“If Claude Code can already build and run agents, why does Runbear exist?”
I work at Runbear, where we build AI teammates for Slack and Teams. I get this question a lot.
Fair question. My answer: use both.
The first time an agent works in Claude Code, you have a demo. The next time your team needs it, you need a teammate.
Claude Code is where I can describe the job, test it, revise the details, and review changes. Runbear is where the approved agent stays connected to the right apps, starts at the right time, reports to the right team, and leaves a run history people can inspect.
This is not terminal versus dashboard, and it is not local versus cloud. Claude Code can do far more than design agents. The difference is what your team needs after the session ends.
One workflow, two responsibilities
| Claude Code | Runbear |
| Shape, test, and revise the workflow | Keep the approved workflow available to the team |
| Review proposed changes | Keep its connections, triggers, destination, and run history together |
A working Claude Code agent is still a prototype
A teammate needs more than a good prompt.
It needs a clear job. It needs permission to use the right accounts. And it needs to know when to start, where to report back, and what to do when something goes wrong.
Claude Code gives me a natural place to work through those decisions. Runbear keeps the approved answers together as a shared agent in the organization.
The useful result is not the prompt or one successful tool call. It is an agent the team can still use and inspect later.
One sentence hides a team workflow
Take this meeting follow-up request:
When a Zoom customer meeting ends, wait five minutes, read the available Granola notes, extract action items by owner, and prepare the result for Slack #standup.
It sounds like one instruction. It actually contains three groups of decisions:
The job: What counts as an action item? What happens when no owner is named or the notes are late?
The access: Which Zoom, Granola, and Slack accounts should the agent use?
The handoff: Which meeting starts it, and which Slack workspace and channel receive the result?
In Claude Code, start with the outcome
Runbear MCP keeps those four decisions visible; it does not bypass connection or authorization. But I do not have to open each setup surface first. I can start with the outcome, ask Claude Code to turn it into a complete plan, inspect the proposed instructions, accounts, trigger, and destination, then approve only what I intend.
Set up a Runbear agent that waits five minutes after a Zoom customer meeting, reads the Granola notes, extracts action items by owner, and prepares them for Slack #standup. Show me the complete plan before changing anything.
What the plan should contain
The proposed agent instructions, the Granola account to connect, the Zoom event and five-minute delay, and the Slack #standup destination. Nothing should be created or connected until I approve the proposed changes.
Try Runbear MCP in read-only mode
You can verify the connection before creating or connecting anything.
Add the Runbear endpoint:
claude mcp add --transport http runbear https://api.runbear.io/mcp/cc
Then run /mcp, select runbear, and authenticate to the intended Runbear organization. Start with:
List my Runbear agents. Do not create, update, connect, deploy, or change anything.
This first check only lists existing agents. It does not create, update, connect, deploy, or change anything.
The web UI makes the decisions explicit
For this meeting-follow-up workflow, the web UI asks me to configure four separate parts of the same job. That is useful when I want to inspect each setting directly. It also means moving between separate surfaces before the workflow is complete.
Step 1: Define the job
The instruction editor makes the operating contract concrete: what counts as an action item, how to handle missing notes or owners, and what to prepare for #standup.
Step 2: Give the job the right tools
Choose the apps the agent will use, then connect the right accounts. For this workflow, Granola supplies the notes; Zoom appears again as the event source in Step 4. Choosing an app does not authorize it automatically.
Step 3: Set the Slack destination
Choose the Slack connection and decide which channels or users it can reach. The example destination is #standup.
Step 4: Choose when it runs
Define the event that starts the workflow: the customer meeting ends, then the agent waits five minutes for notes to arrive.
Claude Code shapes the work. Runbear keeps it available to the team
I can keep using Claude Code after setup. I can inspect the agent, revise its instructions, test a change, or look into a failed run through the MCP connection.
Runbear keeps the approved version together: the job, authorized app connections, trigger, team destination, and run history. When my Claude Code session ends, the team does not have to reconstruct the useful version from a transcript.
The handoff is not from terminal to dashboard. It is from an individual working session to a shared agent the team can use.
The team does not inherit my terminal session. It inherits the approved agent in Runbear, available where the team already works.
Test the Runbear MCP connection without making changes
Runbear MCP is in Early Access. To try the Claude Code quickstart, add the endpoint:
claude mcp add --transport http runbear https://api.runbear.io/mcp/cc
Run /mcp, select runbear, and complete Runbear authentication. Then begin with a read-only request:
List my Runbear agents. Do not create, update, connect, deploy, or change anything.
In an isolated Claude Code 2.1.220 setup, I verified this command, authenticated to the intended Runbear organization, and listed agents without making writes.
From there, choose one workflow your team already understands. Ask Claude Code to show the complete plan before it changes anything, review the proposed accounts, trigger, and destination, and approve only the changes you intend.
Read the Runbear MCP reference for the current tools, authentication, scopes, and limitations:
https://docs.runbear.io/api-reference/mcp-server
The hard part is not making an agent work once. It is keeping the right version available to the team.
Install Runbear MCP, verify the connection with the read-only request above, and bring one workflow your team already understands into the planning conversation.