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Connect Claude and log your first time entry

In this tutorial you connect Claude to your Drum account and use it to log a time entry. You will see how the assistant finds your work, how it asks before it guesses, and how what it does shows up in Drum.

It takes about 15 minutes.

What you need

  • A Drum user with a role that has api_read and api_create, or an account admin user. If you are not sure, ask your account admin
  • At least one Drum project with a task you can log time against
  • A Claude account on claude.ai or Claude Desktop that lets you add custom connectors

Step 1: Add Drum to Claude

  1. In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors.
  2. Select Add custom connector.

  3. Enter the name Drum and this URL:

    https://app.getdrum.com/api/v1/mcp
  4. Select Add, then Connect.

Claude opens Drum in a new browser tab.

Step 2: Approve the connection

  1. Sign in to Drum if asked.
  2. You now see Connect Claude to Drum. Check that Client says Claude and Verified origin is a claude.ai or claude.com address.
  3. Under Account, select your firm’s account.
  4. Under Toolsets, leave My work selected. It has everything this tutorial needs.
  5. Select Approve.

Drum sends you back to Claude. Drum is now in Claude’s list of connectors.

Step 3: Ask about your work

Start a new chat in Claude and make sure Drum is turned on in the chat’s tools menu. Then ask:

Which Drum projects am I working on?

Claude calls Drum and answers with your projects. You may see it show the tool it used, such as list_projects or search_records. Claude may ask you to allow each Drum tool the first time. Allow it.

Now ask about one project:

What tasks are on the first one?

Claude reads the project with get_project and lists its deliverables and tasks.

Step 4: Log a time entry

Pick a task from the list and ask Claude to log some time on it. Use your own project and task:

Log 30 minutes today on the task name task, with the note “Testing Drum with Claude”.

Claude logs the entry with create_tracked_time. Its answer tells you:

  • The entry it made: the task, the date and 30 minutes
  • How much you have logged today and this week, against your scheduled hours
  • How much time is left on the task for you

If Claude finds more than one task with that name, it asks you which one you mean. Tell it, and it logs the entry.

Step 5: See the entry in Drum

Open Drum and go to your timesheet for this week. The 30 minute entry is there, on the task you chose, with your note. It is your entry, made as you, exactly as if you had typed it.

Step 6: Correct and remove the entry

Back in Claude, ask:

Change that entry to 45 minutes.

Claude changes the entry with update_tracked_time. Refresh your timesheet in Drum to see 45 minutes.

Now remove the test entry:

Delete that time entry.

Claude asks you to confirm, because a deleted time entry cannot be restored. Confirm, and Claude deletes it with delete_record. Refresh your timesheet. The entry is gone.

What you have learned

  • Claude connects to Drum through Sign in with Drum, for one account, with the toolsets you chose.
  • Claude finds your records by name, so you can talk about your work the way you would to a colleague.
  • Everything Claude does is done as you, with your permissions, and shows up in Drum straight away.
  • Claude asks before it does something that cannot be undone.

Next steps