Setup guide

Connect Claude to Ranks Hawk

Once connected, you can ask Claude things like "Look at my Ranks Hawk data and find me a backlink opportunity" and it reads your account directly — no dashboard, no copy-pasting data.

This uses an OAuth connection, not an API key — there's nothing to copy or paste. You approve access once in a browser consent screen, the same way you'd connect any other app to your Google or GitHub account.

Claude Code

  1. 1

    Register the server

    In a terminal, run:

    claude mcp add --transport http rankshawk https://www.rankshawk.com/api/mcp -s user

    -s user makes it available in every project, not just one — this isn't tied to any particular codebase.

  2. 2

    Sign in and approve

    Still in the terminal:

    claude mcp login rankshawk

    Your browser opens to a Clerk sign-in/consent screen. Sign in with your Ranks Hawk account and approve — that's the only manual step, and it only happens once.

  3. 3

    Confirm it's connected

    claude mcp list

    Look for rankshawk … ✔ Connected. If it says Needs authentication, re-run step 2.

  4. 4

    Use it

    Start a new Claude Code conversation (a session already running before you connected won't pick it up) and just ask — e.g. "What content gaps do I have against my competitors?" or "Any backlink opportunities worth chasing this week?"

What Claude can see

Five read-only tools, all scoped to your own account — nothing is ever written back, and no other user's data is reachable:

find_content_gap

Keywords a competitor ranks for that you don't — topics worth writing about.

find_backlink_opportunity

Dead competitor pages worth reclaiming, or sites linking to them but not to you.

find_ai_mention

Questions where AI assistants cite a competitor instead of you.

list_competitors

Your tracked competitor domains.

get_account_summary

Your domain, plan, and last analysis run time.

Claude Desktop and Claude.ai

Add a custom connector with this URL and follow the sign-in prompt it shows you:

https://www.rankshawk.com/api/mcp
Using Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, or ChatGPT instead? See all supported clients.

Common questions

Needs authentication — what do I do?

Run "claude mcp login rankshawk" again in a terminal. This can happen if a token expires or is revoked.

How do I disconnect it?

Run "claude mcp remove rankshawk" in a terminal, or revoke access from your Clerk account's connected-apps settings.

Does this work without Claude Code?

Yes, via the REST API with a personal API key instead of OAuth — see the API Access page in your dashboard for curl examples.

Is my data safe?

Access is scoped to your account only, read-only, and revocable any time. Claude only queries what you ask it to.

Prefer scripting it yourself? See API Access in your dashboard for the REST API.