# linkedin-mcp

A local MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that lets Claude log in to LinkedIn
and publish image posts to your personal profile feed, backed by LinkedIn's
REST Images API and Posts API.

Scope: two tools, `linkedin_login` and `create_image_post`. No org/company
page posting, no scheduling, no carousels.

## 1. Create a LinkedIn Developer App

1. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/developers/apps and click **Create app**.
   LinkedIn requires every app to be linked to a **LinkedIn Page**, even for
   personal-profile posting -- create a minimal Page first if you don't have
   one.
2. Fill in the app name, select the Page, upload a logo (required), accept the
   agreement, and click **Create app**.
3. In the **Products** tab, add:
   - **Sign In with LinkedIn using OpenID Connect** (grants `openid`,
     `profile`, `email`) -- self-serve, instant.
   - **Share on LinkedIn** (grants `w_member_social`) -- self-serve, instant.
4. In the **Auth** tab, under OAuth 2.0 settings, add an **Authorized redirect
   URL** that exactly matches `LINKEDIN_REDIRECT_URI` below (default
   `http://localhost:3000/callback`, including the path -- must match
   byte-for-byte).
5. Copy the **Client ID** and **Client Secret** from the Auth tab.

**Known risk to watch for:** the Microsoft Learn docs for `/rest/images` and
`/rest/posts` live under "Community Management API," which normally needs a
separate LinkedIn approval. Posting to your own profile with `w_member_social`
+ OpenID scopes has historically worked without that approval, but if your
first `create_image_post` call comes back with a 403, that's the signal your
app needs the **Community Management API** product added in the developer
portal (approval-gated, outside this code's control).

## 2. Install and build

```bash
npm install
npm run build
```

## 3. Configure your MCP client

### Claude Desktop

Add to `claude_desktop_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linkedin": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/linkedin-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID": "xxxx",
        "LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET": "xxxx",
        "LINKEDIN_REDIRECT_URI": "http://localhost:3000/callback"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

### Claude Code

Add the same shape to your project or user `.mcp.json`, or run:

```bash
claude mcp add linkedin node /absolute/path/to/linkedin-mcp/dist/index.js \
  --env LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID=xxxx \
  --env LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET=xxxx \
  --env LINKEDIN_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:3000/callback
```

Restart the client after editing config. You should see the server connected
with two tools: `linkedin_login` and `create_image_post`.

## 4. Environment variables

See [.env.example](.env.example) for the full list. Only `LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID`
and `LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET` are required; everything else has a sane default.

Tokens are persisted to `~/.linkedin-mcp/tokens.json` (mode `600`) so you only
need to log in once per ~60-day LinkedIn access token lifetime.

## 5. Usage

In a Claude conversation:

- "Log in to LinkedIn" -> calls `linkedin_login`, opens your browser, and
  completes the OAuth flow. Calling it again when already logged in is a
  no-op unless you pass `force: true`.
- "Post this image to LinkedIn with caption ..." -> calls `create_image_post`
  with `imagePath` or `imageUrl`, `text`, and optionally `altText` /
  `visibility`.

## Development

```bash
npm run dev   # run directly via tsx, without building
```

All logging goes to stderr (`console.error`) -- stdout is reserved for the
MCP JSON-RPC protocol stream over stdio.