Title: MCP server
Author: djalmaaraujo
Published: June 29, 2026
Last modified: August 31, 2026

---

#  MCP server

The Parsely [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) server
provides AI coding agents with direct, structured access to Parsely’s content across
all your sites.

**MCP Authentication**

MCP authentication uses your existing dashboard permissions, permitting queries 
of multiple sites with a single authentication. API requires one API secret per 
API key.

## What is the Parse.ly MCP server?

It is a hosted endpoint that exposes your Parse.ly data as a set of tools an AI 
assistant can call on your behalf. Connect once, authorize with your existing Parse.
ly login, and the assistant can then read your analytics — scoped to exactly the
sites and permissions your account already has.

 * **Endpoint:** `https://dash.parsely.com/mcp`
 * **Transport:** Streamable HTTP (JSON-RPC 2.0)
 * **Authentication:** OAuth 2.1 with PKCE — no API keys to copy or paste

## Why use it?

 * **No setup beyond a login.** Authorize in your browser with the Parse.ly account
   you already have. Access is scoped to your existing site permissions.
 * **Your numbers, in the assistant.** The same metrics you see in the dashboard—
   views, visitors, engaged minutes — answered conversationally.
 * **Built for AI.** Tools and responses are structured so assistants can chain 
   them: find a post, then pull its referrers, then compare to last month.

## What can you do with it?

 * Site overview — top-line views, visitors, and engaged minutes for today, this
   week, or this month.
 * Real-time — a live pulse of who’s reading right now: concurrent visitors, top
   pages, and where they’re coming from.
 * Traffic trends — daily, weekly, and monthly trends with month-over-month comparison.
 * Top content — rank your top posts, videos, and pages by any metric over any time
   window.
 * Top authors, sections & tags — rank authors, sections, tags, channels, and audience
   segments by any metric.
 * Content search — find specific posts, videos, and other pages; break down by 
   author, section, or tag.
 * Post detail — deep analytics for a single post: its timeline, referrers, and 
   engagement over time.
 * Referrers — see where your traffic comes from across channels.
 * Referrer drill-down — find which of your pages send traffic to any given page.
 * Conversions — rank conversion labels by metric to see which content drives your
   goals.
 * Goals — track your content goals and pacing: which are on track, which are behind,
   and each goal’s trajectory.
 * Campaigns — query and search campaign performance.
 * Headline tests — see which headline variants won and how your A/B tests performed.
 * Network rankings — compare and rank every site in your network or group.
 * Apple News — see how readers discover your content on Apple News.
 * Saved groups — list and manage aspect groups.
 * Docs search — ask product questions answered from Parse.ly’s own documentation.

Every tool runs with your permissions — the assistant can only see sites your account
can already access.

## Connecting

### ChatGPT

Since ChatGPT is the most popular AI assistant, it’s the fastest way to try the 
Parse.ly MCP server. Custom connectors are gated behind Developer mode, so first
open **Settings → Security and login → Developer mode** and enable it. Then open**
Plugins** in the left sidebar and create a new plugin. Give it a name such as “Parse.
ly,” leave **Connection** set to **Server URL**, set **Authentication** to **OAuth**,
and paste the server URL:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    https://dash.parsely.com/mcp
    ```

ChatGPT opens your browser to authorize — log in to Parse.ly and click **Authorize**.
Then enable the Parse.ly connector in the chat composer and ask your analytics questions.
Custom connectors require a paid ChatGPT plan with connectors enabled by your workspace
admin.

### Claude

Parse.ly is an official Claude connector, so there is no configuration file to edit
and no URL to paste.
In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, then Browse connectors.
Search for Parse.ly and click Connect. Claude opens your browser to authorize. Log
in to Parse.ly and click Authorize.

![](https://docs.parse.ly/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2026/08/image-1024x902.png)

### Claude Code

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    claude mcp add --transport http parsely https://dash.parsely.com/mcp
    ```

Or add it to `~/.claude.json`:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    {  "mcpServers": {    "parsely": { "type": "http", "url": "https://dash.parsely.com/mcp" }  }}
    ```

On first use, Claude Code opens your browser to authorize. Log in to Parse.ly and
click **Authorize**.

### Claude Desktop without the connector

If you can’t use the connector, for example on a managed workspace where an admin
hasn’t enabled it, Claude Desktop can reach the server over stdio using the mcp-
remote bridge and Node.js 18 or newer.

Claude Desktop talks to MCP servers over stdio, so it needs the `mcp-remote` bridge
and **Node.js 18 or newer.** Edit `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.
json`:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    {  "mcpServers": {    "parsely": {      "command": "/absolute/path/to/node/bin/npx",      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://dash.parsely.com/mcp/"],      "env": {        "PATH": "/absolute/path/to/node/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"      }    }  }}
    ```

Use **absolute paths** — Claude Desktop does not load your shell profile, so a bare`
npx` may pick an old Node and fail. Restart Claude Desktop (Quit, not just close
the window) after editing.

### Codex CLI

OpenAI’s Codex CLI supports remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP with OAuth, 
and it shares its MCP configuration with the ChatGPT desktop app and the Codex IDE
extension. Add Parse.ly to `~/.codex/config.toml` (or a project-scoped `.codex/config.
toml`):

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    [mcp_servers.parsely]url = "https://dash.parsely.com/mcp"
    ```

Run **codex mcp login parsely** to open your browser and authorize — log in to Parse.
ly and click **Authorize**.

### Other clients

Any client that supports a remote MCP server over streamable HTTP can connect to`
https://dash.parsely.com/mcp`. Clients that only support stdio can use `mcp-remote`
as shown above.

## FAQ

### **How is my data protected?**

You authorize with your normal Parse.ly login over OAuth 2.1. The server never sees
a password, and every request is scoped to the sites and permissions on your account.
No API secrets are shared.

### **Does it support Streamable HTTP?**

Yes. The endpoint uses MCP’s streamable HTTP transport with JSON-RPC 2.0.

### **I’m getting authentication errors after about an hour.**

Access tokens last one hour. Most clients refresh automatically; if yours does not,
reconnect the server. For Claude Desktop, clear the cached token (`rm -rf ~/.mcp-
auth`) and restart.

### **Claude Desktop fails with “ReadableStream is not defined”.**

The `mcp-remote` bridge is running under Node.js below 18. Point `command` and `
env.PATH` at a Node 18+ binary, clear the npx cache (`rm -rf ~/.npm/_npx/*`), and
restart.

### **The authorization screen never appears.**

Make sure you are logged in to Parse.ly in the same browser first, then retry the
connection.

Last updated: August 31, 2026