What is YOURLS-MCP?

YOURLS-MCP is a Model Control Protocol (MCP) server that integrates YOURLS URL shortening with Claude Desktop, allowing you to shorten URLs directly within Claude.

How does YOURLS-MCP work?

It acts as a bridge between Claude Desktop and your self-hosted YOURLS instance, enabling Claude to send URL shortening requests and receive shortened URLs in response.

What are the key features of YOURLS-MCP?

Key features include seamless Claude integration, custom keyword support, duplicate URL handling, comprehensive URL statistics, and plugin-based extensibility.

What is the Duplicate URL Handling feature in YOURLS-MCP?

This feature allows you to create multiple short URLs for the same destination URL, which is not natively supported in YOURLS. This is useful for A/B testing and targeted campaigns.

How does YOURLS-MCP handle duplicate URLs?

YOURLS-MCP supports two approaches for handling duplicate URLs: the Plugin Approach (recommended), which uses the included Force Allow Duplicates plugin to create true duplicate URLs, and the URL Modification Approach (fallback), which adds timestamp parameters to make each URL technically unique.

What are the benefits of using YOURLS-MCP?

Benefits include increased productivity, improved branding consistency, enhanced marketing campaign tracking, and better control over your URL shortening process.

How do I install YOURLS-MCP?

1. Clone the repository from GitHub.
2. Install the dependencies using npm install.
3. Configure Claude Desktop to point to your YOURLS-MCP installation.

How do I configure YOURLS-MCP?

You configure YOURLS-MCP by setting environment variables in your Claude Desktop configuration file. These variables include your YOURLS API URL, authentication method, and signature token.

What environment variables are required for YOURLS-MCP?

The required environment variables are YOURLS_API_URL and, depending on the authentication method, either YOURLS_SIGNATURE_TOKEN (for signature auth) or YOURLS_USERNAME and YOURLS_PASSWORD (for password auth).

What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?

MCP is an open protocol that standardizes how applications provide context to LLMs, allowing AI models to access and interact with external data sources and tools.

What are the available MCP tools in YOURLS-MCP?

YOURLS-MCP provides tools for shortening URLs (shorten_url), expanding URLs (expand_url), getting URL statistics (url_stats), getting database statistics (db_stats), and creating custom URLs (create_custom_url).

What is UBOS?

UBOS is a full-stack AI Agent Development Platform that helps businesses orchestrate AI Agents, connect them with enterprise data, build custom AI Agents with their LLM model, and create Multi-Agent Systems.

How does YOURLS-MCP relate to UBOS?

YOURLS-MCP is available on the UBOS Asset Marketplace as a tool that enhances AI workflows by integrating URL shortening capabilities into Claude Desktop.

Can I use YOURLS-MCP with plugins?

Yes, YOURLS-MCP is designed to work with various YOURLS plugins, providing enhanced functionality such as detailed analytics, URL updating, and QR code generation.

What happens if a required plugin is not installed?

YOURLS-MCP includes intelligent fallbacks for extended functionality when plugins are not installed. If a plugin is missing, it will attempt to use the core YOURLS API to provide a basic level of functionality.

What is the Force Allow Duplicates plugin?

The Force Allow Duplicates plugin is a custom plugin that bypasses YOURLS’ unique URL constraint, allowing you to create multiple short URLs for the same destination URL.

How do I install the Force Allow Duplicates plugin?

1. Download the plugin from the plugin repository (coming soon).
2. Copy the force-allow-duplicates folder to your YOURLS/user/plugins/ directory.
3. Activate the plugin in your YOURLS admin interface.

How can I test YOURLS-MCP?

The project includes various test scripts in the tests/integration/ directory that you can run using Node.js.

Where can I find support for YOURLS-MCP?

You can find support and report issues on the YOURLS-MCP GitHub repository: https://github.com/kesslerio/yourls-mcp/issues.

What is URL modification and when is it used?

URL modification is a fallback approach in YOURLS-MCP that adds a timestamp parameter to a URL to make it unique in the database, allowing multiple short URLs to point to the same destination even if YOURLS does not natively support duplicates. It is used when the Force Allow Duplicates plugin is not installed or enabled.