io.github.mharnett/linkedin-ads

LinkedIn Ads MCP Server

Production-grade MCP server for LinkedIn Campaign Manager API. Enables Claude to manage LinkedIn ad accounts, campaigns, ad sets, and creatives with full read/write support.

Features:

• 7 tools -- production-tested
• Multi-account management (multiple LinkedIn ad accounts)
• Campaign and campaign group listing
• Account and campaign performance analytics
• Flexible pivot-based reporting (demographics, device, creative breakdowns)
• Landing page click-based CTR (not total clicks)

Stats:

• ⭐ Production-proven: active campaigns under management
• 📊 Multi-client: Flowspace, Forcepoint, Neon One
• 🔄 CTR accuracy: Uses landingPageClicks (not total clicks with engagement)
• ✅ Full test coverage: 40+ contract tests

Installation

npm install mcp-linkedin-ads

Configuration

Security: Never share your .mcp.json file or commit it to git -- it may contain API credentials. Add .mcp.json to your .gitignore.

1. Get OAuth credentials:
   • Go to LinkedIn Developer Portal
   • Create a new app with "Sign In with LinkedIn" + "Marketing Developer Platform"
   • Scopes: r_ads, rw_ads, w_member_social, r_organization_social, w_organization_social
2. Create config.json:

    cp config.example.json config.json

3. Fill in your credentials:

    {
      "oauth": {
        "client_id": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
        "client_secret": "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET"
      },
      "clients": {
        "default": {
          "account_id": "YOUR_AD_ACCOUNT_ID",
          "name": "My Account"
        }
      }
    }

4. Set environment variables (recommended for production):

    export LINKEDIN_ADS_CLIENT_ID="your_client_id"
    export LINKEDIN_ADS_CLIENT_SECRET="your_client_secret"
    export LINKEDIN_ADS_ACCESS_TOKEN="your_access_token"

Environment variables

Read-only by default

The LinkedIn Ads MCP currently ships with read-only tools only. The write-mode gate is already in place so that any future create/update/pause/enable/remove tool is hidden from ListTools and refused at call time unless LINKEDIN_ADS_MCP_WRITE=true is set in the MCP server environment. This mirrors the Google Ads MCP gate and matches the pattern being rolled out to Bing / Reddit / Meta. Motivation: prevent a casual LLM request from mutating production ad accounts without the operator explicitly opting in.

Usage

Start the server

npm start

Use with Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linkedin-ads": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:3001"
    }
  }
}

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

Example API Calls

// Get client context
linkedin_ads_get_client_context({ working_directory: "/path/to/project" })

// List campaigns
linkedin_ads_list_campaigns({ account_id: "511664399" })

// Get campaign performance
linkedin_ads_campaign_performance({
  start_date: "2026-01-01",
  end_date: "2026-03-31",
  time_granularity: "MONTHLY"
})

// Flexible analytics (e.g. by seniority)
linkedin_ads_analytics({
  start_date: "2026-03-01",
  end_date: "2026-03-31",
  pivot: "MEMBER_SENIORITY"
})

Key Data Conventions

CTR Calculation

• Always use landingPageClicks (LP clicks), NOT clicks (total clicks)
• Total clicks include social engagement (likes, comments, shares) which inflates CTR
• This is critical for accurate campaign analysis

Campaign Status

• DRAFT — Not yet active
• ACTIVE — Actively serving
• PAUSED — Paused manually
• ARCHIVED — Historical record

Audience Targeting

• Flexible targeting: flexible_spec array (OR logic between items)
• Exclude targeting: exclude_spec array
• Job titles, seniority levels, functions, locations all supported

CLI Tools

npm run dev                 # Run in dev mode (tsx)
npm run build             # Compile TypeScript
npm test                  # Run contract tests

Architecture

Files:

• src/index.ts — MCP server, OAuth flow, tool handlers
• src/tools.ts — Tool schema definitions
• src/errors.ts — Error handling & classification
• config.json — Credentials & client mapping

Error Handling:

• OAuth errors: Clear messages for token refresh needed
• Rate limits: Automatic retry with backoff (recommended by LinkedIn)
• Invalid campaigns: Validation before creation (save API quota)

Development

Adding a New Tool

1. Define schema in src/tools.ts
2. Add handler in src/index.ts tool dispatch
3. Test with contract test in .contract.test.ts
4. Document in here

Testing

npm test -- --run        # Single run
npm test -- --watch      # Watch mode

Troubleshooting

Config file not found

cp config.example.json config.json
# Fill in your OAuth credentials and account IDs

Missing required credentials

Check that:

• LINKEDIN_ADS_CLIENT_ID and LINKEDIN_ADS_CLIENT_SECRET are set (or in config.json)
• config.json exists and contains at least one client with account_id
• OAuth tokens are valid (they expire)

Rate limit exceeded

LinkedIn enforces strict rate limits. The server includes automatic retry with exponential backoff. If you hit limits:

• Wait before retrying
• Batch operations when possible
• Reduce query frequency

CTR seems too low

Verify you're using landingPageClicks (LP clicks), not clicks (all interactions). The latter includes social engagement and will inflate CTR incorrectly.

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Add tests for new tools
2. Update README with new features
3. Follow existing code style
4. Tag release with version

Support

• Issues: GitHub issues for bugs/feature requests
• Docs: See docs/ folder for detailed API reference
• Community: Discussions in GitHub

Built By

Mark Harnett — Demand generation leader and paid media practitioner building AI-powered ad management tools. This server was born from managing LinkedIn campaigns across multiple clients and wanting Claude to handle campaign ops, performance analysis, and bulk creative updates autonomously.

Built with production workloads in mind: resilient API calls (circuit breakers, retry with backoff, response truncation), accurate CTR calculation (landing page clicks, not total clicks), and multi-account support.

Also by Mark: mcp-bing-ads -- Bing/Microsoft Ads MCP server with 10 tools.

Last Updated: 2026-03-13