Connect LinkedIn to Cursor through MCP

Two files, one shape. .cursor/mcp.json inside a project, for tools that belong to that project, and ~/.cursor/mcp.json in your home directory for tools you want everywhere. Both use a top-level mcpServers object, the same key Claude Desktop and Claude Code use, so a block written for either of those moves across unchanged. VS Code is the one that differs: it keys on servers, and a block pasted under the wrong key fails silently.

We found no MCP server published by LinkedIn or by Microsoft as of 20 September 2026. The check covered five published places: LinkedIn's developer product catalogue, which lists no MCP product among its consumer, marketing, sales, talent, plugin and regulatory entries; the LinkedIn API documentation on Microsoft Learn, whose six business lines contain no MCP section; the README of the microsoft/mcp repository, which names thirty-one Microsoft servers and no LinkedIn one; the MCP Registry, where a search for "linkedin" returns third-party entries and none under a com.linkedin or com.microsoft name; and GitHub's own search, which finds no repository matching "mcp" in the linkedin organisation. It stops where publication stops: a partner-only or unannounced integration would appear in none of them. Nothing about that answer is Cursor-specific — there is no LinkedIn server for any client, and every one of the 13 in this directory is built by somebody else. 10 of them name Cursor in their own documentation.

Cursor’s documentation answers this twice and the two answers do not match. Its STDIO server table lists type as Required with the value "stdio"; every stdio example on the same page omits it, and so do the blocks the server projects publish. Including "type": "stdio" satisfies both readings and costs nothing, which is what to do while the page contradicts itself. Claude Code is the clearer case: it reads an entry with no type as stdio, and needs type only when the entry has a url.

By default, no — Cursor’s documentation says it asks for approval before using MCP tools and shows the arguments behind the arrow next to the tool name. But MCP follows the same Run Modes as terminal commands, and in Auto-review mode allowlisted MCP tools run immediately while everything else goes to the classifier. That is a reasonable default for a formatter and a different proposition for a tool that sends a connection request under your name, so allowlist tool by tool rather than server by server.

It is a file in your repository, so treat it as one. A LinkedIn session cookie is equivalent to full account access — whoever holds it acts as you, with no password and no second factor — and a vendor API key is a bill. Either belongs in ~/.cursor/mcp.json, or referenced as ${env:NAME} from your shell profile, which Cursor resolves inside command, args, env, url and headers. This is the one setup difference from Claude Desktop that actually matters: Claude Desktop’s config lives in an application directory, and Cursor’s project config lives next to your code.

3 of the 13 servers reach Sales Navigator and none of them supplies a seat. LinkedIn’s own Sales Navigator API says it is not accepting new partners, so each of them drives the interface with your logged-in session and your own subscription — a Core seat is $119.99 a month, read from LinkedIn on 12 September 2026. The 2,500-result search cap applies to the agent exactly as it applies to you, because it is a limit of the product rather than of the client.

Work down four things in order. The key: mcpServers, not servers. The file: .cursor/mcp.json in the project you actually have open, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. The toggle: a server switched off in Customize will not load and will not appear in chat. The log: Output panel, MCP Logs in the dropdown, which shows initialisation errors and crashes. If the server starts but behaves like an older version, it is an npm cache — Cursor’s documented remedy is to remove it, run npm cache clean --force, and add it back.

It can, and which server you chose decides whether the question applies at all. 4 of the 13 put no LinkedIn account behind them, so there is nothing of yours to restrict. The rest drive a real signed-in session, and Section 8.2 of the User Agreement prohibits using bots or other automated methods to access the service, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages, or create, comment on, like, share or re-share posts. LinkedIn’s prohibited-software page says the consequence lands on the member’s account rather than on the software. This page describes the routes; it does not tell you to take one.