CallAI — live SEO data for AI agents

中文说明

CallAI gives your AI agent real search data instead of guesses: live Google and Bing results (including the Google AI Overview and the sites it cites), keyword volume and difficulty, long-tail ideas, competitor keyword gaps, domain traffic, backlinks and on-page audits.

It works two ways:

• DeepSeek Harness (dsh) plugin — this npm package, @callaiapi/seo. Installs the tools plus a callai-seo skill that teaches the agent how to do keyword research, competitor analysis, GEO checks and audits.
• Remote MCP server — https://api.callaiapi.com/mcp, for Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Cline, Windsurf and any other MCP client. Nothing to install.

Data comes from DataForSEO. You pay per call from your CallAI balance: top up from $1, no subscription, balance never expires. Every tool result states what that call cost.

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Contents

• 1. Get an API key
• 2. Install in DeepSeek Harness
• 3. Use it in other MCP clients
• 4. What to ask
• 5. Tools reference
• 6. Markets: location and language codes
• 7. Pricing and cost control
• 8. Troubleshooting
• 9. FAQ

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1. Get an API key

1. Sign up at https://callaiapi.com/register.
2. Top up any amount from $1 (cards, Apple Pay / Google Pay, or USDT on several chains).
3. Create a key under API Keys: https://callaiapi.com/portal?tab=keys. It looks like sk-live-…. You can set a spend limit per key.

2. Install in DeepSeek Harness

Requires dsh 0.2.0 or later.

dsh plugin --profile web add @callaiapi/seo

Use your own profile name instead of web if you run another one (ls ~/.dsh/profiles). You can also install @callaiapi/seo from a plugin shop such as dsh-plugin-shop. Restart dsh afterwards — a newly added plugin is not loaded into a running process.

Give the plugin your key

The plugin looks for the key in this order and uses the first one it finds:

Where	How
Plugin setting apiKey	In the profile's cordis.patch.yml (below), or in the plugin's settings page if your dsh build shows one
dsh credential CALLAI_API_KEY	Saved through dsh's credential settings, or in ~/.dsh/.credentials.yaml under refs, or in ~/.dsh/.env (profiles with the credentials service, such as web)
Environment variable CALLAI_API_KEY	CALLAI_API_KEY=sk-live-… dsh web — works in every profile, including headless

Profile patch, in ~/.dsh/profiles/<profile>/cordis.patch.yml:

- id: callai-seo
  config:
    apiKey: sk-live-your-key

.env file, in ~/.dsh/.env:

CALLAI_API_KEY=sk-live-your-key

Saving the credential through dsh reconnects automatically; changes to the patch file, .env or the environment take effect after a dsh restart.

Check it works

Start a session and ask "Which mcp__callai tools do you have?" — the agent should list 11 tools, and "Audit https://example.com" should come back with real data and a billed_usd line.

Plugin settings

Setting	Default	Meaning
apiKey	empty	Your CallAI key. Empty means: use the CALLAI_API_KEY credential or environment variable
url	https://api.callaiapi.com/mcp	MCP endpoint. Change only if you were given another one
toolCallTimeoutMs	120000	Per-call timeout; deep SERP and backlink calls can take up to a minute

Uninstall

dsh plugin --profile web remove @callaiapi/seo

3. Use it in other MCP clients

Setting	Value
Transport	Streamable HTTP
URL	https://api.callaiapi.com/mcp
Header	Authorization: Bearer sk-live-your-key

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http callai https://api.callaiapi.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer sk-live-your-key"

Cursor — .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "callai": {
      "url": "https://api.callaiapi.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer sk-live-your-key" }
    }
  }
}

VS Code (Copilot agent mode) — .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "callai-key", "description": "CallAI API key", "password": true }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "callai": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.callaiapi.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:callai-key}" }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf, Cline and other clients — add a remote / Streamable HTTP server with the URL and header above. Clients that only support local (stdio) servers can bridge with mcp-remote:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "callai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://api.callaiapi.com/mcp", "--header", "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"],
      "env": { "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer sk-live-your-key" }
    }
  }
}

4. What to ask

You don't call tools yourself — describe the job and the agent picks the tools. Examples:

• "Find long-tail keywords about standing desks for the UK with difficulty under 30, then check who ranks for the top three."
• "Compare my site example.com with competitor.com: traffic, the keywords they rank for that I don't, and backlink strength."
• "Does Google show an AI Overview for 'best crm for startups'? Which sites does it cite, and is mine one of them?"
• "Audit https://example.com/pricing and give me a fix list."
• "I'm about to buy the expired domain old-brand.com. Check its backlinks and spam score."
• "Get search volume and CPC for these 40 keywords in Germany, German language: …"

5. Tools reference

In dsh the tools appear as mcp__callai__<name>; other clients show <name>. Every result is JSON with billed_usd (what the call cost) and result. Parameters marked * are required. Every tool except the backlink and audit tools also accepts location_code and language_code (section 6).

Tool	Parameters	Returns
google_serp	keyword*, depth 10–100 (default 10), device desktop/mobile	Ranked results (title, URL, domain, snippet); the AI Overview text with its cited sources when Google shows one
bing_serp	same as google_serp	Ranked Bing results
keyword_overview	keywords* (up to 100)	Per keyword: search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty 0–100, main intent
keyword_ideas	keyword*, limit 1–200 (default 50), max_difficulty 0–100	Long-tail keywords containing the seed, by volume, with the same metrics
ranked_keywords	target* domain, limit 1–200 (default 50)	Keywords the domain ranks for, by estimated traffic: position, ranking URL, metrics
domain_overview	target* domain	Estimated organic traffic, number of ranking keywords, position distribution, paid search totals
keyword_gap	competitor, your_domain, limit 1–200 (default 50)	Keywords the competitor ranks for and you don't, by volume, with the competitor's position and URL
backlinks_summary	target* domain	Domain rank 0–1000, backlinks, referring domains, nofollow count, broken backlinks, spam score, first seen
referring_domains	target* domain, limit 1–200 (default 50)	Linking domains, strongest first: rank, backlinks, spam score, first seen
page_audit	url*	Status code, title, meta description, canonical, headings, word count, link and image counts, timing, on-page score, all checks
dataforseo_request	path*, method POST/GET, body	Any other DataForSEO v3 endpoint — Google Maps, YouTube, Amazon keywords, Google Trends, LLM mentions, WHOIS, technologies, async task_post/task_get

Domains can be given as example.com, www.example.com or a full URL.

6. Markets: location and language codes

Default market: United States (location_code 2840), English (language_code en). Tell the agent the market in plain words ("for Germany, in German") and it sets the codes.

Market	location_code	Typical language_code
United States	2840	en
United Kingdom	2826	en
Canada	2124	en / fr
Australia	2036	en
Germany	2276	de
France	2250	fr
Spain	2724	es
Italy	2380	it
Brazil	2076	pt
Japan	2392	ja
India	2356	en / hi

Full list: DataForSEO locations.

7. Pricing and cost control

Calls are billed at the DataForSEO cost plus CallAI's margin; the exact amount is in each result's billed_usd and in your console call log. Typical costs:

Call	Approx. cost
google_serp / bing_serp, 10 results	$0.0024
keyword_overview, 10 keywords	$0.013
keyword_ideas / ranked_keywords / keyword_gap, 50 rows	$0.018
domain_overview	$0.015
backlinks_summary	$0.029
referring_domains, 50 rows	about $0.03
page_audit	$0.0002

A full keyword research session (ideas → metrics → SERP checks for five keywords) usually costs well under $0.10.

To keep spend predictable:

• Set a spend limit on the key in the console; calls stop when it is reached.
• The bundled skill tells the agent to batch keywords, start with small limits, and say before a run that would cost more than about $0.50.
• When the balance runs out, tools return "Insufficient CallAI balance" with the top-up link; nothing is charged for refused calls.

8. Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
No mcp__callai__ tools in dsh	Restart dsh after installing. Check the key is set (section 2); without a key the plugin logs [callai-seo] No API key and adds no tools
401 / "Invalid or inactive API key"	Use the full key including sk-live-; check it is active in the console
429 "spend limit reached"	Raise the key's spend limit or use another key
"Insufficient CallAI balance"	Top up at https://callaiapi.com/portal?tab=topup
Task failed (40501): Invalid Field …	A parameter is wrong (for example an unsupported language for that market). Ask the agent to retry with corrected values
A call times out	Lower depth or limit, or raise toolCallTimeoutMs
dsh says the plugin is incompatible	Update dsh: npm i -g @deepseek-ai/dsh

9. FAQ

Is there a free tier? No. New accounts start at $0 and you top up from $1; there is no subscription and no minimum monthly spend.

Where does the data come from? DataForSEO's live SERP, Labs, Backlinks and On-Page APIs. SERP results are fetched live at call time; keyword metrics and backlink indexes are DataForSEO's latest databases.

What do you store? For billing and your call log: the endpoint, status, cost and timing of each call. Keywords and domains are sent to DataForSEO to answer the request.

Can I call the API without an agent? Yes — the same data is available as a REST API at https://api.callaiapi.com/dataforseo/v3/... with DataForSEO's request format. See https://callaiapi.com/en/dataforseo.

I already have a DataForSEO account. Then you can use DataForSEO directly. CallAI is for people who want pay-as-you-go from $1 without a minimum deposit, one balance shared with LLM APIs, and an agent-ready MCP server.

Links

• Setup guide: https://callaiapi.com/en/integrations/seo-mcp
• Console: https://callaiapi.com/portal
• Issues: https://github.com/hanshengcc/callai-seo-mcp/issues

License

MIT