Use Elido in Claude Desktop and Cursor

Elido exposes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server at https://api.elido.app/mcp. Once connected, Claude or Cursor can read your link analytics, shorten URLs, and look up link details — right from the chat or editor.

What MCP gives you#

• Ask "How many clicks did spring-2026 get this week?" — Claude queries Elido and answers with the real number.
• Say "Shorten https://example.com/very-long-path with tag newsletter" — Claude creates the link and shows you the short URL.
• In Cursor, describe a release and ask it to "create a short link for the release blog post" — it shortens inline.

Read-only access is the default. Write access (create, update links) requires you to opt in during authorization.

Step 1 — Generate an Elido API token#

1. Go to Dashboard → API Keys → New key.
2. Choose scopes:
   • links:read analytics:read for read-only.
   • Add links:write if you want Claude to be able to create links.
3. Copy the token (starts with ek_).

Connect in Claude Desktop#

Claude Desktop stores MCP server configuration in ~/.claude.json (or the Claude settings UI on newer versions).

Option A — Settings UI (Claude Desktop 0.10+):

1. Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Connectors → Add connector → Custom MCP server.
2. Paste the server URL: https://api.elido.app/mcp
3. Under Authentication, choose Bearer token and paste your Elido API token.
4. Click Connect. Claude fetches the tool manifest (~2 seconds) and shows the available Elido tools.

Option B — Direct config file edit:

Open ~/.claude.json in a text editor and add an entry under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elido": {
      "url": "https://api.elido.app/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ek_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save the file. Restart Claude Desktop. The Elido connector appears in the connectors list.

Connect in Cursor#

1. Open Cursor → Settings → MCP (or Cmd/Ctrl + , → search "MCP").
2. Click Add MCP server.
3. Server URL: https://api.elido.app/mcp
4. Auth header: Authorization: Bearer ek_your_token_here
5. Click Save. Cursor fetches the manifest. Available tools appear in the MCP panel.

Alternative — Claude Code CLI (for terminal users):

claude mcp add elido https://api.elido.app/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $ELIDO_TOKEN"

This adds the server to your ~/.claude.json from the command line. Set ELIDO_TOKEN in your shell profile so it's available in every session.

Available tools#

Tool	Scope required	What it does
list_links	links:read	Lists links with optional filters (tag, domain, search)
get_link	links:read	Returns a single link by slug or ID
get_analytics	analytics:read	Returns click count + breakdown for a link
create_link	links:write	Creates a new short link
update_link	links:write	Updates destination, slug, tags, or expiry

Tools are read-only by default. Creating and updating links requires the links:write scope on your API token.

Scope of access#

The MCP server only surfaces data from the workspace the API token belongs to. It cannot access other workspaces. If you have multiple workspaces, create a separate token for each and add multiple MCP server entries with different names (elido-workspace-a, elido-workspace-b).

Troubleshooting#

"Failed to fetch tool manifest" — The MCP server URL is wrong or unreachable. Confirm by opening https://api.elido.app/mcp in a browser — it should return a JSON manifest. If you get a certificate error, your network may be blocking TLS to api.elido.app.

"Unauthorized" when calling a tool — The API token is missing or incorrect in the Authorization header. Verify the header format is exactly Authorization: Bearer ek_... (no extra spaces, correct prefix).

Tools appear but write tools return "forbidden" — Your API token doesn't have links:write. Generate a new token with that scope and update the header in your MCP config.

Claude Desktop doesn't show Elido in connectors after config edit — Restart Claude Desktop fully (Quit, not just close the window). On macOS, check the menu bar for a running Claude instance.

Cursor MCP panel shows "disconnected" — Cursor re-fetches the manifest on each session. If api.elido.app is slow to respond, Cursor may time out. Try clicking Reconnect in the MCP panel. If the issue persists, check Elido's status page.