MCP / Windsurf

Connect Windsurf to Ranks Hawk

Ask Cascade to pull your competitor data directly while you work — no copy-pasting between tabs.

  1. 1

    Open the MCP config

    In Cascade, click the hammer/plugins icon (🔨), then Configure — this opens ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json.

  2. 2

    Add the server

    { "mcpServers": { "rankshawk": { "serverUrl": "https://www.rankshawk.com/api/mcp" } } }

    Save the file.

  3. 3

    Restart Windsurf

    Config changes only take effect after a full restart — quit Windsurf completely, not just the window, then reopen it and click Refresh (🔄) in the MCP toolbar.

  4. 4

    Authenticate

    A browser consent screen opens on first use. Sign in with your Ranks Hawk account and approve.

  5. 5

    Use it

    Ask Cascade — e.g. "What backlink opportunities do I have this week?"

What it can do

find_keyword_opportunity

Keywords worth targeting: ones you don't rank for at all, ones a competitor ranks weakly for (#4-15), or both at once.

find_content_opportunity

Competitor pages ranking for many keyword variants (positions 1-25) — one page to write, with both potential and real estimated traffic.

get_keyword_overlap

Keywords bucketed by how many tracked competitors rank for them — ALL, 2 of 3, 1 of 3, etc.

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.

find_new_page

New pages detected in a competitor's sitemap since the last daily check.

get_rank_change

Keyword position movements since the last check — competitor moves, rank drops, and your own site's movement.

list_competitors

Your tracked competitor domains.

get_account_summary

Your domain, plan, and last analysis run time.

Common questions

I added the server but Cascade doesn’t see it

Windsurf only reads mcp_config.json on startup. Quit Windsurf completely (not just close the window) and reopen it, then click Refresh in the MCP toolbar.

Where is mcp_config.json?

macOS/Linux: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json. Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json.

No OAuth prompt appeared

Click the hammer/plugins icon in Cascade and select "rankshawk" — the sign-in prompt opens from there on first use if it didn’t appear automatically.

Using a different tool? See all supported clients.