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What Is Remote Access

Linkly AI runs on your local machine, while online AI applications like ChatGPT and Claude.ai run in the cloud — they cannot directly reach the MCP server for your local knowledge base. Remote Access establishes a secure tunnel between your desktop app and the cloud, relaying requests over the public internet:
  1. The desktop app opens a WebSocket tunnel connection to mcp.linkly.ai
  2. After OAuth authorization, the online AI application sends MCP requests to https://mcp.linkly.ai/mcp
  3. The cloud service forwards those requests through the tunnel to your desktop app, which executes them and returns the results
Your document data always stays on your local machine. The tunnel only forwards MCP requests and responses — no document content is stored.
Remote Access is a Pro-only feature. Free accounts can turn on the Allow remote access (internet) switch too, but the connection is rejected by the server: the switch turns itself back off and the status shows Pro required.If all you want is for a cloud AI to read one particular set of material, you don’t need to upgrade — a Cloud Library works on free accounts, and it doesn’t require your computer to be on. See Which one should I use below for the difference.
mcp.linkly.ai is a cloud MCP relay service maintained by Linkly AI. Data passes through it anonymously, and Linkly AI only records usage counts for display purposes.

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Which one should I use

Remote Access and Cloud Libraries both let a cloud-hosted AI read your material, but they solve problems in different directions: You can use both at once; they don’t conflict.
There’s a third case that often gets overlooked: if your AI client is installed on the same computer (Claude Code, Cursor, Cherry Studio and so on), you don’t need a tunnel at all — connect directly to http://127.0.0.1:60606/mcp on your machine. It’s free and faster. See Using MCP.

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Configuration Steps

1

Sign in to Linkly AI and upgrade to Pro

In the desktop app, go to Settings → Account and click Sign In. Once you authorize in the browser you’re brought back to the app automatically. Your API key is fetched automatically after you sign in — no copying and pasting from the dashboard required.Remote Access requires a Pro subscription, which you can upgrade to on the pricing page.
If you have a special need — say you want to use a specific key — the escape hatch is still there: Optional: connect your account by setting an API key manually at the bottom of Settings → Account. Keys start with lkai_ and are generated in the dashboard.
2

Turn on remote access in the desktop app

  1. Click the Agent icon at the bottom of the main window’s left sidebar to open the Agent usage page
  2. Under Management, turn on Allow remote access (internet). Allow local access must stay on too, or this switch can’t be turned on
  3. Wait for the status to show ● Connected. If it shows Not signed in and the switch turns itself off, you aren’t signed in yet — finish the previous step first
  4. The public address is under View MCP connection settings in the Integration section: the Remote (internet) part of the dialog has the address and a ready-to-copy config
3

Add the MCP service in your AI application

In AI applications that support MCP (such as ChatGPT or Claude.ai), add the following MCP endpoint:
The first time you add it, an OAuth authorization flow is triggered. Follow the prompts to sign in and authorize in your browser.For per-application setup instructions, see the Integration Overview.
Using the Linkly AI CLI instead — on a server or in a container, for example? Run linkly auth login there: it prints a link you can open on any device, and saves a new API key once you authorize. Then add --remote to any command. If you’d rather paste an existing key, run linkly auth set-key lkai_… yourself in your own terminal — don’t hand it to an AI assistant. See Using CLI → Remote Mode.

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Connection statuses

The Allow remote access (internet) row shows the tunnel’s connection status, and so does the Remote (internet) part of the connection settings dialog. Reading this status tells you where the problem is:

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OAuth Authorization Explained

When online AI applications like ChatGPT and Claude.ai connect to a remote MCP service for the first time, an OAuth 2.1 authorization flow is automatically triggered:
  1. The AI application detects that the MCP endpoint requires authorization
  2. It automatically redirects to the linkly.ai sign-in page. A new account signing in for the first time first lands on the Complete your profile page to set a display name and username
  3. The authorization page states which domain “you’ll be redirected to” once you allow access; make sure it’s the AI application you’re using (such as claude.ai or chatgpt.com), then click Allow
  4. The AI application receives an access token, and subsequent requests carry it automatically — no need to re-authorize
Apps you no longer use can be revoked under Authorized apps on the Integrations page of the dashboard. After you revoke one, the app keeps access for up to an hour, then needs your permission again.
If you are already signed in to linkly.ai in your browser, the authorization process will be faster.

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Security Considerations

  • Protect your credentials: Tunnel credentials are the key to your local knowledge base — don’t share them, and don’t paste them into any AI conversation (ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Codex, Doubao, Kimi, and so on): conversations are sent to the model provider and kept in the chat history. Online AI apps connect through OAuth, and AI assistants using the CLI sign in with linkly auth login, so you never need to copy the key. If the key has appeared in a conversation or you suspect it has been compromised, revoke and regenerate the API key in the dashboard
  • HTTPS transmission: The remote tunnel uses HTTPS/WSS encryption end to end
  • Revoke anytime: You can disconnect the tunnel from the desktop app at any time. Revoking the API key in the dashboard prevents new connections and reconnections, but won’t immediately terminate an already-established tunnel session; AI apps connected over OAuth are revoked under Authorized apps on the Integrations page
  • Sensitive information hidden automatically: content returned over remote MCP first has more than 200 kinds of sensitive information — API keys, passwords, private keys, bank card numbers, ID numbers and so on — replaced with [REDACTED:<type>] markers before it reaches the AI app. Notes aren’t redacted for now, so that an AI editing a note doesn’t overwrite the original text. This lowers the risk of leaks but isn’t foolproof: keep your most important material out of the index with exclusion rules. Local and LAN connections don’t go through the cloud and aren’t redacted
  • Data never leaves your machine: Your document data always stays on your local computer — the tunnel only forwards MCP tool call requests and responses

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FAQ

This means the current account isn’t Pro — the server rejects the tunnel handshake outright (HTTP 402).There are two ways forward:
  • Upgrade to Pro: upgrade on the pricing page, then turn the Allow remote access (internet) switch back on
  • Switch to a Cloud Library: push the material you need remote access to into the cloud. It works on free accounts, and it’s searchable with your computer off
One pitfall worth knowing: even when you’re using a Cloud Library, you must name the library explicitly at query time (library="cloud://owner/slug"). If the library parameter is omitted, the request routes back to your own machine by default — that is, through the tunnel — and free accounts get the Pro prompt on that path.
Work through this in order:
  1. Confirm that Settings → Account shows Connected to Linkly AI Cloud; if it doesn’t, sign in first
  2. If you entered an API key manually, check that it was pasted in full (it starts with lkai_) and that it hasn’t been revoked in the dashboard
  3. Generate a new API key in the dashboard, or simply sign out and sign in again so the app fetches one automatically
The remote MCP service requires the desktop app to be running with the tunnel connected. If the desktop app is closed or the tunnel drops, remote calls immediately return a 503 error.Make sure:
  • Linkly AI Desktop is running
  • The MCP server is running (the Allow local access row under Management on the Agent usage page shows Running)
  • The tunnel status is ● Connected
If what you actually want is to search with your computer switched off, you need a Cloud Library, not a tunnel.
The tunnel reconnects automatically after a drop, with no limit on attempts; the retry interval starts at 1 second and doubles each time, up to 120 seconds. While reconnecting, the status shows Connecting. If it drops frequently, check:
  • Whether your network connection is stable
  • Whether the credentials are still valid
If it keeps dropping, try turning the Allow remote access (internet) switch off and then back on.
If authorization fails after adding MCP in ChatGPT or Claude.ai:
  1. Make sure the desktop tunnel is connected
  2. Try signing in to linkly.ai in your browser first
  3. Re-add the MCP server in the AI application
If the issue persists, remove the already-added MCP server and add it again.

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Further reading