CompetLab MCP Server

Competitive intelligence for AI agents — see how LLMs rank your brand.

More B2B buyers are asking AI before they Google. CompetLab monitors competitors across 5 dimensions — including AI Visibility, which tracks how ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini mention and rank brands. This MCP server gives your AI agent access to all of it: dashboards, historical data, alerts, and action plans. No other CI platform does this.

Supported Clients

Works with any MCP-compatible client:

• Claude Desktop / Claude Web
• Claude Code
• Cursor
• VS Code (Copilot)
• Windsurf
• Cline

Quick Start

Two ways to connect — pick the one that fits your setup:

	Remote Server	Local Server
Transport	Streamable HTTP	stdio
Setup	Zero install — just add URL	npm install && npm run build
Best for	Most users — Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Cline	Claude Desktop, Glama, or offline use

Get your API key: app.competlab.com > Organization Settings > API Keys

Option 1: Remote Server (recommended)

Server URL: https://mcp.competlab.com/mcp Auth: API key via CL-API-Key header (or api_key query parameter)

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http \
  --header "CL-API-Key: YOUR_COMPETLAB_API_KEY" \
  competlab https://mcp.competlab.com/mcp

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "competlab": {
      "url": "https://mcp.competlab.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "CL-API-Key": "YOUR_COMPETLAB_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "competlab-api-key",
      "description": "CompetLab API Key (starts with cl_live_)",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "competlab": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.competlab.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "CL-API-Key": "${input:competlab-api-key}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: VS Code uses "servers" (not "mcpServers") and supports secure input prompts via ${input:id}.

Windsurf

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "competlab": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.competlab.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "CL-API-Key": "YOUR_COMPETLAB_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: Windsurf uses "serverUrl" (not "url").

Cline

Add to cline_mcp_settings.json (or configure via Cline UI > Installed > Advanced MCP Settings):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "competlab": {
      "url": "https://mcp.competlab.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "CL-API-Key": "YOUR_COMPETLAB_API_KEY"
      },
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop / Claude Web

Claude Desktop and Claude Web only support URL-based auth (no custom headers). Use the api_key query parameter:

Go to Settings > MCP and add the server with this URL:

https://mcp.competlab.com/mcp?api_key=YOUR_COMPETLAB_API_KEY

Option 2: Local Server (stdio)

Run the server locally via stdin/stdout. Useful for Claude Desktop, Glama, or environments that prefer stdio transport.

git clone https://github.com/competlab/competlab-mcp-server.git
cd competlab-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport stdio \
  --env COMPETLAB_API_KEY=YOUR_COMPETLAB_API_KEY \
  competlab node dist/index.js

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "competlab": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["dist/index.js"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/competlab-mcp-server",
      "env": {
        "COMPETLAB_API_KEY": "YOUR_COMPETLAB_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Generic stdio

COMPETLAB_API_KEY=YOUR_COMPETLAB_API_KEY node dist/index.js

The server reads JSON-RPC from stdin and writes responses to stdout.

See examples/ for ready-to-paste config files for each client.

What is CompetLab?

Competitive intelligence for the AI era. One platform, 5 dimensions, monitored automatically:

Dimension	What It Tracks
Tech & Trust	Tech stacks, security headers (grade A-F), trust signals (24 signals in 4 categories), robots.txt AI bot blocking
Content	Sitemap analysis, content categorization (11 categories), URL changelog, content gaps
Positioning	Homepage messaging, value props, CTAs, target audience, differentiators
Pricing	Plans, billing models, free tiers, enterprise pricing, gap analysis
AI Visibility	How ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini rank your brand vs competitors (AI Visibility Score 0-100)

AI Visibility is what makes CompetLab unique — no other CI platform tracks how LLMs recommend brands in real time.

Start free trial (14 days, no credit card) | Learn more

Available Tools

10 groups. 24 tools. All read-only.

Projects & Competitors

Tool	Description
list_projects	List all projects with status, competitor count, and last monitored timestamp
get_project	Get project details with per-dimension monitoring freshness
list_competitors	List all monitored competitors (includes your own domain for comparison)
get_competitor	Get competitor details including monitored page URLs

Tech & Trust Profile

Tool	Description
get_tech_trust_dashboard	Latest security headers, trust signals, tech stacks, DNS, robots.txt analysis
get_tech_trust_history	Paginated history of monitoring runs
get_tech_trust_run_detail	Full competitor-by-competitor data for a specific run

Content Intelligence

Tool	Description
get_content_dashboard	Latest sitemap analysis, content categorization, strategic URLs, gap analysis
get_content_history	Paginated history of monitoring runs
get_content_run_detail	Full data for a specific content run
get_content_changelog	Detected URL changes over time (new, removed, moved) — filterable by competitor and category

Positioning

Tool	Description
get_positioning_dashboard	Latest homepage messaging, value props, CTAs, target audience analysis
get_positioning_history	Paginated history of monitoring runs
get_positioning_run_detail	Full data for a specific positioning run

Pricing Intelligence

Tool	Description
get_pricing_dashboard	Latest pricing plans, billing options, market statistics, gap analysis
get_pricing_history	Paginated history of monitoring runs
get_pricing_run_detail	Full data for a specific pricing run

AI Visibility

Tool	Description
get_ai_visibility_dashboard	AI Visibility Scores, mention rates, per-provider breakdowns (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini)
get_ai_visibility_history	Paginated history of AI visibility checks
get_ai_visibility_check_detail	Full detail for a specific check with per-competitor rankings
get_ai_visibility_trend	Track how LLM brand perception changes over time (up to 200 data points, filterable by provider)

Analysis, Alerts & Schedules

Tool	Description
get_action_plan	AI-generated competitive action plan across all 5 dimensions with prioritized recommendations
list_alerts	Competitive change alerts — filterable by dimension, severity, and competitor
list_schedules	Monitoring schedules for all dimensions with enabled/disabled status and intervals

All paginated tools accept page and limit parameters. Check pagination.hasMore in the response to fetch more pages.

Example Prompts

Once connected, try asking your AI agent:

• "What changed on my competitors' pricing pages this week?"
• "How does ChatGPT rank my brand vs competitors for [industry query]?"
• "Show me the action plan — what should I fix first?"
• "Compare content strategies across all my tracked competitors"
• "What critical alerts fired in the last 7 days?"
• "Track how my AI visibility score changed over the last 3 months"
• "Which competitors have better security headers than us?"

See examples/prompts.md for more prompts organized by use case.

Authentication

Getting an API key

1. Sign up at app.competlab.com/register (free 14-day trial, no credit card)
2. Go to Organization Settings > API Keys
3. Create a new key — it starts with cl_live_

Two authentication methods

Method	When to use	Example
CL-API-Key header	Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Cline	CL-API-Key: cl_live_...
api_key query parameter	Claude Desktop, Claude Web, clients without custom header support	?api_key=cl_live_...

One API key covers your entire organization. All tools are read-only.

Pricing

MCP access is included with every CompetLab subscription ($99/mo). Free trial includes full MCP access.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
Connection refused / timeout	Verify the URL is exactly https://mcp.competlab.com/mcp with no trailing slash
api_key_missing error	Ensure you're passing the key as CL-API-Key header (remote) or COMPETLAB_API_KEY env var (stdio)
api_key_invalid error	Keys must start with cl_live_ and be exactly 40 characters
Transport not supported	Use the remote HTTP server, or switch to the local stdio server

Links

• MCP Server Documentation
• REST API Reference
• TypeScript SDK (npm install @competlab/sdk)
• Privacy Policy
• Start Free Trial

Support

• Bug reports: GitHub Issues
• Email: [email protected]
• Documentation: competlab.com/developers

License

MIT (covers documentation and configs in this repo) — see LICENSE

The CompetLab MCP server and platform are commercial software. See competlab.com/terms-and-conditions.

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Built by the CompetLab team. Competitive intelligence for the AI era.