Home · Setup · Cline

MCP Backlink Checker in Cline

Check backlinks from a chat: does a page link to your domain, dofollow or nofollow, anchor text and robots guards. You give it referring page URLs and a target domain. link_check fetches one page and reports whether it links to the domain, dofollow or nofollow, the anchor text, HTTP status and page-level robots guards (meta robots and X-Robots-Tag noindex/nofollow). link_audit runs the same check across a list of URLs and returns one table row per link found. robots_guard_check reports just the robots signals on a URL without extracting links. The server makes one outbound GET per URL and stores nothing.

All three tools are read-only GETs, so autoApprove can carry the whole server without risk; there is no write to gate.

What you get in Cline

You say	Tool
Check whether https://example.com/blog/roundup links to mydomain.com and if it is dofollow.	`link_check`
Audit these 20 guest-post pages against mydomain.com.	`link_audit`
Is that link page even indexable, or is it noindexed?	`robots_guard_check`

The suite is 8 tests, 8 passing, 0 failing (node --test), covering link extraction and classification, rel-splitting, page-level robots guards and the Pro gate on batch size. The smoke and license-gate tests sit alongside it.

Install it in Cline

The file is mcp.json, and the key inside it is mcpServers.

Scope	Path
Cline CLI	`~/.cline/mcp.json`
The editor extension	`opened from the Cline panel, not by path; the documentation deliberately calls it the MCP settings JSON used by the extension`

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: backlink-checker.mcpb from the latest release opens as an extension, with no JSON and no terminal. Cline reads its own config, so here it is:

The config block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backlink-checker": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/backlink-checker/dist/index.js"],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

The node command above wants a built file. From a clone, once:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git
cd mcp-servers && npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/backlink-checker

That writes servers/backlink-checker/dist/index.js, and its absolute path is the one argument the config needs.

The npm packages are not published yet, so the form below returns a 404 today. It is here because it is what the entry becomes the day the publish lands, with nothing else changed:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backlink-checker": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-backlink-checker"]
    }
  }
}

No full-app restart. The MCP settings actions include restarting an unresponsive server if its tools do not appear.

Nothing is published to npm yet, so the working install paths are the ones above: the .mcpb bundle from the latest release, a clone and build, or the hosted URL.

No install: the hosted endpoint

The same server runs at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/backlink-checker over MCP streamable HTTP, no install. Mint a free token with curl https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/token, or use a Pro key. It has no filesystem, so a file comes back as a one-hour download link.

Write the transport in. Omitting type falls back to the legacy sse transport, which will not talk to this endpoint:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "backlink-checker": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/backlink-checker",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <token>" }
    }
  }
}

Cline notes worth knowing first

Cline is the one client here with an unsafe transport default. `type` selects it, and omitting `type` falls back to the legacy sse transport, so a streamable HTTP endpoint needs it written in or you will debug a server that is fine. Local entries carry "disabled" and an "autoApprove" array.

Free: link_check and robots_guard_check are free and unlimited; link_audit covers up to 3 URLs per call on the free tier. Reads are free on every tier. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.

Questions

Where does the config live?

The CLI reads ~/.cline/mcp.json. For the extension, do not hunt for a path: MCP Servers icon, Configure tab, Configure MCP Servers. cline mcp opens a wizard, and cline config mcp --json is the non-interactive form.

The hosted endpoint will not connect.

Set the transport explicitly. Omitting type falls back to the legacy sse transport, so streamable HTTP needs "type": "streamableHttp" written in. It is the one default here that sends you debugging a server that works.

Should I auto-approve MCP Backlink Checker's tools?

Approve the read-only ones and leave the writing ones behind a click: each entry carries an autoApprove array and a disabled flag.

MCP Backlink Checker in detail · The same server in Windsurf and Claude.ai and Claude Desktop connectors · Every server in Cline · Guides · Cline docs · Buy Pro