How to Connect Claude Code and Desktop MCP Clients with a Token

Desktop and command-line MCP clients (Claude Code, Cursor, custom scripts) don't use the sign-in flow — they authenticate with a bearer token you create in Linkilo. This is the fastest way to connect, and it works even on hosts where the web sign-in flow is blocked.

Step 1 — Turn on MCP access

Go to Linkilo → MCP Access and tick Enable MCP access, then Save. (Off by default.)

Step 2 — Create a token

1. On the same page, under Issue a new token, enter a label (e.g. "Claude Code — laptop").
2. Pick a role: start with read_only. Only pick editor if you want the assistant to insert links or create redirects — and remember write actions also require the global Allow write actions switch.
3. Pick an expiry (90 days is a good default) and click Create token.
4. Copy the token immediately — it is shown exactly once. If you lose it, revoke it and create a new one.

Step 3 — Add the server to your client

For Claude Code, run:

claude mcp add --transport http linkilo https://yoursite.com/wp-json/linkilo-mcp/v1/rpc --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"

For other clients, add a remote MCP server with the same URL and an Authorization: Bearer <token> header.

The two rules that trip people up

• The token never goes in the URL. Not appended, not as a query string, not after a slash. It goes only in the Authorization header.
• Treat the token like a password. Anyone who has it can read your Linkilo data. Don't paste it into screenshots, chats, or support tickets — if that happens, revoke it right away (takes effect instantly).

Verifying it works

Ask the assistant to run the get_connection_status tool. It reports, from the site itself: that you're authenticated, your token's role, whether the site is in read-only mode, and whether Google Search Console / GA4 are connected. If that tool answers, the connection is healthy — an empty report elsewhere just means that dataset is empty, not that the connection dropped.