response. This happens automatically — you don’t manually invoke tools.

Adding Tools with AgentPatch

AgentPatch is an MCP marketplace that bundles multiple tools behind a single connection. Instead of adding separate MCP servers for search, images, email, and more, you add one:

Install the AgentPatch CLI (zero dependencies, Python 3.10+):

pip install agentpatch

Set your API key:

export AGENTPATCH_API_KEY=your_api_key

Then use it:

ap search "web search"
ap run agentpatch google-search --input '{"query": "test"}'

Get your API key from the AgentPatch dashboard.

Run this command to add AgentPatch as an MCP server:

claude mcp add -s user --transport http agentpatch https://agentpatch.ai/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual key from the AgentPatch dashboard. Claude Code discovers all AgentPatch tools automatically.

Tools You Get

With AgentPatch connected, Claude Code gains access to:

  • Web Search — Search Google for current information, documentation, or research
  • YouTube Transcripts — Fetch full transcripts from any public YouTube video
  • Image Generation — Generate images using Recraft (photos, illustrations, vectors)
  • Email — Send emails directly from your Claude Code session
  • Google Maps — Search for businesses, get locations, read reviews
  • Google News — Search recent news articles by topic
  • And more — New tools are added regularly to the marketplace

Example

You’re working on a project and need to research a topic, then create documentation with a custom illustration:

“Search for the latest best practices on API rate limiting, summarize what you find, then generate a diagram showing a token bucket algorithm.”

Claude Code calls web search to find current information, summarizes it, then calls image generation to create the diagram — all through AgentPatch, all in one session.

Another example — you’re setting up a new project and want to check what competitors are doing:

“Search Google Maps for coffee shops in downtown Austin, get their ratings and review counts, then put it in a spreadsheet format.”

Claude Code calls the Google Maps tool, gathers the data, and formats it. No browser needed.

Wrapping Up

Claude Code tools through MCP are the standard way to extend what your agent can do. The fastest way to get started is with AgentPatch — one connection, all the tools. Visit agentpatch.ai to browse available tools and get your API key.

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