linkedin-mcp

The first and only LinkedIn MCP server built in Rust. Publish posts to LinkedIn from AI agents (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or any MCP-compatible client) using the official MCP Rust SDK (rmcp).

Why Rust?

Most MCP servers are written in TypeScript (Bun/Node.js). That works fine for a single agent, but in multi-agent environments — where dozens of MCP servers run simultaneously across multiple Claude Code sessions — the resource overhead adds up fast:

	TypeScript (Bun/Node)	Rust
Memory per process	50–150 MB (V8 heap + runtime)	5–15 MB
Startup time	200–500 ms	< 10 ms
10 MCP servers	0.5–1.5 GB RAM	50–150 MB RAM
CPU at idle	JS garbage collector spikes	near zero

In a real-world scenario with 5 Claude Code sessions, each running 4–6 MCP servers, TypeScript runtimes can consume 3–8 GB of RAM just for MCP infrastructure — leaving less for the actual work. We experienced this firsthand: orphaned Bun processes from a Telegram MCP plugin consumed 8 CPU cores and forced fan noise on a MacBook Pro.

Rust MCP servers are single static binaries with no runtime, no garbage collector, and no dependency on Node/Bun/npm. They start instantly, use minimal memory, and disappear cleanly when the session ends.

Features

• Text posts — publish text-only posts (up to 3000 chars)
• URL/link sharing — share a URL with a rich preview card (thumbnail, title, description)
• Image posts — upload a local image and publish it with text
• Video posts — upload a local video and publish it with text
• Profile info — retrieve the authenticated user's name, email, and LinkedIn ID
• Auth status — check token validity and expiration
• Automatic token refresh — access tokens (60 days) and refresh tokens (365 days)
• stdio transport — works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and any MCP-compatible client

Installation

Option A: Download pre-built binary (recommended)

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases:

Platform	Binary
macOS Apple Silicon	linkedin-mcp-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
macOS Intel	linkedin-mcp-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz
Linux x86_64	linkedin-mcp-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
Linux ARM64	linkedin-mcp-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz

# Example for macOS Apple Silicon:
curl -L https://github.com/gohyperdev/linkedin-mcp/releases/latest/download/linkedin-mcp-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz | tar xz
chmod +x linkedin-mcp
sudo mv linkedin-mcp /usr/local/bin/

Option B: Build from source

Requires Rust 1.75+.

git clone https://github.com/gohyperdev/linkedin-mcp.git
cd linkedin-mcp
cargo build --release
# Binary at: target/release/linkedin-mcp

LinkedIn App Setup

Before using this MCP server, you need a LinkedIn Developer App with two products enabled.

1. Create an app — follow LinkedIn's official guide: Getting Access to LinkedIn APIs
2. Add required products in the Products tab (Managing Your Application):
   • Share on LinkedIn — grants w_member_social scope (required for posting)
   • Sign In with LinkedIn using OpenID Connect — grants openid profile email scopes (required for profile info)
3. Configure OAuth in the Auth tab:
   • Copy your Client ID and Client Secret
   • Add http://localhost:3000/callback under Authorized redirect URLs

For full details on LinkedIn OAuth 2.0, see: Authorization Code Flow

Security

Your Client ID and Client Secret are sensitive credentials. Never commit them to git.

• Pass credentials via environment variables only: LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID and LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET
• The .env file is in .gitignore — use it for local development
• OAuth tokens are stored locally at ~/.config/linkedin-mcp/tokens.json — this file contains your access token, treat it as a secret
• The MCP server reads credentials from environment variables at runtime, never from source code

Authentication (One-Time Setup)

Before the MCP tools can post to LinkedIn, you need to authorize the app once. Run the included setup script:

LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id \
LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret \
./auth-cli.sh

This will:

1. Print an OAuth authorization URL — open it in your browser
2. You'll see LinkedIn's consent screen — click Allow
3. LinkedIn redirects to localhost:3000/callback — the script catches it
4. Access token is saved to ~/.config/linkedin-mcp/tokens.json

That's it. The token is valid for 60 days and auto-refreshes (refresh token valid 365 days). You only need to re-run auth-cli.sh if both tokens expire.

Usage with Claude Code

claude mcp add linkedin-mcp -s user -- \
  env LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id \
  LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret \
  /usr/local/bin/linkedin-mcp

Or for a specific project only (-s project):

claude mcp add linkedin-mcp -s project -- \
  env LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id \
  LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret \
  /path/to/linkedin-mcp

Usage with Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linkedin": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/linkedin-mcp",
      "env": {
        "LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id",
        "LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

MCP Tools

Tool	Description	Key Params
get_profile	Get LinkedIn profile info	—
create_text_post	Publish a text-only post	text, visibility?
share_article	Share a URL with preview card	text, url, title?, description?, visibility?
create_image_post	Publish a post with an image	text, image_path, image_alt?, visibility?
create_video_post	Publish a post with a video	text, video_path, title?, description?, visibility?
auth_status	Check authentication status	—

Visibility options: PUBLIC (default) or CONNECTIONS (1st-degree only).

Limitations

• Personal profile only. Company Page posting requires the "Community Management API" product which must be the only product on the app (separate LinkedIn app needed).
• No native LinkedIn articles. The LinkedIn API does not support creating long-form articles (the ones at linkedin.com/pulse/... with rich-text formatting). The share_article tool shares a URL with a preview card — it's a regular feed post, not a native article.
• No LinkedIn Newsletter editions. Newsletter content can only be created through the LinkedIn web UI.
• No draft posts. The "Share on LinkedIn" API only supports lifecycleState: PUBLISHED. Draft support requires the Community Management API.
• Rate limits: 150 requests/day per member, 100,000/day per application.

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID	Yes	OAuth2 client ID from LinkedIn Developer Portal
LINKEDIN_CLIENT_SECRET	Yes	OAuth2 client secret from LinkedIn Developer Portal
RUST_LOG	No	Logging level (info, debug, trace). Logs go to stderr.

Token Storage

Tokens are stored at ~/.config/linkedin-mcp/tokens.json:

{
  "access_token": "AQV...",
  "refresh_token": null,
  "expires_at": "2026-06-05T01:06:11Z",
  "linkedin_id": "sIhlYJw_ja",
  "email": "user@example.com"
}

To revoke access, delete this file and remove the app from LinkedIn Settings > Permitted services.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Links

• HyperDev GitHub
• MCP Rust SDK
• LinkedIn Share API Docs
• LinkedIn Developer Portal