How to connect Codex to LinkedIn, step by step

What you need

• A Finchreach account (sign in at finchreach.com) and the LinkedIn account you want Codex to work on.
• Codex.
• 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 “Codex”.
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 Codex

1. Add the server to ~/.codex/config.toml (or to a trusted project’s .codex/config.toml) as below. codex mcp add finchreach --url https://mcp.finchreach.com/mcp writes the same entry; then add the bearer_token_env_var line.
2. Set the key in the shell you start Codex from: export FINCHREACH_API_KEY=lk_YOUR_KEY.
3. Start Codex and run /mcp to see finchreach and its tools.

[mcp_servers.finchreach]
url = "https://mcp.finchreach.com/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "FINCHREACH_API_KEY"

export FINCHREACH_API_KEY=lk_YOUR_KEY
codex

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

bearer_token_env_var sends Authorization: Bearer <value> and takes precedence over OAuth. Codex can also send static headers (http_headers) or headers read from env (env_http_headers); X-Api-Key works with Finchreach too.

Step 4: Test the connection

In Codex, 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. Codex can check the result with linkedin_get_action: pending, approved, rejected, executed, failed or expired.

Troubleshooting

• Don’t run codex mcp login finchreach: it is for OAuth servers only.
• If Codex reports a 401, the variable isn’t set in the shell that started Codex. echo $FINCHREACH_API_KEY should print your key.
• A project .codex/config.toml is only read in a trusted project.
• 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 Codex’s documentation, checked on 2026-10-28; client screens change often.

What to ask Codex next

Ask your assistant“Read the changelog in this repo and draft a LinkedIn post announcing the release.”

Ask your assistant“Find the LinkedIn profiles of the contributors to this release and draft a thank-you message to each.”

Ask your assistant“Check my LinkedIn notifications for comments on my last post and list the questions people asked.”

More ideas on the Codex integration page.

Common questions