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MCP Backlink Checker in Windsurf

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.

mcp_config.json is loaded for every workspace, so the checker follows the project rather than the browser tab, which is what you want when one repo owns one domain's links.

What you get in Windsurf

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 Windsurf

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

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. Windsurf 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"]
    }
  }
}

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"]
    }
  }
}

Save and reopen the MCP Servers list; Cascade picks it up without restarting the editor.

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.

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

Windsurf notes worth knowing first

Read this first: mcp_config.json applies to the legacy Cascade agent only. The Devin Local agent, the default for new tabs, takes its servers from the Devin CLI config files, so a correct entry here can still be invisible in a fresh tab. The other hard number is a cap: Cascade reaches at most 100 tools at once, and every enabled server spends from it.

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 Windsurf keep its MCP config?

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json, under mcpServers. Reach it from the MCPs icon at the top right of the Cascade panel, or Devin Settings, Cascade, MCP Servers.

I edited the file and a new tab still cannot see MCP Backlink Checker.

That file applies to the legacy Cascade agent only. The Devin Local agent, the default for new tabs, reads its servers from the Devin CLI config files instead. Check which agent the tab runs.

How many servers can I load at once?

Cascade reaches at most 100 tools at any one time, and every enabled server spends from that single budget. MCP Backlink Checker contributes 3 tools, so keep the enabled list short rather than counting servers.

Related

MCP Backlink Checker in detail · The same server in VS Code and Cline · Every server in Windsurf · Guides · Windsurf docs · Buy Pro