linkedin

name	linkedin
description	LinkedIn from the terminal via the lnk CLI. Search and view jobs, apply via Easy Apply, view profiles, manage saved jobs and job alerts.

linkedin

lnk is a command-line interface for LinkedIn built on LinkedIn's internal Voyager API (reverse-engineered from the Android app). Search and view job postings, apply via Easy Apply, view member profiles, browse the recommended job feed, and manage saved jobs and job-alert subscriptions — all from the shell. Every data command supports --json for machine-readable output.

Unofficial tool, not affiliated with LinkedIn. It talks to LinkedIn's private API, so it may break if endpoints change, can be rate-limited (backs off on HTTP 429), and automated access may violate LinkedIn's Terms of Service.

Install

brew install yashiels/tap/lnk

Or go install github.com/yashiels/linkedin-cli/cmd/lnk@latest, or grab a pre-built binary (macOS/Linux, arm64/amd64) from the Releases page. The binary is named lnk.

Auth

Authentication is session-cookie based — not OAuth. lnk reuses the cookies from an existing logged-in LinkedIn browser session. You need two values (plus one optional one), which you copy manually from your browser's cookie storage (DevTools → Application → Cookies → https://www.linkedin.com):

• li_at (required) — the primary session cookie (long hex/JWT string).
• JSESSIONID (required) — of the form ajax:<token>; lnk strips the ajax: prefix and stores the remaining value as the CSRF token.
• bcookie (optional) — the browser-identifier cookie.

A session is considered logged in only when both li_at and the CSRF token are present. There is no automated cookie extraction and no browser-driver — you must obtain the cookies out of band from a real logged-in session.

Command	Description
lnk auth login	Interactively prompt for li_at, JSESSIONID (ajax:<token>), and optional bcookie; save them
lnk auth status	Show current authentication state
lnk auth logout	Remove stored credentials
lnk status	Show auth state, config path, and live API connectivity

Where credentials live: ~/.config/lnk/credentials.json, written atomically with 0600 permissions (directory 0700). JSON fields: li_at, csrf_token, bcookie.

Environment-variable overrides (take precedence over the file — useful for CI or headless use without writing cookies to disk):

Variable	Description
LNK_LI_AT	li_at session cookie
LNK_CSRF_TOKEN	CSRF token (the value after ajax: from JSESSIONID)
LNK_CONFIG	Path to config file
LNK_DEBUG	1 to enable debug HTTP logging
NO_COLOR	Disable ANSI colour

Search & jobs

Command	Description
lnk search <keywords> [flags]	Search job listings
lnk job <job-id> [--open]	View full details of a posting (job-id bare numeric or urn:li:fsd_jobPosting:<id>); --open opens in browser
lnk feed [-n/--limit N]	Recommended job feed (Jobs You May Be Interested In)

search flags:

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--location	-l		Location name or geo URN
--type	-t		Comma-separated: full-time, part-time, contract, temporary, internship, volunteer
--experience	-e		Comma-separated: internship, entry, associate, mid-senior, director, executive
--easy-apply		false	Easy Apply jobs only
--remote		false	Remote jobs only
--sort		relevant	recent or relevant
--posted			Posted within 24h, week, month
--limit	-n	25	Max results

Apply

Command	Description
lnk apply <job-id> [--dry-run] [--confirm]	Apply via Easy Apply

apply fetches the job, checks Easy Apply availability, shows what will be submitted (your profile data), asks for confirmation, then submits. If Easy Apply is not available it prints the external application URL and submits nothing. --dry-run previews without submitting; --confirm skips the prompt.

Saved jobs

Command	Description
lnk saved list [--limit N]	List saved jobs
lnk saved add <job-id>	Save a job
lnk saved remove <job-id>	Remove a saved job

Job alerts

Command	Description
lnk alerts list	List alert subscriptions
lnk alerts create --keywords <kw> [--location <loc>] [--frequency daily|weekly]	Create an alert (--keywords required, frequency defaults daily)
lnk alerts delete <alert-id>	Delete an alert

Profile

Command	Description
lnk profile	View your own profile
lnk profile <username>	View another member (username = the slug from linkedin.com/in/<username>)

Global flags

Work on every command: --json (machine-readable), --plain (tab-separated, pipe-friendly), --no-color, --quiet/-q, --verbose (log HTTP requests to stderr), --debug (full request/response bodies), --no-input (fail instead of prompting), --config <path>.

Headless / agent usage

Read commands are safe to run unattended once credentials exist: search, job (without --open), feed, profile, saved list, alerts list, status, auth status. Add --json (or --plain) to parse output. Avoid job --open, which launches a browser.

Auth headless: lnk needs the li_at + CSRF cookies from an existing logged-in LinkedIn session — it cannot bootstrap login without a browser (there is no OTP/password flow and no cookie scraper). To run fully headless, provide the cookies via environment variables so nothing is written to disk:

export LNK_LI_AT="<li_at cookie>"
export LNK_CSRF_TOKEN="<token after ajax: from JSESSIONID>"
lnk status --json          # verify: should report logged in + API connected

Otherwise run lnk auth login once (interactive prompt) on a machine where a human can paste the cookies. An agent cannot complete auth login alone — the cookie values come from the user's browser, out of band. Pass --no-input to any command to make it fail loudly instead of blocking on a prompt when credentials are missing.

Write / action commands — treat as confirm-gated, run only when the user explicitly asks:

• lnk apply <job-id> — submits a real job application. It prompts for confirmation by default; preview first with --dry-run. --confirm bypasses the prompt — never pass it automatically.
• lnk saved add / lnk saved remove — modify the user's saved-jobs list.
• lnk alerts create / lnk alerts delete — modify job-alert subscriptions.
• lnk auth logout — deletes stored credentials.

Typical flow

# 1. Authenticate once (paste li_at + JSESSIONID from a browser session)
lnk auth login
lnk status                 # confirm logged in + API connected

# 2. Search and inspect jobs
lnk search "backend engineer" --location "Cape Town" --easy-apply --json
lnk job 4414623196         # full detail for one posting
lnk feed --limit 10        # personalised recommendations

# 3. Preview then apply (Easy Apply)
lnk apply 4414623196 --dry-run   # preview submission
lnk apply 4414623196             # apply (asks for confirmation)

# 4. Track and stay notified
lnk saved add 4414623196
lnk alerts create --keywords "backend engineer" --location "Remote" --frequency weekly