seo-api

Live with the SE Ranking MCP at https://api.seranking.com/mcp. Tool schemas are introspected live; this skill never relies on a frozen snapshot of the API surface.

SE Ranking API Integration Architect

Help developers ship real integrations against the SE Ranking SEO Data API and Project API. The deliverable is either a code recipe (ready-to-paste cURL / Python / TypeScript / MCP-tool-call sequence) or live wiring of Project API state (create projects, add keywords, configure audits, set up AIRT prompts), or both. The skill knows the entire 195-tool surface, the credit and rate-limit cost of every call, and the canonical setup story for every major MCP client.

Prerequisites

• SE Ranking MCP connected at https://api.seranking.com/mcp. Single API key authenticates both DATA_* and PROJECT_* tools through the unified gateway. If /mcp doesn't show se-ranking, the skill emits the install command and stops — see references/auth-and-keys.md.
• (Optional) WebFetch for fetching deep guides at seranking.com/api/data/* and seranking.com/api/project/* when the request needs prose beyond JSON Schema.
• User provides: an integration goal in plain language (e.g., "build a rank tracker for client X", "pull all backlinks for these 50 domains into BigQuery weekly", "configure an audit + AIRT prompts for a new project"). The skill interviews only when the goal is ambiguous.

Process

1. Preflight.

   • Confirm the SE Ranking MCP is reachable. If not, emit:

     claude mcp add --transport http se-ranking https://api.seranking.com/mcp
     

     and stop. See references/auth-and-keys.md for OAuth vs. X-Api-Key header tradeoffs and headless / CI patterns.
   • Call DATA_getSubscription (0 credits). Record units_left, plan status, expiration — units_left is the figure to forecast against, and it gets printed in the cost forecast in step 5. Optionally also call DATA_getCreditBalance for its { limit, used } view — but the two are not aliases: they report different remaining-credit numbers that do not reconcile (an ~8.6M gap is normal), so treat getSubscription.units_left as the source of truth.

2. Clarify the goal. Ask 1–3 questions only if the goal is ambiguous. Skip when the user already spelled it out. Useful follow-ups:

   • "Is this a one-off run, a recurring job (daily/weekly), or a long-lived integration in your product?"
   • "Target country / language / device — or worldwide?"
   • "Are we operating on a project you already own in SE Ranking, or just researching domains?"

3. Identify the API surface(s). Map the goal to one or both of:

   • Data API — research-shaped data on any domain, no prior account setup. Credit-billed. See references/api-surface-map.md § "Data API surfaces".
   • Project API — operations on the user's own SE Ranking projects (rank tracking, audits, AIRT, backlink groups, marketing plan, sub-accounts). Subscription-limit-billed, not credit-billed. Requires Business or Enterprise plan. See references/api-surface-map.md § "Project API surfaces".
   • Many real integrations span both — e.g., a rank-tracker setup uses PROJECT_createProject + PROJECT_addKeywords + PROJECT_runPositionCheck, then reports use DATA_getDomainKeywords for the same domain.

4. Map to tools / endpoints. For every step in the integration, name:

   • The MCP tool: `DATA_getDomainKeywords` or `PROJECT_addKeywords`.
   • The underlying REST endpoint + HTTP verb (e.g., GET /v1/domain/keywords).
   • The credit cost (Data API) or limit consumed (Project API). Source costs from references/rate-limits-and-credits.md and the per-endpoint pages at seranking.com/api/data/* — MCP tool description fields carry input schemas and usage notes but not credit costs.
   • If a tool needs an ID the user didn't supply (project ID, search engine ID, geo region name, language code), insert the prerequisite *list* or *available* call before it. See references/api-surface-map.md § "ID resolution".

5. Forecast cost. Sum credit cost across all Data API calls. For Project API calls, surface plan-limit impact (e.g., "this consumes 1 Site + 50 Keywords + ~500 Audit Pages from your plan"). Compare against:

   • units_left from step 1 — if insufficient, surface and stop with the upgrade link.
   • Plan limits if Project API tools are involved — PROJECT_getUserProfile returns current usage; flag if the integration would push a limit over.

6. Pick execution mode. Confirm with the user explicitly:

   • Code mode — emit ready-to-paste cURL, Python (requests), TypeScript (fetch), and MCP-tool-call variants. The developer runs them. Default for read-only research, recurring jobs the user wants to own, and anything they want to deploy outside their Claude session.
   • Live mode — execute the integration step by step via MCP. Confirm every mutating call. Default for one-off Project API setup (new project, add keywords, configure audit, set up AIRT prompt group, etc.) where the user wants the state to exist by the end of this conversation.
   • Hybrid — wire up the one-time setup live, emit code for the recurring workload (e.g., "I created the project and added the 50 keywords for you; here's the daily-run Python script to pull positions and write them to BigQuery").

7. Execute or emit.

   • Code mode — write code/curl.sh, code/python.py, code/typescript.ts, code/mcp-calls.md. Each file is a complete runnable example, not a fragment. Include error handling for 429 (rate limit) and 403 (insufficient credits). See references/integration-patterns.md for canonical pattern snippets.
   • Live mode — for each mutating call (PROJECT_create*, PROJECT_add*, PROJECT_delete*, PROJECT_update*, DATA_createStandardAudit, DATA_createAdvancedAudit, etc.), print a single-line confirmation:

     About to call PROJECT_createProject(domain="acme.com", name="ACME Inc — Rank Tracker", country="us").
     Consumes: 1 "Site" from your subscription. Proceed? [y/N]
     

     Wait for explicit y / yes. On anything else, fall back to code mode and emit the equivalent code instead of executing. Read-only calls (DATA_get*, DATA_list*, PROJECT_get*, PROJECT_list*) run without confirmation. Log every call to evidence/03-execution-log.md with timestamp, args, response status.

8. Synthesise RECIPE.md. Always written, regardless of mode. The deliverable a developer reads to understand what was built or how to build it. See output format below.

Output format

Folder seo-api-{slug}-{YYYYMMDD}/ where {slug} is a kebab-case summary of the goal (e.g., acme-rank-tracker, bulk-backlinks-bigquery).

seo-api-{slug}-{YYYYMMDD}/
├── RECIPE.md                       (primary deliverable — what was built or how to build it)
├── code/
│   ├── curl.sh                     (cURL one-liners + multi-step bash)
│   ├── python.py                   (idiomatic requests-based script)
│   ├── typescript.ts               (fetch + zod-validated responses)
│   └── mcp-calls.md                (MCP-tool-call sequence — same workflow, agent-native)
└── evidence/
    ├── 01-preflight.md             (credit balance, subscription status, MCP connectivity check)
    ├── 02-cost-forecast.md         (per-call cost breakdown, plan-limit deltas, total)
    ├── 03-ids-resolved.md          (Project API / search-engine IDs, geo codes resolved upfront — omit if none needed)
    └── 04-execution-log.md         (every MCP call executed, with args + status — omit in pure code mode where nothing ran)

Top-level: RECIPE.md + code/. The evidence/ folder preserves the reasoning trail; auditors lean on 02-cost-forecast.md and the execution log. 03 and 04 are conditional — a run with no ID lookups and no executed calls (pure code-mode advice) ships just 01 + 02.

RECIPE.md follows this shape:

# {Integration Title}: {target}

> Run dated {YYYY-MM-DD} · Mode: {code | live | hybrid} · Total cost: {n} credits + {plan-limits consumed}

## Goal

{1–2 sentences. What was asked, what's being shipped.}

## API surface map

| Step | MCP tool | REST endpoint | Verb | Cost |
|------|----------|---------------|------|------|
| 1    | `DATA_getCreditBalance` | `/v1/account/subscription` | GET | 0 credits |
| 2    | `PROJECT_listProjects` | `/v1/account/projects` | GET | 0 (plan limit: read) |
| 3    | `PROJECT_createProject` | `/v1/projects` | POST | 1 Site from plan |
| ...  | ... | ... | ... | ... |

## Auth & setup

{cURL header / Python session / TypeScript fetch wrapper showing exactly how to authenticate. Reference `references/auth-and-keys.md` for OAuth vs. header tradeoffs.}

## Cost forecast

- Credit cost (Data API): {n} credits ({explanation per call})
- Plan-limit consumption (Project API): {Sites: n, Keywords: n, Audit Pages: n, AIRT Prompts: n}
- Your balance at run time: {units_left} credits, {plan limits available}
- {OK / WARNING: this integration would push X over plan limit}

## Recipe

### Option A — cURL

(complete bash script in `code/curl.sh`)

### Option B — Python

(complete script in `code/python.py`)

### Option C — TypeScript

(complete script in `code/typescript.ts`)

### Option D — MCP tool calls

(agent-native sequence in `code/mcp-calls.md` — for when this integration lives inside another Claude/Cursor/Codex workflow)

## Rate limit & retry strategy

- Data API: 10 RPS, Project API: 5 RPS. Pace sequentially for batched workflows; small-batch parallelism (≤3 concurrent) is safe.
- 429 handling: exponential backoff with jitter (1s → 2s → 4s → 8s, ±20% jitter). 5xx: same. Treat 403 "Insufficient funds" as terminal — no retry.

## What's running now (live mode only)

{Bullet list of MCP calls that were executed, with their outcomes. Pulled from `evidence/04-execution-log.md`.}

## What you still need to do

{Concrete next steps for the developer. E.g., "Run `python.py` daily via cron at 06:00 UTC", "Open the project at https://online.seranking.com/...", "Add a webhook for rank changes via Settings → Notifications".}

## Linked docs

- {Direct links to the relevant pages on `seranking.com/api/data/*` and `seranking.com/api/project/*`.}

## When to escalate to another skill

- `seo-content-brief` — once your integration is pulling keyword data, this skill turns it into editor briefs.
- `seo-technical-audit` — if the integration involves website audits, this skill interprets the audit output.
- `seo-drift baseline` — if the integration's job is to track a domain over time, snapshot it first.

Tips

• Single API key authenticates everything. API_TOKEN (or X-Api-Key header for headless) covers both DATA_* and PROJECT_*. The legacy split into separate Data and Project keys is gone — passing both still works as headers for backwards compatibility, but you can use just X-Api-Key now. See references/auth-and-keys.md.
• Rate limits are per-API-key, not per-IP. All threads / workers / servers sharing one key contribute to the same 10-RPS (Data) or 5-RPS (Project) budget. For production fan-outs, mint multiple keys via the API Dashboard.
• Failed requests are free. 4xx and 5xx never consume credits. Don't over-engineer cost protection for normal error retries.
• Project API limits are not credits. They consume your subscription's "Sites", "Keywords", "Audit Pages", "AIRT Prompts" quotas. Surface plan-limit impact upfront for any mutating call — these limits are stickier than credits because the user has to upgrade their plan to lift them, not just buy a credit pack.
• Confirm before mutating. PROJECT_create*, PROJECT_add*, PROJECT_delete*, PROJECT_update*, DATA_create*Audit, DATA_deleteAudit all permanently modify account state. Always print a one-line summary (tool, args, what gets consumed) and wait for y/yes before calling.
• Use the right ID resolution tool. Most "I want to operate on project X / keyword Y" requests need an ID lookup first. See references/api-surface-map.md § "ID resolution" for the full table. Common cases:
  • Project IDs → PROJECT_listProjects (or PROJECT_listOwnedProjects / PROJECT_listSharedProjects for sub-account setups).
  • Search engine for rank tracking → pass country_code directly to PROJECT_addSearchEngine (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2). Only fall back to PROJECT_getAvailableSearchEngines for regional engines (Catalonia, Turkish-Cypriot Cyprus).
  • SERP locations → DATA_getSerpLocations.
  • Languages → PROJECT_getGoogleLanguages.
  • Regions for local rank tracking → PROJECT_getAvailableRegions (use the verbatim name field; abbreviations are rejected).
• For exports, poll the status endpoint. Async endpoints (/backlinks/export, /keywords/export) return a task ID; subsequent polls of *ExportStatus count against the rate limit but cost 0 credits. Start with a 5s poll interval; exponential backoff if the task is large.
• Check the MCP tool description before WebFetching docs. Every MCP tool exposes its full input schema, defaults, and usage notes via the protocol — e.g. DATA_getDomainCompetitors documents its own ~60KB response cap. One thing the descriptions do not carry: credit costs — for those, use references/rate-limits-and-credits.md and the public per-endpoint pages.
• Large list endpoints can overflow the MCP transport. DATA_getDomainCompetitors on a popular domain — and DATA_getDomainKeywords / DATA_getAllBacklinks on big domains — return responses past the MCP client's inline token limit; the result is auto-saved to a file instead. Recover it with a jq slice on the saved file, or call the REST endpoint directly (raw REST has no size cap). See references/api-surface-map.md.
• For "show me Swagger / OpenAPI for the MCP" — point the developer at MCP Inspector (npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector https://api.seranking.com/mcp) or mcp-scan. Both walk the live tool/prompt/resource catalogue. A canonical MCP→OpenAPI converter is on the roadmap; for now the inspector output is the source of truth.

Works well with

• Predecessors: none — entry point for any API integration question.
• Successors (when the integration starts producing data):
  • seo-content-brief — when the integration pulls keyword research that should become editor briefs.
  • seo-page — when one URL from the integration needs a keep/refresh/consolidate/kill verdict.
  • seo-drift baseline — to snapshot a domain or URL before the integration starts running, so regressions are detectable.
  • seo-technical-audit — when the integration involves audit runs and the output needs prioritisation.
  • seo-ai-search-share-of-voice — when the integration tracks AIRT visibility and needs a competitive read.

References

• references/auth-and-keys.md — API key formats, OAuth vs. header, headless / CI patterns, key rotation.
• references/rate-limits-and-credits.md — 10 RPS / 5 RPS, credit billing models, plan-limit consumption, error codes (429, 403), exponential-backoff template.
• references/api-surface-map.md — full routing table (which API owns what) + ID resolution table + decision tree for "which tool do I need".
• references/integration-patterns.md — five canonical recipes copy-paste-ready: rank tracker setup, bulk backlink export, audit pipeline, AIRT visibility tracker, keyword research bulk job.