This article covers how to start using Thought Industries for Claude once the plugin is installed, and how to enable it if you haven't done so yet.
About this plugin
Thought Industries for Claude connects your academy directly to Claude Desktop. You can browse your course catalog, build new courses with AI assistance, and update existing lesson content—all without leaving Claude.
Every action you take through the plugin creates a draft. Nothing goes live until you publish it manually from the Thought Industries admin UI.
Open Beta
Thought Industries for Claude is currently in Open Beta. Features and behavior may change as we continue to develop it.
Before you begin
Make sure you have the following before proceeding:
- ✅ Claude Desktop app (latest version)
- ✅ A Thought Industries instance with Incoming REST API v2 enabled
- ✅ An admin account on your Thought Industries instance to generate an API key
Note
Claude Desktop required
This plugin doesn't work in the Claude.ai browser interface. You must use the Claude Desktop app to complete the setup flow and use the plugin.
I've installed the plugin, now what?
Once the plugin is configured, you're ready to go. You don't need to use special commands. Just describe what you want in plain language and Claude handles the rest.
Here are three things to try first:
- Browse your catalog: ask Claude to show you your courses. It'll return your catalog with titles, IDs, and content types.
- Inspect a course: ask Claude to show the structure of a specific course. You'll see the full hierarchy of sections, lessons, and topics.
- Read lesson content: ask Claude what a specific lesson says. It'll fetch the topics and show you the actual content.
Build a new course
Ask Claude to help you build a course on any topic. Using the /author-course skill, it'll walk you through a five-phase workflow:
- Discovery: Claude asks about your audience, objectives, and tone before writing anything.
- Outline: Claude generates a structured outline and asks for your approval before continuing.
- Content writing: Claude writes each topic and presents it for your review.
- Refinement: Claude offers adjustments to tone, length, or consistency based on your feedback.
- Summary: Claude presents the final course structure and word counts.
Tip
Better metadata means better output
The quality of AI-generated content depends on your course metadata. Courses with clear titles, descriptions, tags, and learning objectives produce better results. Assessments aren't created automatically—you'll need to set those up manually in the Thought Industries admin UI.
Rewrite existing content
Ask Claude to rewrite any lesson in a different tone or for a different audience. Claude reads the current content, rewrites every topic, and shows you a before-and-after comparison. It won't stage the update until you explicitly approve it.
What the plugin will and won't do
Every skill in the plugin has built-in safety rules that can't be overridden by prompting.
| Guarantee | What it means |
|---|---|
| All content stays as a draft | The plugin never publishes content. You release it manually from the Thought Industries admin UI. |
| Approval required before writes | Claude shows you what it plans to create or update and waits for your confirmation before proceeding. |
| No fabricated IDs | Claude always reads IDs from the API first. It never invents or guesses course or content IDs. |
| No content destruction | Existing content is never overwritten or deleted without your explicit permission. |
How to enable the plugin
Follow these steps to connect your Thought Industries instance to Claude Desktop for the first time.
Step 1: Install the plugin
- Open Claude Desktop.
- Go to Customize → Plugins → Add → Add marketplace.
- Enter
thoughtindustries/ti-admin-pluginand click → Use "thoughtindustries/ti-admin-plugin", then click Sync. - ❗Make sure to click the plus icon on the Ti admin plugin tile to install the plugin in your Claude experience. You will see the gear icon take its place when it's installed.
Note: The GIF above shows the gear icon after syncing the plugin because the user had already installed. If this is your first time adding the plugin, you will see a plus icon and it needs to be clicked to finish install.
Once installed, the plugin appears in Claude as the Ti admin plugin under the Personal tab when viewing plugins in the Customize area.
Step 2: Get your API key
- Log in to your Thought Industries instance as an admin.
- Go to
{your-instance-url}/learn/manager/security-settings(Settings > Security). - Under the API section, create a new Ancillary API key.
- Name it something like Claude Key so it's easy to identify later. Make the role Admin.
- Copy the key value and store it somewhere secure. You'll need it in Step 3.
Step 3: Configure the plugin as needed
As you work in Claude to perform tasks, it will ask for your TI instance URL and API key to execute tasks.
export TI_BASE_URL="https://your-instance.thoughtindustries.com" export TI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
Tip
Replace your-instance.thoughtindustries.com with your actual TI subdomain, and your-api-key-here with the key you copied in Step 2.
Result
Once setup is complete, you can browse your catalog, build courses, and update content directly from Claude Desktop. Every change stays as a draft until you're ready to publish it from the Thought Industries admin UI.
FAQs
Does this cost anything?
The plugin itself is free. Since you install it in your own Claude account, any token usage costs go directly to Anthropic, Thought Industries doesn't charge for the plugin.
What is the Thought Industries for Claude plugin?
It's a plugin that connects your Thought Industries instance directly to Claude Desktop. Once installed, you can browse your catalog, build new courses, and update existing content through natural-language conversation, without switching between tabs, tools, or docs.
How is the plugin different from an MCP?
The Thought Industries for Claude plugin is more advanced than just an MCP (Model Context Protocol). The plugin includes the capabilities of an MCP, a standard layer that lets an AI model connect to an external service, in this case to Thought Industries APIs, and also includes skills to guide you through specific workflows. You can expect a simplified experience that guides you through the process of creating and editing Thought Industries content.
Is this only for content, or can it make UI changes too?
Content only, for now. The current scope allows you to manage courses, articles, sections, lessons, and topics. UI customization and design changes are not yet in scope, but expanded use cases are actively in development.
Can it access grades, completions, or reporting data?
Not at this time.
What do I need to get started?
Two things: a Thought Industries API key and access to Claude Desktop (Cowork, Chat, or Code). The plugin is publicly available in the Claude Cowork marketplace, no special entitlement required. See above for detailed onboarding flow.
Can client admins use the plugin too?
Yes, but only if you issue them an API key. Simply generate a separate API key for the client admin and share it via a secure channel.
Can I create a read-only API key?
Not at this time.
What can I ask Claude to do?
Browse your full course catalog · inspect section/lesson/topic structure · author a new course from a description (Claude plans with you first, then stages a complete draft) · rewrite an existing lesson at a new tone or reading level · combine content from multiple courses · create ILT session drafts.
Can I use reference documents when authoring?
Yes. Upload a PDF or paste in content alongside your prompt and Claude will use it as source material when generating or rewriting lessons.
Can it scan Wistia video transcripts?
Not at this time.
Will Claude publish content automatically?
No. Every action the plugin takes results in a draft, never a live publication. Nothing goes live until a human reviews and explicitly publishes it in the Thought Industries platform.
Is there any risk of accidentally damaging existing content?
The draft-first model is the main protection. Claude stages all changes before touching anything live and shows you a before-and-after for any rewrites before approving.
Is this safe from a data privacy standpoint?
The plugin connects to your instance via your existing API key infrastructure. Thought Industries does not use your data or your customers' data to train third-party AI models.
Does my DPO or security team need to review this first?
There are no additional security acceptance requirements beyond standard API key practices.
Is there version control or rollback?
Not at this time.
Can I update one page across hundreds of courses at once?
Not at this time.
Can I reference other courses when authoring a new one?
Yes. Retrieve the relevant course IDs first, then reference them by ID in your authoring prompt to draw on existing structure or content.
Can I "Frankenstein" sections from multiple courses into one new course?
Yes. Retrieve sections from the courses you want to pull from, curate the content within Claude, then use the create course draft action to stage the combined result.
Is my course content used to train AI models?
No. Content sent through the plugin is processed by Anthropic's API, which does not use API customer data for model training by default.
Does Thought Industries see or store the content I create with Claude?
No. Thought Industries only receives the final draft content when it's written to your Thought Industries instance via the API. We do not have access to intermediate prompts or Claude's responses.
What analytics does the plugin collect?
Anonymous usage events only — which skill was used, the API endpoint, HTTP status code, and your instance hostname. No content is ever sent.
I'm trying to install the plugin but I'm getting blocked. What do I do?
This is likely a network settings issue that your IT team can resolve in just a few steps. Have them log into your organization's Claude admin panel and do the following:
- Go to Settings > Capabilities > Code execution
- Turn on Cloud code execution and file creation
- Turn on Allow network egress
- Set the Domain allowlist to "All domains" (or add your Thought Industries instance domain specifically)