# Control Your Tesla With Claude

> Connect Claude to your Tesla in about 3 minutes. Official setup for Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, and Claude Code, plus example prompts and pricing.

Claude can check your Tesla's status and send it real commands — pre-condition
the cabin, charge to a target percentage, lock the doors, find the car — all
from a normal conversation. This is the official setup guide from the people
who built the connector.

## How it works

Claude doesn't talk to your car directly. It connects to **mytesla.io**, a
hosted [MCP server](/tesla-mcp-server) for Tesla. mytesla.io holds the
authorization Tesla gave it through the official Fleet API, and Claude calls
that server's tools on your behalf. You ask in plain English; Claude figures
out which of the 40 available tools to call and with what arguments.

Nothing about this uses an unofficial API or a scraped session token — every
command is a signed request through Tesla's own Fleet API and Vehicle Command
Protocol, the same path Tesla's own app uses.

## Setup (about 3 minutes)

1. **Create a mytesla.io account.** Go to [mytesla.io](https://mytesla.io) and
   sign in — we email a six-digit code, no password to remember.
2. **Authorize your Tesla.** On the dashboard, click **Connect Tesla**. You'll
   see Tesla's own consent screen; mytesla.io appears there as **"Embay,
   LLC"** (that's us — Tesla shows the legal entity name, not the product
   name).
3. **Register a virtual key.** One more one-time step per vehicle: open a link
   on your phone and tap **Approve** on the car's touchscreen (or in the
   Tesla app). This is what lets the car trust commands signed by mytesla.io.
4. **Pick a plan.** Driver is $4.99/month (500 credits); Driver Max is
   $9.99/month (1,500 credits). Checkout is through Stripe.
5. **Add the connector in Claude.**
   - **Claude.ai (web) or Claude Desktop:** Settings → **Connectors** → **Add
     custom connector** → paste `https://mcp.mytesla.io/mcp`. Claude opens an
     OAuth consent screen — approve it, and you're connected.
   - **Claude Code (CLI):**
     ```sh
     claude mcp add --transport http mytesla https://mcp.mytesla.io/mcp
     ```
     Then run `/mcp login mytesla` to finish authenticating.

That's it — no API keys to copy around, no separate app to install.

## What to ask it

Claude picks the right tool from what you type. Some real examples:

- "How's my car? Is it locked?"
- "Pre-condition the cabin to 70°F before my 8am meeting." (Claude can combine
  this with your calendar if you also have a calendar connector.)
- "Charge to 80% and let me know when it's done."
- "Schedule departure for 7am tomorrow with preconditioning."
- "Where's my car? Did I leave the windows down?"
- "Turn on Dog Mode."
- "Flash the lights, I can't find it in the parking lot."
- "Set a speed limit of 70 mph and lock it with a PIN."

Claude reads the car's live state before answering questions like "is it
locked" — it's not guessing from a cached value.

## Requirements

- A Tesla Model S, 3, X, or Y from roughly 2018 onward (any car that supports
  Tesla's Fleet API and Vehicle Command Protocol).
- A mytesla.io subscription — from $4.99/month.
- Claude Desktop, Claude.ai (web), or Claude Code. Connector support is a
  standard feature across all three; check Anthropic's current plan details
  if you're unsure whether your account has connectors enabled.

## Why Claude specifically

Claude was an early adopter of MCP — the open protocol mytesla.io speaks — so
adding an external tool is a first-class Settings option rather than a hidden
developer flag. That makes the round-trip from "I want my AI to control my
car" to actually doing it one of the shortest of any assistant.

## FAQ

**Is this affiliated with Tesla, Inc.?**
No. mytesla.io is an independent product operated by Embay, LLC, built on
Tesla's official Fleet API. We're not endorsed by or affiliated with Tesla.

**Can Claude actually drive the car or change safety-relevant settings on its
own?**
No. Claude can only call the specific tools mytesla.io exposes — climate,
charging, locks, alerts, navigation sharing, and a few security toggles like
Sentry Mode and speed limits. There's no "drive" tool, and anything
PIN-protected (like Valet Mode) still requires you to set the PIN yourself.

**What if my car is asleep?**
Claude can wake it — that costs 10 credits instead of the usual 1, since
Tesla rate-limits and prices wake calls more heavily than reads.

**Does this cost anything beyond mytesla.io?**
No extra fee for the connector itself. You pay your existing Claude plan (if
your tier requires one for connectors) plus a mytesla.io subscription.

## Next steps

- [Full setup guide](/docs) — every command, credit costs, and troubleshooting.
- [What is a Tesla MCP server?](/tesla-mcp-server) — how the protocol works
  under the hood.
- [25+ things you can do with Tesla + AI](/tesla-ai-use-cases) — real prompts
  beyond the basics.
- [Control your Tesla with ChatGPT](/control-tesla-with-chatgpt) — same idea,
  different assistant.
- [Get started at mytesla.io →](https://mcp.mytesla.io/signup?src=guide-claude&plan=driver)