Linkedin

LinkedIn - Linked API Automation CLI

Overview

linkedin is a CLI tool for LinkedIn automation built on Linked API. Use it to fetch profiles, search people and companies, send messages, manage connections, create posts, react, comment, and run Sales Navigator and custom workflows.

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.

Install the CLI when linkedin is not available:

npm install -g @linkedapi/linkedin-cli

Safety & Compliance

Read this before running any command.

• LinkedIn User Agreement risk. Automated connection requests, messaging, scraping, and posting can violate LinkedIn's User Agreement and can lead to account restriction or suspension. The account owner is responsible for compliance with LinkedIn's terms and applicable law. Confirm the user accepts this risk before performing write actions at scale.
• Confirm write and outreach actions. Require explicit user approval before sending messages, connection requests, InMail, posts, reactions, or comments. Show the exact target and content first.
• Credentials only. Use the Linked API token and identification token issued from the dashboard. Never request LinkedIn passwords, 2FA codes, cookies, session exports, recovery codes, or browser profile data.
• Respect action limits. Per-account limits are configurable on the platform. A limitExceeded error means the limit was reached - stop and report it rather than retrying.

Authentication

The CLI reads credentials from environment variables. Export them so secrets stay out of shell history and process listings. Never pass tokens as CLI arguments.

When a command fails with exit code 2 (authentication error), guide the user through setup:

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

Export the tokens and run setup:

export LINKEDAPI_TOKEN="your-linked-api-token"
export LINKEDAPI_IDENTIFICATION_TOKEN="your-identification-token"
linkedin setup

Treat an exposed token as compromised and rotate it in the Linked API dashboard. Do not put tokens in source files, committed examples, issue text, chat transcripts, screenshots, or logs.

Global Flags

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

linkedin <command> --json -q

Optionally set LINKEDAPI_CLIENT=skill:linkedin in the environment once so Linked API can attribute usage to this skill. There is no need to repeat it on every 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:

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)

Request additional data only 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

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):

# 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

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 takes 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 user@example.com] --json -q

List connections

linkedin connection list [flags] --json -q

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

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

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

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):

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

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

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. Wrap message text, post text, and comments in single quotes 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.

Anti-Patterns

• Do not pass tokens as CLI arguments (--linked-api-token=...). Export them as environment variables instead so they stay out of shell history and process listings.
• Do not request or accept LinkedIn passwords, 2FA codes, cookies, or session data. Use only the dashboard-issued tokens.
• Do not run bulk outreach or scraping without confirming the user accepts the LinkedIn User Agreement risk.
• Do not retry a write action automatically after a limitExceeded or rate-limit error. Stop and report it.