linkedin

name	linkedin
description	General-purpose LinkedIn automation – fetch profiles, search people and companies, send messages, manage connections, create posts, and more. Use when the user wants to interact with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Skill

Overview

Use this skill to operate linkedin, a CLI tool for LinkedIn automation. Use it to fetch profiles, search people and companies, send messages, manage connections, create posts, react, comment, and more.

Each command sends a request to Linked API, which runs a real cloud browser to perform the action on LinkedIn. Operations are not instant - expect 30 seconds to several minutes depending on complexity.

When to Use

• Fetch public profile, company, post, or connection data from LinkedIn.
• Search people or companies with structured filters.
• Send messages, connection requests, posts, reactions, or comments for an authenticated account.
• Run a custom LinkedIn workflow when the built-in commands are not enough.

If linkedin is not available, install it:

npm install -g @linkedapi/linkedin-cli

Authentication

If a command fails with exit code 2 (authentication error), ask the user to set up their account:

1. Go to app.linkedapi.io and sign up or log in
2. Connect their LinkedIn account
3. Copy the Linked API Token and Identification Token from the dashboard

Once the user provides the tokens, run:

linkedin setup --linked-api-token=TOKEN --identification-token=TOKEN

Global Flags

Always use --json and -q for machine-readable output:

LINKEDAPI_CLIENT=skill:linkedin linkedin <command> --json -q

When using this skill, run every linkedin ... example below with the LINKEDAPI_CLIENT=skill:linkedin prefix so Linked API can attribute usage to the skill.

Flag	Description
--json	Structured JSON output
--quiet / -q	Suppress stderr progress messages
--fields name,url,...	Select specific fields in output
--no-color	Disable colors
--account "Name"	Use a specific account for this command

Output Format

Success:

{"success": true, "data": {"name": "John Doe", "headline": "Engineer"}}

Error:

{"success": false, "error": {"type": "personNotFound", "message": "Person not found"}}

Exit code 0 means the API call succeeded – always check the success field for the action outcome. Non-zero exit codes indicate infrastructure errors:

Exit Code	Meaning
0	Success (check success field – action may have returned an error like "person not found")
1	General/unexpected error
2	Missing or invalid tokens
3	Subscription/plan required
4	LinkedIn account issue
5	Invalid arguments
6	Rate limited
7	Network error
8	Workflow timeout (workflowId returned for recovery)

Commands

Fetch a Person Profile

linkedin person fetch <url> [flags] --json -q

Optional flags to include additional data:

• --experience – work history
• --education – education history
• --skills – skills list
• --languages – languages
• --posts – recent posts (with --posts-limit N, --posts-since TIMESTAMP)
• --comments – recent comments (with --comments-limit N, --comments-since TIMESTAMP)
• --reactions – recent reactions (with --reactions-limit N, --reactions-since TIMESTAMP)

Only request additional data when needed – each flag increases execution time.

# Basic profile
linkedin person fetch https://www.linkedin.com/in/username --json -q

# With experience and education
linkedin person fetch https://www.linkedin.com/in/username --experience --education --json -q

# With last 5 posts
linkedin person fetch https://www.linkedin.com/in/username --posts --posts-limit 5 --json -q

Search People

linkedin person search [flags] --json -q

Flag	Description
--term	Search keyword or phrase
--limit	Max results
--first-name	Filter by first name
--last-name	Filter by last name
--position	Filter by job position
--locations	Comma-separated locations
--industries	Comma-separated industries
--current-companies	Comma-separated current company names
--previous-companies	Comma-separated previous company names
--schools	Comma-separated school names

linkedin person search --term "product manager" --locations "San Francisco" --json -q
linkedin person search --current-companies "Google" --position "Engineer" --limit 20 --json -q

Fetch a Company

linkedin company fetch <url> [flags] --json -q

Optional flags:

• --employees – include employees
• --dms – include decision makers
• --posts – include company posts

Employee filters (require --employees):

Flag	Description
--employees-limit	Max employees to retrieve
--employees-first-name	Filter by first name
--employees-last-name	Filter by last name
--employees-position	Filter by position
--employees-locations	Comma-separated locations
--employees-industries	Comma-separated industries
--employees-schools	Comma-separated school names

Flag	Description
--dms-limit	Max decision makers to retrieve (requires --dms)
--posts-limit	Max posts to retrieve (requires --posts)
--posts-since	Posts since ISO timestamp (requires --posts)

# Basic company info
linkedin company fetch https://www.linkedin.com/company/name --json -q

# With employees filtered by position
linkedin company fetch https://www.linkedin.com/company/name --employees --employees-position "Engineer" --json -q

# With decision makers and posts
linkedin company fetch https://www.linkedin.com/company/name --dms --posts --posts-limit 10 --json -q

Search Companies

linkedin company search [flags] --json -q

Flag	Description
--term	Search keyword
--limit	Max results
--sizes	Comma-separated sizes: 1-10, 11-50, 51-200, 201-500, 501-1000, 1001-5000, 5001-10000, 10001+
--locations	Comma-separated locations
--industries	Comma-separated industries

linkedin company search --term "fintech" --sizes "11-50,51-200" --json -q

Send a Message

linkedin message send <person-url> '<text>' --json -q

Text up to 1900 characters. Wrap the message in single quotes to avoid shell interpretation issues.

linkedin message send https://www.linkedin.com/in/username 'Hey, loved your latest post!' --json -q

Get Conversation

linkedin message get <person-url> [--since TIMESTAMP] --json -q

The first call for a conversation triggers a background sync and may take longer. Subsequent calls are faster.

linkedin message get https://www.linkedin.com/in/username --json -q
linkedin message get https://www.linkedin.com/in/username --since 2024-01-15T10:30:00Z --json -q

Connection Management

Check connection status

linkedin connection status <url> --json -q

Send connection request

linkedin connection send <url> [--note 'text'] [--email [e-mail]] --json -q

List connections

linkedin connection list [flags] --json -q

Flag	Description
--limit	Max connections to return
--since	Only connections made since ISO timestamp (only works when no filter flags are used)
--first-name	Filter by first name
--last-name	Filter by last name
--position	Filter by job position
--locations	Comma-separated locations
--industries	Comma-separated industries
--current-companies	Comma-separated current company names
--previous-companies	Comma-separated previous company names
--schools	Comma-separated school names

linkedin connection list --limit 50 --json -q
linkedin connection list --current-companies "Google" --position "Engineer" --json -q
linkedin connection list --since 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z --json -q

List pending outgoing requests

linkedin connection pending --json -q

Withdraw a pending request

linkedin connection withdraw <url> [--no-unfollow] --json -q

By default, withdrawing also unfollows the person. Use --no-unfollow to keep following.

Remove a connection

linkedin connection remove <url> --json -q

Posts

Fetch a post

linkedin post fetch <url> [flags] --json -q

Flag	Description
--comments	Include comments
--reactions	Include reactions
--comments-limit	Max comments to retrieve (requires --comments)
--comments-sort	Sort order: mostRelevant or mostRecent (requires --comments)
--comments-replies	Include replies to comments (requires --comments)
--reactions-limit	Max reactions to retrieve (requires --reactions)

linkedin post fetch https://www.linkedin.com/posts/username_activity-123 --json -q

# With comments sorted by most recent, including replies
linkedin post fetch https://www.linkedin.com/posts/username_activity-123 \
  --comments --comments-sort mostRecent --comments-replies --json -q

Create a post

linkedin post create '<text>' [flags] --json -q

Flag	Description
--company-url	Post on behalf of a company page (requires admin access)
--attachments	Attachment as url:type or url:type:name. Types: image, video, document. Can be specified multiple times.

Attachment limits: up to 9 images, or 1 video, or 1 document. Cannot mix types.

linkedin post create 'Excited to share our latest update!' --json -q

# With a document
linkedin post create 'Our Q4 report' \
  --attachments "https://example.com/report.pdf:document:Q4 Report" --json -q

# Post as a company
linkedin post create 'Company announcement' \
  --company-url https://www.linkedin.com/company/name --json -q

React to a post

linkedin post react <url> --type <reaction> [--company-url <url>] --json -q

Reaction types: like, love, support, celebrate, insightful, funny.

linkedin post react https://www.linkedin.com/posts/username_activity-123 --type like --json -q

# React on behalf of a company
linkedin post react https://www.linkedin.com/posts/username_activity-123 --type celebrate \
  --company-url https://www.linkedin.com/company/name --json -q

Comment on a post

linkedin post comment <url> '<text>' [--company-url <url>] --json -q

Text up to 1000 characters.

linkedin post comment https://www.linkedin.com/posts/username_activity-123 'Great insights!' --json -q

# Comment on behalf of a company
linkedin post comment https://www.linkedin.com/posts/username_activity-123 'Well said!' \
  --company-url https://www.linkedin.com/company/name --json -q

Statistics

# Social Selling Index
linkedin stats ssi --json -q

# Performance analytics (profile views, post impressions, search appearances)
linkedin stats performance --json -q

# API usage for a date range
linkedin stats usage --start 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z --end 2024-01-31T00:00:00Z --json -q

Sales Navigator

Requires a LinkedIn Sales Navigator subscription. Uses hashed URLs for person/company lookups.

Fetch person

linkedin navigator person fetch <hashed-url> --json -q

Search people

linkedin navigator person search [flags] --json -q

Flag	Description
--term	Search keyword or phrase
--limit	Max results
--first-name	Filter by first name
--last-name	Filter by last name
--position	Filter by job position
--locations	Comma-separated locations
--industries	Comma-separated industries
--current-companies	Comma-separated current company names
--previous-companies	Comma-separated previous company names
--schools	Comma-separated school names
--years-of-experience	Comma-separated ranges: lessThanOne, oneToTwo, threeToFive, sixToTen, moreThanTen

linkedin navigator person search --term "VP Marketing" --locations "United States" --json -q
linkedin navigator person search --years-of-experience "moreThanTen" --position "CEO" --json -q

Fetch company

linkedin navigator company fetch <hashed-url> [flags] --json -q

Optional flags:

• --employees – include employees
• --dms – include decision makers

Employee filters (require --employees):

Flag	Description
--employees-limit	Max employees to retrieve
--employees-first-name	Filter by first name
--employees-last-name	Filter by last name
--employees-positions	Comma-separated positions
--employees-locations	Comma-separated locations
--employees-industries	Comma-separated industries
--employees-schools	Comma-separated school names
--employees-years-of-experience	Comma-separated experience ranges
--dms-limit	Max decision makers to retrieve (requires --dms)

linkedin navigator company fetch https://www.linkedin.com/sales/company/97ural --employees --dms --json -q
linkedin navigator company fetch https://www.linkedin.com/sales/company/97ural \
  --employees --employees-positions "Engineer,Designer" --employees-locations "Europe" --json -q

Search companies

linkedin navigator company search [flags] --json -q

Flag	Description
--term	Search keyword
--limit	Max results
--sizes	Comma-separated sizes: 1-10, 11-50, 51-200, 201-500, 501-1000, 1001-5000, 5001-10000, 10001+
--locations	Comma-separated locations
--industries	Comma-separated industries
--revenue-min	Min annual revenue in M USD: 0, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000
--revenue-max	Max annual revenue in M USD: 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, 1000, 1000+

linkedin navigator company search --term "fintech" --sizes "11-50,51-200" --json -q
linkedin navigator company search --revenue-min 10 --revenue-max 100 --locations "United States" --json -q

Send InMail

linkedin navigator message send <person-url> '<text>' --subject '<subject>' --json -q

Text up to 1900 characters. Subject up to 80 characters.

linkedin navigator message send https://www.linkedin.com/in/username \
  'Would love to chat about API integrations' --subject 'Partnership Opportunity' --json -q

Get Sales Navigator conversation

linkedin navigator message get <person-url> [--since TIMESTAMP] --json -q

Custom Workflows

Execute a custom workflow definition from a file, stdin, or inline:

# From file
linkedin workflow run --file workflow.json --json -q

# From stdin
cat workflow.json | linkedin workflow run --json -q

# Inline
echo '{"actions":[...]}' | linkedin workflow run --json -q

Check workflow status or wait for completion:

linkedin workflow status <id> --json -q
linkedin workflow status <id> --wait --json -q

See Building Workflows for the workflow JSON schema.

Account Management

linkedin account list                            # List accounts (* = active)
linkedin account switch "Name"                   # Switch active account
linkedin account rename "Name" --name "New Name" # Rename account
linkedin reset                                   # Remove active account
linkedin reset --all                             # Remove all accounts

Common Rationalizations

Rationalization	Reality
"Skip --json because the command is simple."	Always request machine-readable output and inspect the success field.
"Run many actions at once to save time."	Account operations queue sequentially and can trigger limits.
"Ignore authentication errors and retry."	Exit code 2 means the user must connect tokens first.
"Send a generic message quickly."	User-facing LinkedIn actions need explicit intent and careful text.

Red Flags

• Authentication tokens are missing, expired, or pasted into chat unexpectedly.
• A request would send unsolicited bulk messages, connection spam, or engagement spam.
• The user asks to bypass account limits, automation controls, or LinkedIn safety checks.
• A command would disclose private profile, message, or account data unnecessarily.
• A workflow keeps timing out or returns workflowId without a final success result.

Verification

• Confirm every command uses LINKEDAPI_CLIENT=skill:linkedin, --json, and -q.
• Treat exit code 0 as transport success only; inspect success and error.
• For writes, summarize the target and action before running the command.
• Preserve returned workflowId values for timeout recovery.
• Stop and ask for token setup when a command exits with code 2.

Important Behavior

• Sequential execution. All operations for an account run one at a time. Multiple requests queue up.
• Not instant. A real browser navigates LinkedIn - expect 30 seconds to several minutes per operation.
• Timestamps in UTC. All dates and times are in UTC.
• Single quotes for text arguments. Use single quotes around message text, post text, and comments to avoid shell interpretation issues with special characters.
• Action limits. Per-account limits are configurable on the platform. A limitExceeded error means the limit was reached.
• URL normalization. All LinkedIn URLs in responses are normalized to https://www.linkedin.com/... format without trailing slashes.
• Null fields. Fields that are unavailable are returned as null or [], not omitted.