# Shorten links from your AI assistant with an MCP server

> Connect Blinkhop's MCP server to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or Windsurf with one URL, then ask your assistant to shorten and check links. No account or key.

Source: https://blinkhop.com/guides/shorten-links-with-ai-mcp

An MCP server URL shortener lets your AI assistant create and check short links on its own, the same way it uses its other tools. Blinkhop runs a remote MCP server at `https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp` that needs no account or API key: add the URL to your AI client once, then ask for links in plain language. This guide explains MCP in plain words, gives the exact setup for six clients and covers the tools, the limits and what happens to your data.

## What MCP is, in plain words

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. Anthropic [introduced it in November 2024](https://www.anthropic.com/news/model-context-protocol) as an open standard for connecting AI assistants to outside tools and data. Think of it as a common plug: an assistant that supports MCP can connect to MCP servers without custom code for each one.

Three pieces are involved:

- **The client** is the app you talk to, such as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code.
- **The server** is a service that offers tools. Blinkhop's server offers three.
- **A tool** is a named action with inputs. For example, `shorten_link` takes a URL and returns a short link.

When you ask for a short link, the model decides that a tool can help, the client sends the tool call to the server, the server does the work and returns the result, and the assistant uses it in its answer. Without a tool like this, most chat assistants can only explain how to make a short link yourself.

Some MCP servers run as programs on your own computer. Blinkhop's runs on the web and uses the Streamable HTTP transport from the [MCP specification](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-06-18/basic/transports), in which the server exposes a single HTTPS endpoint. That is why the whole setup comes down to one URL.

## Why use an MCP server URL shortener

- **Whole documents in one step.** Ask your assistant to shorten every link in a newsletter, a report or a thread of social posts, and it handles up to 50 URLs in a single tool call.
- **Agents that publish on their own.** An agent that writes posts or emails can create clean, trackable zou.sh links without a person copying and pasting. More use cases are on the [AI agents page](https://blinkhop.com/solutions/ai-agents).
- **Checks before sharing.** The assistant can look up where a zou.sh link goes, how many clicks it has and when it was created.
- **Safe retries.** Shortening the same URL again without a custom ending returns the same short link, so an agent that repeats a call does not create duplicates.
- **Nothing to store.** There is no API key to keep in a configuration file, and no captcha or bot wall in front of the server.

## Set up the Blinkhop MCP server in your AI client

Everything below uses the same server URL, with no account and no key:

```text
https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp
```

### Claude Code

Run this command in your terminal:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http blinkhop https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp
```

### Claude (desktop and web)

Open **Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector**, then paste the server URL.

### Cursor

Add this to `~/.cursor/mcp.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "blinkhop": {
      "url": "https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

Add this to `.vscode/mcp.json` in your project:

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "blinkhop": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Windsurf

Add this to `~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "blinkhop": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### ChatGPT

ChatGPT adds custom MCP servers through developer mode connectors. Open **Settings → Connectors → Advanced → Developer mode**, then add the server URL.

If a configuration file already lists other servers, add the `blinkhop` entry next to them rather than replacing the file. The [MCP server page](https://blinkhop.com/mcp) covers the server in more detail.

## The three Blinkhop MCP tools

| Tool | What it does | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| `shorten_link` | Creates a short zou.sh link for one URL | A URL, plus an optional custom ending |
| `shorten_links` | Shortens up to 50 URLs in one call | A list of URLs |
| `expand_link` | Shows where a zou.sh link goes, its total clicks and its creation date | A zou.sh link |

You do not need to name the tools in your prompts. The assistant reads their descriptions and picks the right one.

## Example prompts

Once the server is connected, ask in plain language. For example:

- "Shorten https://example.com/blog/2026/10/redesign-notes and use the ending redesign-notes."
- "Here is my newsletter draft. Replace every link with a zou.sh short link and keep everything else unchanged."
- "Add utm_source=newsletter, utm_medium=email and utm_campaign=october to each of these links, then shorten them."
- "Where does zou.sh/launch go, and how many clicks does it have?"
- "Make a table of these five landing pages with their short links."

A typical exchange looks like this:

```text
You: Shorten https://example.com/blog/2026/10/redesign-notes with the ending redesign-notes.
Assistant: Done. Your short link is https://zou.sh/redesign-notes
```

Depending on your client, you may be asked to approve each tool call before it runs. Custom endings follow the same rules as everywhere else on Blinkhop: 3 to 40 letters, numbers, dashes or underscores, starting with a letter or a number, with letter case ignored. If an ending is already taken, ask for another one.

## Limits

| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Calls per minute, per IP address | 120 |
| Calls per day, per IP address | 5,000 |
| URLs per `shorten_links` call | Up to 50 |
| Account or key | Not needed |

If you reach a limit, wait and try again later. Every destination goes through the same safety checks as links created on the website: domains on the phishing and malware blocklist are refused, and so are links with embedded credentials, private or local addresses and other zou.sh links. Links never expire unless an owner sets an expiry date, an account feature in early access.

To shorten links from your own code rather than through an assistant, use the [REST API](https://blinkhop.com/docs/api). Without a key, it allows 20 new links per minute and 300 per day per IP address, and API keys with higher limits come with accounts (early access).

## Test the connection and fix common problems

After setup, ask your assistant something simple, such as "Which Blinkhop tools can you use?" or "Shorten https://example.com to test the connection." If it lists the three tools or returns a zou.sh link, you are done. If not, these are the usual causes:

| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The tools do not appear | The client has not reloaded its configuration | Restart the client, or reload its MCP servers |
| The tools do not appear in Cursor, VS Code or Windsurf | A typo in the JSON file, or the wrong key names | Check commas and braces. Cursor uses `mcpServers` with `url`, VS Code uses `servers` with `"type": "http"`, and Windsurf uses `mcpServers` with `serverUrl` |
| The connection fails | The server URL is incomplete | Use the full address, including `/mcp` at the end |
| The assistant says an ending is taken | Another link already uses it | Ask for a different ending |
| The assistant says a destination was refused | The URL failed a safety check or is not a valid public web address | Check the URL, and do not share it if it was flagged as unsafe |
| The assistant reports a rate limit | Too many calls from your IP address in a minute or a day | Wait, then try again |

If the configuration looks right and the tools still fail, check the live [status page](https://blinkhop.com/status) for an incident.

## Privacy: what the server sees and stores

- **Only the tool arguments.** When your assistant calls a tool, Blinkhop receives that call: the URL to shorten and the optional ending, or the zou.sh link to look up. Your conversation stays between you and your AI client.
- **What is stored.** Creating a link stores the destination URL, the code, the creation time and how the link was created, in this case through MCP. No IP address is stored.
- **What stays in memory.** Rate limiting keeps IP addresses in memory for at most 24 hours, never on disk.
- **Short links are public.** Anyone who has a zou.sh link can add + to see where it goes. Do not ask your assistant to shorten private URLs that contain access tokens or personal data.

The [privacy policy](https://blinkhop.com/legal/privacy) has the full details.

## Key takeaways

- MCP is an open standard that lets AI assistants use outside tools. Blinkhop's server lets them create and check short links.
- Setup is one URL, `https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp`, with no account or key, in Claude Code, Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and ChatGPT.
- Three tools cover the work: `shorten_link`, `shorten_links` for up to 50 URLs, and `expand_link`.
- The limits are 120 calls per minute and 5,000 per day per IP address.
- The server receives only tool arguments and stores no IP address with your links.

## FAQ

### Do I need an account or an API key to use the Blinkhop MCP server?

No. The server at https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp works without an account or key, within limits of 120 calls per minute and 5,000 per day per IP address.

### Which AI clients can use it?

Any client that supports remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP. This guide gives the setup for Claude Code, Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and ChatGPT.

### Does Blinkhop see my conversation?

No. The server only receives the arguments of each tool call, such as the URL to shorten and an optional ending. Link creation stores the destination, the code, the creation time and the fact that the link came from MCP, but no IP address.

### Can my assistant check where a zou.sh link goes?

Yes. The expand_link tool returns the destination, the total clicks and the creation date of any zou.sh link.