MCP + Skill

One setup with two parts, and you want both. The skill teaches your AI client how SEOLadders works: the method, the order to do things in, which tool answers which question. The MCP server gives it the authenticated tools to actually do the work. On its own the MCP is a box of tools with no instructions, and the skill is instructions with nothing to run.

Two minutes, no key

In the Claude app you never create or paste an API key. Upload the skill, add the connector, approve once. Keys are only for clients that set their own request headers, which is step 4.

Steps 1 to 3 are the Claude app (web and desktop), where there is no API key to create. On Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf or ChatGPT, skip to Other clients.

1 · Add the skill in the Claude app

The Claude app takes skills as a small .zip. The quickest way to get one is to ask Claude to build it, which skips GitHub entirely. Paste this into any Claude conversation:

Package the skill at https://github.com/Kwesi-dev/seo-ladders-skill.git into a zip I can upload — the seoladders folder, with SKILL.md at its root.

Claude clones the repo, zips the right folder and hands the file back. Then upload it: Customize → Skills → + (on some versions Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill), pick the zip, and it appears under Personal skills.

Zip the folder, not the repo

If you download the repo yourself instead, compress the seoladders folder — the one with SKILL.md directly inside it. Zipping the whole repo puts SKILL.md one level too deep, and the upload fails without saying why. That is the single most common mistake here.

2 · Connect the MCP server

Now give it the tools. In the Claude app go to Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector:

  1. Name: SEOLadders
  2. URL: https://www.seoladders.com/api/mcp, then Continue
  3. Leave Authentication and OAuth client exactly as they are. Claude marks both Detected. Leave the headers section empty
  4. Add, then Connect

Claude sends you to SEOLadders to sign in and approve access, then finishes connecting itself. If you are signed out you get the same magic-link email you always use, because there is no separate account for the connector. Every tool then runs against your own sites.

3 · Check it worked

Ask for something that needs both halves:

Audit my site, then tell me which pages are slipping and why.

The skill decides that means Search Console first and Content Radar second; the MCP runs them. If Claude asks which site, you have more than one connected and naming it is enough.

4 · Other clients

ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Windsurf all take an API key rather than the sign-in the Claude app uses. Generate one on the Developers page — the same key works for the MCP server and the REST API. See Authentication for targeting a specific site with an X-Site header, and for rotation.

  1. Create a GPT → Configure → Actions → Import from URL: https://www.seoladders.com/api/openapi.json
  2. Authentication → API Key → Bearer → paste your sk_live_ key.
  3. Paste the skill's SKILL.md into Instructions so it knows the process.

Your key is shown once

It carries the same access as your dashboard. Treat it like a password and rotate it if it leaks.

Slash commands

In skill-capable clients like Claude Code and Cursor the skill also gives you /seoladders-* commands. The Claude and ChatGPT apps have no slash-command layer, so you get the same tools and the same method, driven in plain language instead: audit my site, write an article about X and publish it. Nothing is missing, it is just typed differently.

The full command reference lives in the repo

Every command, what it returns, and worked example prompts are in the skill repo. It ships with the skill itself, so it stays in step with the platform — go there for the detail rather than expecting to find it duplicated here.

What you get

The tools mirror the dashboard one-to-one, and are the same capabilities as the REST API:

  • topical-authority — build topic clusters (pillar + supporting keywords), track the AI prompts under each, research candidates, read live coverage
  • keyword-research, competitor-gap, rankings, search-console, site-audit — research and technical health
  • write-article, optimize, publish, content-calendar, knowledge — create and ship content
  • ai-visibility, prompts, competitors, content-gaps, link-building — your score across engines, what to fix, and the pages to approach for links
  • actions, auto-publish, autoblog-autofill — recommended next steps and the automation toggles

Some work takes minutes

Article generation and audits do not finish inside one call. Those tools hand back a job or article id straight away; poll it until the status is ready.

Prefer raw HTTP?

Every tool here is also a plain REST call. To script against the API directly, start with the Quickstart (Option B) or the API Reference.