# Quickstart

The fastest way to use Sputnik is to connect it to Claude. You do not need an API key. Setup takes about a minute.

## Connect Claude

Add Sputnik as a custom connector in Claude, using this URL:

```
https://sputnikintelligence.com/mcp
```

Claude will ask you to sign in through your browser. After that, Claude acts as you, for your team. The app also has a **Connect MCP** page that walks through the same steps with screenshots.

## Ask it something

Once connected, ask Claude questions in plain language. For example:

- "What are podcasts saying about Acme this month?"
- "Find newsletters that covered our competitor's pricing change."
- "Who has been a guest on more than one AI podcast this quarter?"
- "Read me the part of that episode where they discuss pricing."
- "Set up an alert for mentions of Acme, and email it to me."

Claude picks the right tools on its own. It can search, read transcripts, look up people and publications, and create alerts. The [MCP page](/docs/mcp) lists everything it can do.

## A few things that help

**Quote phrases you mean as phrases.** Ask for `"comfort food"` rather than comfort food. On a two-hour transcript, separate words can match an hour apart. See [Search](/docs/search).

**Tell Claude the time window.** "This month" or "the last week" narrows the search and gives you better answers.

**Ask for the transcript.** Search results give you the episode. The transcript gives you what was actually said, with speaker names.

## Other ways to use it

**The web app.** Search, browse publications, build collections, and manage alerts. Sign in at [your dashboard](/dashboard).

**The REST API.** For your own code and services. Create an API key in the app under Settings, then see [API intro](/docs/api).

**The CLI.** A single file you can install with one command, for scripts and scheduled jobs. See [CLI](/docs/cli).