linkedin-mcp

MCP server for editing your own LinkedIn profile from Claude Code — with a hard propose-then-approve split: the model can draft a change and show you the diff, but only one tool can ever write, and it acts only on a proposal you have seen.

Partner gating: LinkedIn's Profile Edit API is restricted to LinkedIn-approved partner developers (w_compliance is "a private permission and access is granted to select developers" — see docs/api-notes.md). Until partner approval lands, apply_proposal returns an invalid-scope error. That is expected, not a defect. Everything else (OAuth, proposals, diffs) works today.

How it works

Tool	What it does	Writes to LinkedIn?
auth_start	Prints the LinkedIn OAuth URL, catches the one-shot localhost redirect, exchanges the code, stores tokens	no (OAuth only)
auth_status	Reports whether a token exists and when it expires	no
get_profile	Fetches your profile (GET /v2/me)	no
propose_edit	Builds the exact API request for a change (headline, summary, positions, skills, educations), saves it as a proposal, returns a unified diff + proposal_id	never
list_proposals	Lists saved proposals	no
discard_proposal	Deletes a saved proposal	no
apply_proposal	Sends ONE saved proposal to LinkedIn — the only write tool. Code-enforced confirm gate: it refuses unless called with approval="approve <proposal_id>", a phrase supplied only after the human has reviewed the diff in chat.	yes

Proposals persist under ~/.config/linkedin-mcp/proposals/ so an approval can happen in a later session. Tokens and client credentials live in ~/.config/linkedin-mcp/.env with permissions 600 — entered by you, never by an agent, never committed (see .env.example).

Install

Requires Python ≥ 3.11.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linkedin": {
      "command": "bash",
      "args": ["/path/to/linkedin-mcp/run.sh"]
    }
  }
}

run.sh creates .venv/ and installs pinned dependencies on first launch (stamp-gated; all bootstrap output goes to stderr, keeping the MCP stdio channel clean).

Setup

Follow docs/SETUP-KYLE.md — it walks through creating the LinkedIn Developer app, registering the redirect URL, filling ~/.config/linkedin-mcp/.env, running auth_start, and applying for the partner program.

Development

bash run.sh --help                                # bootstraps the venv (runtime deps only)
.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements-dev.txt     # adds pytest + coverage tooling
.venv/bin/python -m pytest                        # offline — every test runs against a mock transport

The test suite includes a granted-write fixture: a mock LinkedIn where every documented write endpoint happily returns 200. Tests assert that propose_edit leaves zero non-GET requests in the recorded log even when writes would succeed, and (positive control) that apply_proposal does record the documented write call in the same fixture. --live-probe is a diagnostic flag (single real request, discriminates "endpoint right but scope not granted" from "endpoint wrong"); it never runs in tests or CI and requires LINKEDIN_MCP_LIVE_PROBE=1.

The API surface is pinned to dated verbatim excerpts from the official docs in docs/api-notes.md.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.