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OpenAthlete

Practical guide · checked on 3 November 2026

Use Claude as your running coach

Ask about last month, get this week adjusted, and see the sessions land on your Garmin, COROS or Suunto. Claude reads your real training through OpenAthlete's connector, then plans straight into your calendar.

Create a free accountJump to the setup
  • Free OpenAthlete account
  • Garmin, COROS, Suunto, Polar
  • Five steps to set up

Works on the free Claude plan, which allows one custom connector.

Claude · OpenAthlete

How did October go? Then lighten this week, my legs are heavy.

  • get_athlete_contextzones, form, last 4 weeks
  • get_calendar1–31 October
  • get_training_loadform −18
  • update_sessionThu → 40' easy

October: 17 runs, 182 km, two Wednesday sessions skipped. Your form is at −18 after Sunday's 28 km, so I moved Thursday's 5 × 4' at threshold to Saturday and made Thursday 40' easy. Both are updated in your calendar and on their way to your watch.

Why real data

Without your data, a chatbot makes up your numbers

Ask a plain chatbot how your training is going and it guesses: a weekly volume you never ran, zones from a formula, a taper for a race it knows nothing about. With the connector, Claude reads what your watch recorded and what sits in your calendar before it answers.

Without your data

Is my form right for Saturday's half marathon?

For a runner doing around 40 km a week, a 3 to 4 day taper is usually enough. You should be fine.

40 km a week? It made that up.

With OpenAthlete connected

Is my form right for Saturday's half marathon?

get_training_loadget_calendar

You ran 58 km last week and your form is at −9. With what is planned until Saturday it climbs to +4. If your legs feel heavy on Thursday, drop the strides and keep the 30' easy.

What it should do

  • Read your calendar, load and recent activities before suggesting anything.
  • Tell you what it is about to change, then make the changes in one go.
  • Set targets from your own zones, paces, or % of VMA, FTP or max heart rate.
  • Rework the plan when life gets in the way: a cold, a work trip, a bad week.

What it shouldn't do

  • Decide for you. It suggests; you, or your coach, decide.
  • Diagnose pain or illness. A calf that stays tight is a job for a physio or a doctor.
  • Rewrite your history. Completed sessions and recorded activities are read-only: OpenAthlete does not let any agent change them.
  • Spare you a look. Models make mistakes: check the week in your calendar before you run it.

Setup

Five steps, about ten minutes

You need an OpenAthlete account, a connected watch and Claude. Menu names below are the English ones as of 3 November 2026: they may differ in your language or after an update.

Before you start

Which Claude plans work

  • Free: one custom connector. That is enough for OpenAthlete.
  • Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise: custom connectors on claude.ai and in Claude Desktop.
  • Phone: add the connector on the web or on desktop. It then works in the Claude iOS and Android apps.
  1. 1

    Step 1

    Create a free OpenAthlete account

    Sign up with your email. No card, no trial that runs out: the connector and all its tools are on the free plan.

    Create my account
  2. 2

    Step 2

    Connect your watch

    In Settings › Connectors, connect Garmin, COROS, Suunto or Polar. What comes in on the first connection: COROS brings your whole history (over a few days), Garmin and Suunto the last 30 days, Polar starts from the day you connect. You can also upload FIT, GPX or TCX files.

  3. 3

    Step 3

    Add OpenAthlete as a custom connector

    On claude.ai or in Claude Desktop, open Customize › Connectors, select + Add, then Add custom connector. Name it OpenAthlete, paste the server address and select Continue. Keep the sign-in settings Claude detects, then select Add.

    Team or Enterprise plan: an owner adds the connector once in Organization settings › Connectors. Members then find it in Customize › Connectors and select Connect.

    Server address
    https://api.openathlete.org/mcp

    Self-hosted instance: https://<your domain>/api/mcp

  4. 4

    Step 4

    Allow access in OpenAthlete

    Claude sends you to an OpenAthlete page. Sign in if needed, read what it asks for (read, and write so it can plan), then choose Allow. Claude never sees your password, and you can revoke the access at any time in Settings › AI agents.

  5. 5

    Step 5

    Send your first prompt

    Start a new chat. In the + menu at the bottom left, under Connectors, check that OpenAthlete is on for this conversation, then ask about your own training.

    “Look at my last 4 weeks and tell me what you would change in next week's plan. Don't change anything yet.”

    “Don't change anything yet” is a good habit for a first run: you see how it reasons before it touches your calendar.

Using Claude Code?

Add the server from your terminal, then type /mcp in Claude Code to sign in.

claude mcp add --transport http openathlete https://api.openathlete.org/mcp

Sources, checked on 3 November 2026

Prompt library

Prompts to copy, grouped by what you want

Change the dates, distances and names, and write in your own language. Under each prompt: the OpenAthlete tools Claude usually calls to answer it.

Review a block

  • “Review my last 4 weeks against the plan. What did I skip, and did my form move the way it should?”

    get_athlete_contextget_calendarget_training_load

  • “Look at my last three long runs lap by lap. Did my pace or heart rate fade in the second half?”

    get_activitiesget_activity

Plan the next 4 weeks for a race

  • “My half marathon is on 7 December. Plan the next 4 weeks: 4 runs a week, intervals on Tuesday, long run on Sunday, targets from my zones. Show me the plan before you add it.”

    get_athlete_contextget_training_volumeget_training_loadplan_sessions

  • “I ran a 30-minute test this morning at 4:12/km. Update my threshold pace, then rework next week's quality sessions with it.”

    update_training_zoneget_calendarupdate_session

Adapt to illness or travel

  • “I've had a cold since Monday. Block out this week and ease me back in next week.”

    create_periodget_calendarupdate_session

  • “I'm in Lisbon for work from the 12th to the 15th, hotel treadmill only. Move what doesn't fit and turn the hill session into a treadmill session.”

    create_periodget_calendarmove_sessionsupdate_session

Compare with last year

Needs history: COROS imports all of it, Garmin and Suunto the last 30 days. Upload older FIT files to fill the gap.

  • “Compare my volume and long runs over the last 12 weeks with the same 12 weeks last year.”

    get_training_volumeget_activities

  • “What are my best efforts at 5 km, 10 km and half marathon, and which ones are more than a year old?”

    get_records

Coach several athletes

For coaches: the agent reaches the athletes you coach, with the same rights as in the app.

  • “Which of my athletes missed more than two sessions this week? One line each, with their form.”

    list_athletesget_calendarget_training_load

  • “For Léa and Tom, copy this Tuesday's 6 × 800 m to next Tuesday and move Sunday's long run to Saturday.”

    list_athletescopy_sessionsmove_sessions

The connector also ships three ready-made prompts, Build a training plan, Adapt the plan and Review a week. Clients that support MCP prompts list them as commands.

What it costs

You don't need Supporter for this

The connector works on a free OpenAthlete account, with all 23 tools. Supporter (€5 a month or €50 a year) adds two things that have nothing to do with Claude: AI inside OpenAthlete on our keys, and unlimited coached athletes instead of 5. You pay for Claude with Anthropic, not with us.

See pricing
On openathlete.orgFreeSupporter
Claude connector, all 23 tools
AI inside OpenAthleteWith your own keyOn our keys, monthly allowance
Coached athletes5Unlimited

Self-hosted: everything, no limits, no plan.

Limits and privacy

What Claude sees, and how to cut it off

What goes to Anthropic

Only what the tools return in your conversation: the weeks of calendar it asked for, your zones, the activities it opened. Never your password or your watch connections. Whether Anthropic keeps it or trains on it depends on your Claude plan and privacy settings, not on OpenAthlete.

Revoke in one click

In OpenAthlete, Settings › AI agents › Revoke: access stops at the next request. On Claude's side, remove the connector in Customize › Connectors.

Your history stays yours

Done sessions and recorded activities can't be changed or deleted through the connector. Agents can't touch your password, your connected devices or your subscription.

Watches it plans for

Planned workouts reach Garmin, COROS and Suunto watches. Polar brings your activities in, but workouts don't go back to it. Units are metric only.

Self-host it

Run OpenAthlete on your own server and point Claude at https://<your domain>/api/mcp. Your training stays on your server; what the tools return in a chat still goes to Anthropic.

Self-hosting guide

Keep going

Related guides

Use ChatGPT as your running coach

Same connector, other assistant.

The MCP server

All 23 tools, Cursor, VS Code and personal tokens.

AI inside OpenAthlete

Sessions from a sentence, post-run questions, your own key.

By watch

What the connector can do with each brand's data.

Questions

No. On 3 November 2026, Anthropic's help centre lists custom connectors on the free plan, limited to one connector. Paid plans allow more than one.

No. The connector and its 23 tools work on a free account. Supporter only adds AI inside OpenAthlete on our keys and unlimited coached athletes.

On Garmin, COROS and Suunto, yes: they go out like the sessions you plan yourself in OpenAthlete. Polar only sends activities in.

No. With write access it can move, change or delete planned sessions, but done sessions and recorded activities are out of reach. Anything it planned can be edited in your calendar.

Yes. Add the connector on claude.ai or in Claude Desktop; Anthropic says it is then available in the Claude iOS and Android apps.

Yes. A coach who connects Claude reaches the athletes they coach in OpenAthlete, with the same rights as in the app. Up to 5 athletes on the free plan, unlimited with Supporter.

The connector is the same. What differs is the plan you need: on 3 November 2026, Claude allowed one custom connector with read and write on its free plan, while ChatGPT kept write actions for Business, Enterprise and Edu.

Give Claude your real training

Create a free account, connect your watch, add the connector. Your first prompt is ten minutes away.

Create a free accountSee the MCP server

Free forever. No credit card.