MCP & AI assistants
How to Connect Linkeddit to Claude as an MCP Connector
Two values, one browser sign-in, and Claude can measure where AI answer engines recommend your competitors, pull a competitor brief, and read your Search Console queries, in the same conversation. No API keys, no local install.
Cite this article
Om Patel. How to Connect Linkeddit to Claude as an MCP Connector. Linkeddit. 2026-09-01. https://linkeddit.com/blog/linkeddit-claude-connector-mcp-setup
Key takeaways
- The connector lives at https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcp and authenticates with OAuth 2.1 and PKCE. There are no API keys to generate.
- Claude cannot auto-register with Linkeddit, so you paste one pre-registered public client id, linkeddit-mcp-claude, and leave the Client Secret blank. That single field replaces the whole credential step.
- One connection exposes 34 tools across three families: AI search visibility, competitive intelligence, and keywords with Search Console.
- Clients with native remote MCP take the URL directly. Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf bridge the OAuth flow with mcp-remote.
01What MCP actually changes
The Model Context Protocol is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to external tools and data at runtime. The practical consequence is narrow but important: a model that has been trained on the public web still knows nothing about your pipeline, your competitors' last pricing change, or which buying questions an answer engine is currently getting wrong about you. MCP is how that data reaches the conversation without a copy-paste step.
It is a protocol, not an integration. You connect Linkeddit once and the same server works in every MCP-compatible client, which is why the setup below is nearly identical across Claude.ai, Cursor, and VS Code. The only real difference between clients is whether they can run the OAuth flow themselves or need a bridge.
02What the connector gives Claude
One authorization exposes 34 tools. They group into three families, and Claude picks the right one from your phrasing. You never type a tool name.
| Family | What Claude can do | Representative tools |
|---|---|---|
| AI search visibility | Audit the buying questions your customers ask AI assistants, rank the gaps where an engine recommended somebody else, and work the fix from recorded evidence. | answer_audit_run, answer_gaps_get, answer_results_get, answer_fix_draft |
| Competitive intelligence | Pull the latest graded competitor brief, the complaint themes behind it, pricing and landing-page changes, and switching signals. | compete_brief_get, compete_signals_get, compete_monitors_get |
| Search, keywords and Search Console | Where your tracked keywords rank on Google, scored keywords, live SERP and autocomplete data, and the queries real buyers used to reach your site. | search_visibility_get, keyword_serp, keyword_research_get, gsc_queries_get |
The full list, with every parameter, lives in the tool reference.
03Before you start: two values
You need a Linkeddit account on the Compete plan, and two strings. That is the whole prerequisite list. There is no key to generate, no secret to store.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Connector URL | https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcp |
| OAuth Client ID | linkeddit-mcp-claude |
| Client Secret | Leave blank: it is a public PKCE client |
04Setup: Claude.ai (web)
- 1Open Settings in Claude.ai, then Connectors.
- 2Click Add custom connector.
- 3Paste
https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcpas the connector URL and confirm. - 4Claude will report that automatic client registration is not supported. This is expected. Edit the connector and set the OAuth Client ID to
linkeddit-mcp-claude, leaving the Client Secret empty. - 5Connect, sign in with your Linkeddit account, and click Allow on the consent screen.
Open the tools menu in the chat input to confirm the Linkeddit tools are listed before you start asking. Authorization persists, so this is a one-time step per account.
05Setup: Claude Code
Claude Code speaks HTTP transport and runs the OAuth flow natively, so the whole setup is one command followed by a browser sign-in.
claude mcp add --transport http linkeddit https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcp
Authorize when prompted, then run claude mcp list to confirm the server is registered. No headers, no bridge, no config file to hand-edit.
06Setup: Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf
These clients need the mcp-remote package to bridge a remote OAuth server into their local stdio transport. Because Linkeddit uses pre-registered clients rather than dynamic registration, pass the client id to the bridge with --static-oauth-client-info.
{
"mcpServers": {
"linkeddit": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcp",
"--static-oauth-client-info",
"{\"client_id\":\"linkeddit-mcp-claude\"}"
]
}
}
}Config file locations differ by client. Claude Desktop reads ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS and %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows. Cursor reads .cursor/mcp.json in the project root, and Windsurf uses its own MCP settings file. In all three, restart the client after saving, and use a Node.js 20 or newer npx binary: an older default Node version is the single most common cause of a bridge that silently fails to start.
07Setup: VS Code
VS Code supports HTTP transport for MCP servers directly, so no bridge is needed. Add the server to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:
{
"servers": {
"linkeddit": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcp"
}
}
}Authorize in the browser when prompted. If VS Code asks for an OAuth client id, use linkeddit-mcp-claude with no secret. The tools then appear in agent mode.
08The first three prompts to run
You never name a tool. Describe the outcome and Claude selects and chains the calls. These three exercise a different family each, which is the fastest way to confirm the whole connection works.
AI search visibility
“Where are AI answer engines recommending competitors instead of us this month? Rank the gaps by how much traffic the question represents.”
Competitive intelligence
“Show me the latest competitor brief and the switching signals behind it. What changed on their pricing page?”
Search, keywords and Search Console
“What queries are real buyers using to reach our site, and which of them have no page that answers them properly?”
09Limits and security
On the connector, access tokens are short-lived and audience-bound to the endpoint, so a token minted for any other resource is rejected. Every tool reads only your own projects, briefs, and audit runs, and mutating tools require an idempotency key so a retried call replays its original result instead of duplicating work. Because authorization is OAuth, revoking access in your Linkeddit account cuts off every client at once. There is no key sitting in a config file to hunt down.
10Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| “Automatic client registration isn’t supported” | Expected, not a failure. Linkeddit uses pre-registered clients. Edit the connector and set the OAuth Client ID to linkeddit-mcp-claude, with no client secret. |
| invalid_target, or “Authorization with the MCP server failed” | The Client ID must be exactly linkeddit-mcp-claude and the URL exactly https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcp. Remove and re-add the connector to restart a clean OAuth flow. |
| Token rejected / audience mismatch | The connector URL must match exactly, with no trailing slash. Tokens are audience-bound to the endpoint. |
| 401 Unauthorized | No valid token, or it expired. Re-run the connector authorization in your client. |
| not_entitled | The account is not on the Compete plan. The connector requires Compete. |
| “Missing the required scope” | The token lacks a scope the tool needs, such as answer:run for audits or a write scope for saving. Re-authorize to refresh scopes. |
| Rate limit exceeded | You passed 60 requests per minute on the connector. Wait for the window to reset. |
| Connection drops immediately on connect | Use the URL with no trailing slash. The service preserves POST bodies rather than redirecting, and a redirect can drop the handshake. |
Connect it and ask one real question
Frequently asked questions
What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?+
MCP is an open standard, originally created by Anthropic and now maintained as an open specification, that lets AI assistants connect to external tools and data sources at runtime. It works like a shared port: any MCP-compatible server can plug into any MCP-compatible client, so the same Linkeddit connector works in Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and Windsurf without a separate integration for each.
Do I need an API key to connect Linkeddit to Claude?+
No. The Linkeddit connector authenticates with OAuth 2.1 and PKCE. You paste the connector URL https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcp and the pre-registered OAuth Client ID linkeddit-mcp-claude, leave the Client Secret blank, and authorize once in the browser. There is nothing to generate, store, or rotate.
Why does Claude say automatic client registration is not supported?+
That message is expected and is not an error in your setup. Linkeddit does not implement Dynamic Client Registration (RFC 7591), so clients that cannot auto-register need to be handed a pre-registered client id. Edit the connector, set the OAuth Client ID to linkeddit-mcp-claude, and leave the Client Secret blank. It is a public PKCE client, so there is no secret to enter.
Which plan do I need for the Linkeddit connector?+
The connector and all its tools, including Answer Radar, come with the Compete plan, and allow 60 requests per minute per user.
Can I use the Linkeddit connector with clients other than Claude?+
Yes. The connector speaks Streamable HTTP, which any MCP-compatible client supports. Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and Windsurf all connect, and so does any custom client built on an MCP SDK. Clients with native remote-MCP support take the URL directly; the rest bridge the OAuth flow with the mcp-remote package.
How do I troubleshoot a connection that will not authorize?+
Check three things in order. First, the connector URL must be exactly https://mcp.linkeddit.com/mcp, with no trailing slash: tokens are audience-bound, so a near-miss URL produces an audience mismatch. Second, the OAuth Client ID must be exactly linkeddit-mcp-claude with an empty Client Secret; a wrong id surfaces as invalid_target or "Authorization with the MCP server failed." Third, a not_entitled response means the account is not on the Compete plan. If the flow is in a bad state, remove the connector and re-add it to restart a clean authorization.