Self-hosting a Linnworks MCP server: what it actually takes
If you build software on Linnworks for a living — or run an in-house team and want Claude plugged into your own warehouse data — building an MCP server from scratch is two to three weeks of work. Here's the shape of it, and the shortcut.
What an MCP server does for Linnworks
The Model Context Protocol lets an AI assistant like Claude call your business systems through well-defined tools. A Linnworks MCP server sits between Claude and the Linnworks API: Claude asks a question in plain English, the server turns it into the right Linnworks API calls, and the answer comes back. Orders, stock, purchase orders, returns, customers — all queryable in natural language.
The parts you'd build
- Auth against the Linnworks Application Token API (Application ID, Secret, install token; session tokens cached and refreshed).
- A tidy API client — paginated reads, error handling, rate-limit awareness.
- The MCP server itself — tool definitions, transport over HTTP/SSE, bearer-token auth for the client.
- Deployment — Cloudflare Workers is a natural home: cheap, fast at the edge, free for typical volumes.
The shortcut
Rather than build it, you can buy the exact source we run in production. The Linnworks MCP source is a complete TypeScript Cloudflare Workers codebase — £249 one-off, deploy to your own account, 12 months of free updates, yours forever. Dev shops use it to save weeks per client; in-house teams use it to get their own deployment with no third-party data hop.
Full deploy notes and the multi-client agency setup are in the documentation.
See the Linnworks MCP source →
Questions, or want a tool we don't have yet? Email hello@grafto.co.uk — a real person replies.