How to connect Claude Code to LinkedIn, step by step

What you need

• A Finchreach account (sign in at finchreach.com) and the LinkedIn account you want Claude Code to work on.
• Claude Code.
• About five minutes.

Step 1: Create a Finchreach API key

1. Sign in at finchreach.com and open API keys.
2. Create a key and name it after the tool, for example “Claude Code”.
3. Copy it right away: it starts with lk_ and is shown only once.

Step 2: Connect your LinkedIn account

1. Open Accounts and click to connect LinkedIn.
2. Follow the steps until the account shows as connected.

Approval mode is on by default: nothing the assistant drafts reaches LinkedIn until you approve it.

Step 3: Add Finchreach to Claude Code

1. Run claude mcp add --transport http finchreach https://mcp.finchreach.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer lk_YOUR_KEY". Add --scope project to write a shared .mcp.json in the repo instead of your user config.
2. To keep the key out of the repo, use the .mcp.json form below and set FINCHREACH_API_KEY in your shell: Claude Code fills in ${VAR} in headers.
3. Start Claude Code and run /mcp. finchreach should be listed as connected, with its LinkedIn tools.

claude mcp add --transport http finchreach https://mcp.finchreach.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer lk_YOUR_KEY"

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "finchreach": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.finchreach.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${FINCHREACH_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace lk_YOUR_KEY with your key. Keep the key out of shared files and repos; where Claude Code can read it from an environment variable, prefer that.

Full custom-header support, with ${VAR} and ${VAR:-default} expansion, so the Finchreach key goes straight into Authorization: Bearer. Without the header, Claude Code can sign in with OAuth through /mcp, which Finchreach supports too.

Step 4: Test the connection

In Claude Code, start with a read. It runs right away and proves the key and the account work:

Ask your assistant“List my connected LinkedIn accounts, then summarize my five latest notifications.”

You should see calls to linkedin_list_accounts and linkedin_get_notifications. Then try a write, which goes to your approval queue instead of LinkedIn:

Ask your assistant“Draft a short LinkedIn post saying I’m trying a new AI assistant workflow. Submit it for my approval.”

Step 5: Approve or reject it in Finchreach

1. Open Approvals. The draft is there with its exact text and the account it would go out from.
2. Approve it to publish, or reject it (reject the test post if you don’t want it live).
3. Claude Code can check the result with linkedin_get_action: pending, approved, rejected, executed, failed or expired.

Troubleshooting

• Keep the key in its own variable such as FINCHREACH_API_KEY. Claude Code blanks some reserved credential variables (for example ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) when it expands headers.
• Run claude mcp get finchreach to see the saved URL and headers; if the header is missing, remove the server with claude mcp remove finchreach and add it again.
• 401 or “unauthorized”: the key is wrong, revoked or missing its prefix. Finchreach accepts Authorization: Bearer lk_… or X-API-Key: lk_…; check for a missing Bearer , quotes or a trailing space.
• A tool is missing: the key’s permissions don’t include it. Create a key with the permissions you need under API keys.
• “No LinkedIn account”: connect one under Accounts, or reconnect it if its session expired.
• A post or message “didn’t go out”: it is probably still waiting under Approvals. Writes run only after you approve them.

Still stuck? Compare your setup with Claude Code’s documentation, checked on 2026-10-28; client screens change often.

What to ask Claude Code next

Ask your assistant“Turn this week’s merged pull requests into a LinkedIn post draft about what we shipped.”

Ask your assistant“Read my unread LinkedIn messages and draft short replies to the ones from recruiters.”

Ask your assistant“Search LinkedIn for posts about MCP servers from the last week and summarize the main points.”

More ideas on the Claude Code integration page.

Common questions