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 strategic briefings. 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:

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:

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

11 groups. 33 tools. 30 are read-only; 3 are async-scan starters that create a scan record (`start_tech_stack_scan`, `start_trust_signals_scan`, `start_agent_adoption_scan`).

Projects & Competitors

Tech & Trust Profile

Content Intelligence

Positioning

Pricing Intelligence

AI Visibility

Strategic Briefing, Alerts & Schedules

Free Tools (no project setup required)

Run these against any public domain — no `projectId` needed. The sync tools return immediately; the async scans return a `scanId` you poll every 5–10 seconds.

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 strategic briefing — 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?"
• "Run a tech-stack scan on stripe.com — what are they using?"
• "Check if openai.com blocks AI crawlers in their robots.txt"
• "Fetch g2.com/some-listing with cleanHtml and summarize the page"

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

One API key covers your entire organization. Most tools are read-only; the three `start_*_scan` tools create scan records under your account (no edits to existing data). The `fetch_url` tool is rate-limited at 60 req/min per API key (tighter than the 1000/min default for other free tools).

Pricing

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

Troubleshooting

Links

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

Support

• Bug reports: GitHub Issues
• Email: support@competlab.com
• 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.

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