How to scope Claude to a client, prompt correctly, and work cleanly across multiple accounts.
How it works
When Claude connects to On Belay, it loads your context automatically — who you are, what org you belong to, what you have access to. You don't need to tell Claude any of this.
What Claude does not know automatically is which client you're working on. Sessions don't pre-scope to a client. You declare that explicitly at the start of each session.
Credentials never leave On Belay. Claude calls through the proxy using the client's stored keys — it never sees them directly. Every action is logged against your org under that client's audit trail.
The startup sequence
Load your client list
“List my clients”Returns every client org that has an active relationship with your portfolio.
Scope the session
“Select [Client Name] as my current client”From this point forward, all integration calls use that client's credentials.
Confirm access
“What integrations do I have for this client?”Returns only what the client has explicitly granted your portfolio — not everything they have connected.
Do the work
Prompt Claude for the actual task. Be specific about platform, timeframe, fields, and action.
What good prompts look like
Pulling customer data
Bad
“Get me the recent customers.”Good
“I've selected Acme Co as my current client. Pull the last 30 days of new customers from their Klaviyo account. I need email, first name, and the source they signed up from.”"Recent customers" is ambiguous. Which platform? What timeframe? What fields? Give Claude the specifics upfront.
Checking a product catalog
Bad
“What products do they have?”Good
“For Riverstone Supply — my current client — list their active Shopify products in the 'Outdoor Furniture' collection. I want title, status, and inventory count.”Without collection context Claude returns everything. Without status filtering you get drafts and archived listings.
Multi-step actions
Bad
“Update the client's HubSpot with the new lead info.”Good
“I've selected Blue Harbor as my current client. In their HubSpot, create a new contact: email [email protected], first name John, last name Smith, company Coastal Brands, lead source Partner Referral. Then enroll them in the New Partner Welcome sequence.”Multi-step actions need each step spelled out. Give Claude the exact field values and the exact action.
Research before action
Bad
“Send a campaign to their list.”Good
“For my current client, pull the subscriber segments from their Klaviyo account so I can see what lists exist. Don't send anything yet — I want to review before we decide which one to target.”Claude will attempt the action you describe. If you're not ready to execute, say so explicitly. Build in a review step before consequential sends, publishes, or updates.
Common mistakes
Not calling select_client before doing work
If you skip select_client and ask Claude to pull a client's Shopify data, one of two things happens: Claude uses your portfolio org's own integrations (probably not what you want), or it errors because you don't have that integration under your org at all. Always scope the session first. It takes one sentence.
Confusing your portfolio's integrations with the client's
Your portfolio org may have its own tools connected for internal work. Your clients have their own separate connections. After select_client, Claude switches to the client's credentials. Before select_client, you're working in your own context. Don't mix these up.
Under-specifying the task
"Analyze their HubSpot" is not a task. "Pull all open deals created in Q1 and summarize deal value by owner" is a task. The more ambiguous your prompt, the more Claude has to guess — and it will.
Expecting access the client hasn't granted
If a client hasn't granted your portfolio access to a specific integration, Claude can't use it. You won't get around this by prompting harder. If you need access to something that's missing, the client adds it in their On Belay dashboard under External Access.
Not confirming scope before starting
After select_client, run list_my_integrations before diving in. It takes five seconds and confirms exactly what you have access to. If something's missing, you find out before you're mid-task.
Switching clients mid-session
You can work across multiple clients in a single session. Call select_client each time you switch. There is no automatic clear.
If you worked on Client A and start asking about Client B without calling select_client again, Claude may still be scoped to Client A. Always switch explicitly.
If you're unsure which client is active, ask: "Which client is currently selected?" When you close a session, the scope clears. Each new session starts unscoped.
What Claude can and can't do
Can do
Can't do
Quick reference
| Task | What to say |
|---|---|
| See your clients | “List my clients” |
| Scope to a client | “Select [Client Name] as my current client” |
| See what you have access to | “What integrations are available for this client?” |
| Switch clients | “Switch to [New Client Name]” |
| Confirm current scope | “Which client is currently selected?” |
| Check before acting | “Before making any changes, show me [X] first” |
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