Run Locan from Claude, OpenClaw, Cursor or n8n

The same local SEO tools behind locan.ai, callable from an AI agent or a workflow tool over MCP, a CLI, or plain HTTP.

What it is

An MCP server and a CLI over the Locan API

The locan-tools package installs two thin HTTP clients: locan, a CLI, and locan-mcp, an MCP server exposing the same eight tools over stdio (or streamable HTTP with locan-mcp --http --port 8765). Neither holds a Google Places or LLM key; both call the Locan API, hosted or self-hosted.

These are the free tools. The AI visibility tracker at app.locan.ai has no API keys, MCP tools or CLI commands.

Claude Code

Add the MCP server with one command

claude mcp add locan -- uvx --from locan-tools locan-mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor

Or configure it as a JSON MCP server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "locan": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "locan-tools", "locan-mcp"],
      "env": { "LOCAN_API_URL": "https://api.locan.ai/api" }
    }
  }
}

Point LOCAN_API_URL at a self-hosted instance to skip the hosted daily limits; see self-hosting Locan.

Reference

The eight tools

MCP tool	What it returns	Needs
find_business	Candidate matches: placeId, name, address	Places key
gbp_audit	Score /100, grade, per-factor checks, AI suggestions	Places key + LLM
gbp_categories	Category comparison and add/keep/review recommendations	Places key
rank_grid	Grid of map ranks, summary, outranking competitors	Places key
ai_visibility	AI mention score, per-engine results, missing topics	LLM
review_reply	Three draft review replies plus handling tips	LLM
review_link	Direct Google review link for a place id	None
schema_jsonld	LocalBusiness JSON-LD built from the Google profile	Places key

The CLI exposes the same eight operations as hyphenated commands (find-business, gbp-audit, gbp-categories, rank-grid, ai-visibility, review-reply, review-link, schema-jsonld); see cli/README.md .

For agent workflows

Building an audit skill

skills/locan-local-seo/SKILL.md in the repository is a ready-made procedure for auditing a business with these tools: resolve the business, run the audit, check categories and rankings, check AI visibility, then write a prioritised fix list. Drop it into an agent's skills directory, or read it as a reference for the call order and defaults.

Prefer a workflow tool instead of an agent? See running the profile optimizer from n8n.

View the skill on GitHub

Questions about the MCP server and CLI

What does a rank_grid call cost? +

One Google Places request per grid cell: 9 for the default 3×3 grid, 25 for a 5×5 grid. It is the most expensive of the eight tools.

Does any of this change my Google Business Profile? +

No. Every tool reads public Google data; none of them can edit a profile. Every recommendation is applied by you, in your own Google Business Profile or website.

Can I self-host to remove the daily limits? +

Yes. Point LOCAN_API_URL at your own instance (for example http://localhost:8080/api) and the hosted daily limits no longer apply. See the self-host guide.

Which AI models does this use? +

The hosted API uses a Replicate-hosted model. A self-hosted instance can use Replicate, OpenAI directly, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint such as Ollama via OPENAI_BASE_URL.