Connect Claude to your wiki

CommonGround is a curated, version-controlled wiki, kept by a team or just by you, so every Claude session starts from the same context instead of being told it again. Nothing can read or write it until you connect one Claude. You can connect both.

Before you start

You need a CommonGround account and a wiki. If someone invited you, use their link; it creates your account and puts you on their wiki in one step.

CommonGround is in private beta, so creating a wiki of your own needs an invite. Request one at commongroundapp.io. Once your account has been invited, create the wiki at app.commongroundapp.io.

This page is the short version. The docs say what each of the connector’s tools does, give example prompts, and cover troubleshooting and how to disconnect.

For Claude Code, your computer also needs two free programs: Node.js (version 20 or newer) and git. On a Mac, git comes from Apple the first time it is needed; on Windows, it is Git for Windows. In WSL, install both inside WSL. Claude Chat needs neither.

Claude Chat

Claude Chat can’t install plugins, so it reaches the same backend through a connector. You do not need an API key; sign-in is a browser approval, and Claude holds a short-lived token that refreshes itself.

  1. In Claude Chat, on the web or in the Claude desktop app, open Customize, then Connectors.
  2. Choose Add custom connector.
  3. Fill both fields:
    Name
    URL
  4. Select Add, then Connect. A browser window opens to approve access to your wikis. Approve it, and the connector shows as connected.

Once connected, it works in your chats on the web, in the desktop app and on your phone.

Custom connectors work on every Claude plan; Claude’s Free plan allows one. On Claude’s Team and Enterprise plans an Owner adds the connector for the organization first, under Organization settings, then Connectors, and each member then connects it under Customize. If you don’t see Add custom connector, that’s the reason; it isn’t a CommonGround problem.

Claude Chat answers from one wiki: the default you choose when you approve the connector. To change it, remove the connector, add it again and choose the other wiki.

Seeding is guided in Claude Code. If you’re the admin filling a new wiki, set that up too; Claude Chat is at its best once the wiki has content.

Claude Code

Claude Code runs in several places and they do not all install plugins the same way. Pick the one you are actually in; the end result is identical.

Ask Claude to do it

The fastest route: paste this into any Claude Code chat, in the app or the terminal, and Claude runs the install itself. It adds CommonGround to Claude Code on this computer: a few commands, a small helper that tells Claude your wiki is there and asks you before anything is published, and a connector for reading your wiki online, which a wiki kept in a folder can leave alone at first.

It needs two free programs on this computer: Node.js, version 20 or newer, and git. Claude checks for both before it installs anything and tells you if one is missing. On a Mac, git comes from Apple: accept the installer that appears when Claude checks. Get Node.js (pick the installer) · Get git for Windows

Claude checks your computer, says what it is adding, installs it, and tells you what to type next. The only sign-ins it asks for are the ones for CommonGround. Cloud sessions install plugins at start-up instead; for those, use the settings file below.

In the Claude Code app

You are adding a plugin marketplace, then installing the plugin from it. Open Plugins (from the + beside the message box, or from Customize, depending on your build) and choose Browse plugins. In the directory that opens, add a marketplace (the + button) and pick Add from a repository, which asks for a GitHub repo:

Repo

Sync it, then install commonground from the list it shows.

The exact wording moves around between versions and surfaces. If none of the labels match what you see, you are looking for anything that adds a plugin marketplace from a git repository, or use the terminal commands below, which are the same thing.

In a terminal

/plugin on its own opens a browser with the same marketplaces, or you can type both steps directly:

In claude.ai/code, or for a whole repo at once

Cloud sessions install plugins at start-up rather than on demand, so they are declared in the project instead. Commit this as .claude/settings.json and anyone who opens the repo is offered the plugin automatically, which is also the tidiest way to put a whole team on it:

Keep it up to date

Turn auto-update on as well, in the plugin browser: /plugin → Marketplaces → commonground-plugins → Enable auto-update. Claude Code leaves it off for marketplaces like ours and does not tell you when a new version exists, so without it you quietly stay on whatever you first installed. With it on, updates arrive within about ten minutes of a session starting.

To update by hand instead:

Restart Claude Code afterwards: an update stages immediately but only applies on restart.

However you installed it, the next thing to do is fill your wiki: /commonground:seed runs from any Claude Code session; it signs you in, asks which wiki if you have more than one, and walks you through a short interview (or imports a folder you already have).

Then point the projects you actually work in at it: /commonground:point writes a short CommonGround block into that folder’s CLAUDE.md so Claude consults your wiki there, and asks whether to read the wiki live or keep a local copy on disk. Run it again in each project you want answered from this wiki; it is the same command the first time and every time after.

Once connected, just ask questions normally; Claude consults the wiki and cites the pages it used. /commonground:status shows where you stand at any time.

Plugins installed in the desktop app do not carry over to cloud sessions, and the plugin browser isn’t available in cloud or WSL; the settings file above covers both.

Put something in it

A new wiki is empty. Connecting Claude gives it a way in; it still needs content, and that is the step most people don’t realise is theirs to take. The seed command runs from any project: it signs you in and asks which wiki, so nothing has to be pointed first.

Run

It offers three ways in, and you can mix them:

It tracks what’s still missing and asks about that next, so you can stop and come back without losing your place. Running it again picks up where you left off.

Only admins and curators can seed a shared wiki. If you’re a member and it looks empty, that isn’t a fault; someone else fills it first.

If something looks broken

Claude Code shows an error about “node” every time you type
This computer has no Node.js that Claude Code can find, and CommonGround runs on it. Install it from nodejs.org (pick the installer, open it and click through), then quit Claude completely and open it again. A new chat is not enough: Claude only looks for new programs when it starts.
Claude lists several tools or connectors that “need authorization”
Claude Code reports every connector that has no sign-in yet, not only CommonGround’s. The only sign-ins CommonGround asks for are its own: the browser code the first time, and, if this project reads the wiki live through the connector, the row named CommonGround. A wiki kept in a folder on your computer does not need that row to get started. Nothing else in the list is part of CommonGround, and you can leave it as it is.
You can read the wiki but can’t change it
That’s your role, and it’s deliberate. Members are read-only; admins and curators curate. The write tools aren’t hidden or failing; they’re simply not offered to your role. Ask an admin if you need to curate.
The CommonGround tools disappeared mid-session
That’s the connection, not your permissions; a plugin update or a dropped session does it. Run /mcp to reconnect, or restart the session. Nothing has been lost and nobody has revoked your access.
Claude says the wiki is empty
It probably is; a new wiki has no pages until someone seeds it. That’s the Put something in it step above, not a fault.