MCP Server for LinkedIn

Disclaimer: This is an independent, community project. It is not affiliated with, authorized by, endorsed by, or sponsored by LinkedIn Corporation or Microsoft. "LinkedIn" is a registered trademark of LinkedIn Corporation and is used here only descriptively to identify the third-party service this software interoperates with.

An MCP server that lets AI assistants like Claude read LinkedIn data through your own logged-in browser session. Access profiles and companies, search for jobs, or get job details.

Sponsor

This MCP server is free and open source, supported by **Unipile**. It runs locally with your own browser session. Unipile is the fully managed cloud alternative: a LinkedIn API for Classic, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter that handles all the infrastructure for you, with white-label auth (credential login without an extension, captcha solving, in-app validation, OTP/2FA, geo proxies), real-time webhooks, profile/company/post extraction and search, and outreach sequences (invitations, InMail, messages, post comments). Try every feature free for 7 days →

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Installation Methods - MCP Server for LinkedIn

🚀 uvx Setup (Recommended - Universal)

Prerequisites: Install uv.

Installation

Client Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linkedin": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-linkedin@latest"],
      "env": { "UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT": "300" }
    }
  }
}

The @latest tag ensures you always run the newest version — uvx checks PyPI on each client launch and updates automatically. The server starts quickly, prepares the shared Patchright Chromium browser cache in the background under ~/.linkedin-mcp/patchright-browsers, and opens a LinkedIn login browser window on the first tool call that needs authentication.

[!NOTE]

Early tool calls may return a setup/authentication-in-progress error until browser setup or login finishes. If you prefer to create a session explicitly, run uvx mcp-server-linkedin@latest --login.

uvx Setup Help

🔧 Configuration

Transport Modes:

• Default (stdio): Standard communication for local MCP servers
• Streamable HTTP: For web-based MCP server
• If no transport is specified, the server defaults to stdio
• An interactive terminal without explicit transport shows a chooser prompt

CLI Options:

• --login - Open browser to log in and save persistent profile
• --no-headless - Show browser window (useful for debugging scraping issues)
• --log-level {DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR} - Set logging level (default: WARNING)
• --transport {stdio,streamable-http} - Optional: force transport mode (default: stdio)
• --host HOST - HTTP server host (default: 127.0.0.1)
• --port PORT - HTTP server port (default: 8000)
• --path PATH - HTTP server path (default: /mcp)
• --logout - Clear stored LinkedIn browser profile
• --timeout MS - Browser timeout for page operations in milliseconds (default: 5000)
• --tool-timeout SECONDS - Per-tool MCP execution timeout in seconds (default: 180.0). Increase further for heavy scrapes / cold-start Chromium / slow networks.
• --user-data-dir PATH - Path to persistent browser profile directory (default: ~/.linkedin-mcp/profile)
• --chrome-path PATH - Path to Chrome/Chromium executable (for custom browser installations)

Basic Usage Examples:

# Run with debug logging
uvx mcp-server-linkedin@latest --log-level DEBUG

HTTP Mode Example (for web-based MCP clients):

uvx mcp-server-linkedin@latest --transport streamable-http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080 --path /mcp

Runtime server logs are emitted by FastMCP/Uvicorn.

Tool calls are serialized within a single server process to protect the shared

LinkedIn browser session. Concurrent client requests queue instead of running in

parallel. Use --log-level DEBUG to see scraper lock wait/acquire/release logs.

Test with mcp inspector:

1. Install and run mcp inspector ``bunx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector``

2. Click pre-filled token url to open the inspector in your browser

3. Select Streamable HTTP as Transport Type

4. Set URL to http://localhost:8080/mcp

5. Connect

6. Test tools

❗ Troubleshooting

Installation issues:

• Ensure you have uv installed: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
• Check uv version: uv --version (should be 0.4.0 or higher)
• On first run, uvx downloads all Python dependencies. On slow connections, uv's default 30s HTTP timeout may be too short. The recommended config above already sets UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT=300 (seconds) to avoid this.

Session issues:

• Browser profile is stored at ~/.linkedin-mcp/profile/
• Managed browser downloads are cached at ~/.linkedin-mcp/patchright-browsers/
• Make sure you have only one active LinkedIn session at a time

Login issues:

• LinkedIn may require a login confirmation in the LinkedIn mobile app for --login
• LinkedIn may show a captcha challenge during login. Run uvx mcp-server-linkedin@latest --login which opens a browser where you can solve it manually.

Timeout issues:

• *Page operations failing* (elements not found, navigation hangs): increase the browser page-op timeout — --timeout 10000 or TIMEOUT=10000 (milliseconds, default 5000).
• *Entire tool calls timing out* (e.g. multi-section profiles, cold-start Chromium, slow containers): increase the per-tool execution timeout — --tool-timeout 300 or TOOL_TIMEOUT=300 (seconds, default 180).
• Users on slow connections may need higher values for either.

Custom Chrome path:

• If Chrome is installed in a non-standard location, use --chrome-path /path/to/chrome
• Can also set via environment variable: CHROME_PATH=/path/to/chrome

📦 Claude Desktop MCP Bundle (formerly DXT)

Prerequisites: Claude Desktop.

One-click installation for Claude Desktop users:

1. Download the latest .mcpb artifact from releases

2. Click the downloaded .mcpb file to install it into Claude Desktop

3. Call any LinkedIn tool

On startup, the MCP Bundle starts preparing the shared Patchright Chromium browser cache in the background. If you call a tool too early, Claude will surface a setup-in-progress error. On the first tool call that needs authentication, the server opens a LinkedIn login browser window and asks you to retry after sign-in.

MCP Bundle Setup Help

❗ Troubleshooting

First-time setup behavior:

• Claude Desktop starts the bundle immediately; browser setup continues in the background
• If the Patchright Chromium browser is still downloading, retry the tool after a short wait
• Managed browser downloads are shared under ~/.linkedin-mcp/patchright-browsers/

Login issues:

• Make sure you have only one active LinkedIn session at a time
• LinkedIn may require a login confirmation in the LinkedIn mobile app for --login
• LinkedIn may show a captcha challenge during login. Run uvx mcp-server-linkedin@latest --login which opens a browser where you can solve captchas manually. See the uvx setup for prerequisites.

Timeout issues:

• *Page operations failing* (elements not found, navigation hangs): increase the browser page-op timeout — --timeout 10000 or TIMEOUT=10000 (milliseconds, default 5000).
• *Entire tool calls timing out* (e.g. multi-section profiles, cold-start Chromium, slow containers): increase the per-tool execution timeout — --tool-timeout 300 or TOOL_TIMEOUT=300 (seconds, default 180).
• Users on slow connections may need higher values for either.

🐳 Docker Setup

Prerequisites: Make sure you have Docker installed and running, and uv installed on the host for the one-time --login step.

Authentication

Docker runs headless (no browser window), so you need to create a browser profile locally first and mount it into the container.

Step 1: Create profile on the host (one-time setup)

uvx mcp-server-linkedin@latest --login

This opens a browser window where you log in manually (5 minute timeout for 2FA, captcha, etc.). The browser profile and cookies are saved under ~/.linkedin-mcp/. On startup, Docker derives a Linux browser profile from your host cookies and creates a fresh session each time. If you experience stability issues with Docker, consider using the uvx setup instead.

Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop with Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linkedin": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "-i",
        "-v", "~/.linkedin-mcp:/home/pwuser/.linkedin-mcp",
        "stickerdaniel/linkedin-mcp-server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

[!NOTE]

Docker creates a fresh session on each startup. Sessions may expire over time — run uvx mcp-server-linkedin@latest --login again if you encounter authentication issues.

[!NOTE]

**Why can't I run --login in Docker?** Docker containers don't have a display server. Create a profile on your host using the uvx setup and mount it into Docker.

Docker Setup Help

🔧 Configuration

Transport Modes:

• Default (stdio): Standard communication for local MCP servers
• Streamable HTTP: For a web-based MCP server
• If no transport is specified, the server defaults to stdio
• An interactive terminal without explicit transport shows a chooser prompt

CLI Options:

• --log-level {DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR} - Set logging level (default: WARNING)
• --transport {stdio,streamable-http} - Optional: force transport mode (default: stdio)
• --host HOST - HTTP server host (default: 127.0.0.1)
• --port PORT - HTTP server port (default: 8000)
• --path PATH - HTTP server path (default: /mcp)
• --logout - Clear all stored LinkedIn auth state, including source and derived runtime profiles
• --timeout MS - Browser timeout for page operations in milliseconds (default: 5000)
• --tool-timeout SECONDS - Per-tool MCP execution timeout in seconds (default: 180.0). Increase further for heavy scrapes / cold-start Chromium / slow networks.
• --user-data-dir PATH - Path to persistent browser profile directory (default: ~/.linkedin-mcp/profile)
• --chrome-path PATH - Path to Chrome/Chromium executable (rarely needed in Docker)

[!NOTE]

--login and --no-headless are not available in Docker (no display server). Use the uvx setup to create profiles.

HTTP Mode Example (for web-based MCP clients):

docker run -it --rm \
  -v ~/.linkedin-mcp:/home/pwuser/.linkedin-mcp \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  stickerdaniel/linkedin-mcp-server:latest \
  --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080 --path /mcp

Runtime server logs are emitted by FastMCP/Uvicorn.

Test with mcp inspector:

1. Install and run mcp inspector ``bunx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector``

2. Click pre-filled token url to open the inspector in your browser

3. Select Streamable HTTP as Transport Type

4. Set URL to http://localhost:8080/mcp

5. Connect

6. Test tools

❗ Troubleshooting

Docker issues:

• Make sure Docker is installed
• Check if Docker is running: docker ps

Login issues:

• Make sure you have only one active LinkedIn session at a time
• LinkedIn may require a login confirmation in the LinkedIn mobile app for --login
• LinkedIn may show a captcha challenge during login. Run uvx mcp-server-linkedin@latest --login which opens a browser where you can solve captchas manually. See the uvx setup for prerequisites.
• If Docker auth becomes stale after you re-login on the host, restart Docker once so it can fresh-bridge from the new source session generation.

Timeout issues:

• *Page operations failing* (elements not found, navigation hangs): increase the browser page-op timeout — --timeout 10000 or TIMEOUT=10000 (milliseconds, default 5000).
• *Entire tool calls timing out* (e.g. multi-section profiles, cold-start Chromium, slow containers): increase the per-tool execution timeout — --tool-timeout 300 or TOOL_TIMEOUT=300 (seconds, default 180).
• Users on slow connections may need higher values for either.

Custom Chrome path:

• If Chrome is installed in a non-standard location, use --chrome-path /path/to/chrome
• Can also set via environment variable: CHROME_PATH=/path/to/chrome

🐍 Local Setup (Develop & Contribute)

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for architecture guidelines and checklists. Please open an issue first to discuss the feature or bug fix before submitting a PR.

Prerequisites: Git and uv installed

Installation

# 1. Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/stickerdaniel/linkedin-mcp-server
cd linkedin-mcp-server

# 2. Install UV package manager (if not already installed)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# 3. Install dependencies
uv sync
uv sync --group dev

# 4. Install pre-commit hooks
uv run pre-commit install

# 5. Start the server
uv run -m linkedin_mcp_server

The local server uses the same managed-runtime flow as MCPB and uvx: it prepares the Patchright Chromium browser cache in the background and opens LinkedIn login on the first auth-requiring tool call. You can still run uv run -m linkedin_mcp_server --login when you want to create the session explicitly.

Local Setup Help

🔧 Configuration

CLI Options:

• --login - Open browser to log in and save persistent profile
• --no-headless - Show browser window (useful for debugging scraping issues)
• --log-level {DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR} - Set logging level (default: WARNING)
• --transport {stdio,streamable-http} - Optional: force transport mode (default: stdio)
• --host HOST - HTTP server host (default: 127.0.0.1)
• --port PORT - HTTP server port (default: 8000)
• --path PATH - HTTP server path (default: /mcp)
• --logout - Clear stored LinkedIn browser profile
• --timeout MS - Browser timeout for page operations in milliseconds (default: 5000)
• --tool-timeout SECONDS - Per-tool MCP execution timeout in seconds (default: 180.0). Increase further for heavy scrapes / cold-start Chromium / slow networks.
• --status - Check if current session is valid and exit
• --user-data-dir PATH - Path to persistent browser profile directory (default: ~/.linkedin-mcp/profile)
• --slow-mo MS - Delay between browser actions in milliseconds (default: 0, useful for debugging)
• --user-agent STRING - Custom browser user agent
• --viewport WxH - Browser viewport size (default: 1280x720)
• --chrome-path PATH - Path to Chrome/Chromium executable (for custom browser installations)
• --help - Show help

Note: Most CLI options have environment variable equivalents. See .env.example for details.

HTTP Mode Example (for web-based MCP clients):

uv run -m linkedin_mcp_server --transport streamable-http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000 --path /mcp

Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linkedin": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/path/to/linkedin-mcp-server", "run", "-m", "linkedin_mcp_server"]
    }
  }
}

stdio is used by default for this config.

❗ Troubleshooting

Login issues:

• Make sure you have only one active LinkedIn session at a time
• LinkedIn may require a login confirmation in the LinkedIn mobile app for --login
• LinkedIn may show a captcha challenge during login. The --login command opens a browser where you can solve it manually.

Scraping issues:

• Use --no-headless to see browser actions and debug scraping problems
• Add --log-level DEBUG to see more detailed logging

Session issues:

• Browser profile is stored at ~/.linkedin-mcp/profile/
• Use --logout to clear the profile and start fresh

Python/Patchright issues:

• Check Python version: python --version (should be 3.12+)
• Reinstall Patchright: uv run patchright install chromium
• Reinstall dependencies: uv sync --reinstall

Timeout issues:

• *Page operations failing* (elements not found, navigation hangs): increase the browser page-op timeout — --timeout 10000 or TIMEOUT=10000 (milliseconds, default 5000).
• *Entire tool calls timing out* (e.g. multi-section profiles, cold-start Chromium, slow containers): increase the per-tool execution timeout — --tool-timeout 300 or TOOL_TIMEOUT=300 (seconds, default 180).
• Users on slow connections may need higher values for either.

Custom Chrome path:

• If Chrome is installed in a non-standard location, use --chrome-path /path/to/chrome
• Can also set via environment variable: CHROME_PATH=/path/to/chrome

[!IMPORTANT]

FAQ

Is this safe to use? Will I get banned?

This tool controls a real browser session; it doesn't exploit undocumented APIs or bypass authentication. LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits automated access, and accounts using automated tools can be restricted or banned. Use at your own risk; there is no guarantee of account safety. If you encounter any issues, let me know in the Discussions.

What if my agents execute too many actions?

Tool calls run sequentially through a queue. You are responsible for the volume of automation you run; use it sparingly and prompt your agents responsibly.

Acknowledgements

Built with FastMCP and Patchright.

Use in accordance with LinkedIn's User Agreement. Automated access may violate LinkedIn's terms and can lead to account restrictions. This tool is for personal use only and comes with no warranty of any kind.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.