RankGoat CLI
The official command-line interface for RankGoat, the SEO backlink exchange that writes and publishes done-for-you blog posts with real dofollow links between member sites.
Manage your content plan, generate posts, approve drafts, and read your backlink and SEO data straight from the terminal or a CI pipeline. Built on the public RankGoat API.
Install
npm install -g rankgoat
Or run it without installing:
npx rankgoat whoami
Requires Node.js 20 or newer. Zero runtime dependencies.
Authenticate
Create an API key at rankgoat.app/app/settings#api, then:
rankgoat auth login rg_live_xxxxxxxx
The key is stored in ~/.rankgoat/config.json (owner-readable only). Alternatively set RANKGOAT_API_KEY in your environment, or pass --api-key on any command, handy for CI.
export RANKGOAT_API_KEY=rg_live_xxxxxxxx
rankgoat whoami
Usage
rankgoat <command> [args] [options]
Account & sites
rankgoat whoami # member + sites with credit balances
rankgoat sites # list your sites
rankgoat sites get 123 # one site, full detail
rankgoat sites credits 123 # credit balance by bucket
Content plan
The monthly plan is a calendar of briefs the AI turns into posts.
rankgoat plan list 123 --month 2026-06
rankgoat plan add 123 --auto # let AI plan a brief (async)
rankgoat plan add 123 --title "Notion vs Obsidian" --keyword "notion alternatives" --type comparison --hub 5
rankgoat plan edit 789 --title "Notion vs Obsidian (2026)" --type guide
rankgoat plan schedule 789 2026-06-22
rankgoat plan archive 789
rankgoat plan restore 789
rankgoat plan generate 789 --wait # write the post now (spends 1 credit)
Posts
rankgoat posts list 123 --status draft
rankgoat posts get 456 --html # print the post body
rankgoat posts approve 456 # approve a draft for publishing
Backlinks & SEO
rankgoat backlinks 123 # inbound + outbound link graph
rankgoat mentions 123 # brand mentions received + given
rankgoat seo authority 123 # Domain Rating over time
rankgoat seo onpage 123
rankgoat seo sitemap 123
rankgoat seo gsc 123 # Google Search Console performance
rankgoat seo equity 123 # link-equity points: balances + ledger
rankgoat seo flywheel 123 # unindexed-post fixes awaiting review
Content hubs
Topic clusters the monthly planner draws briefs from, weighted by priority.
rankgoat hubs list 123
rankgoat hubs add 123 --name "AI note-taking" --keywords "ai notes, ai note app" --priority high
rankgoat hubs edit 5 --priority low
rankgoat hubs archive 5 # the planner stops drawing from it
rankgoat hubs restore 5
Product features
Your product's real capabilities. They ground content generation, so posts never invent features the product does not have.
rankgoat features list 123
rankgoat features add 123 --name "Offline sync" --description "Notes sync without a connection"
rankgoat features edit 7 --description "Now with conflict resolution"
rankgoat features archive 7 # new posts stop mentioning it
rankgoat features restore 7
Jobs
Some actions (AI planning, post generation) run in the background and return a job handle. Poll it, or pass --wait on the original command:
rankgoat jobs plan-generate 789 --wait
Options
Scripting
Every command supports --json for machine-readable output:
rankgoat sites --json | jq '.sites[] | select(.status=="active") | .domain'
Exit code is non-zero on any API or usage error, so it composes cleanly in CI.
For AI agents
The CLI is built to be driven by agents: structured JSON on every command, env-var auth, and non-zero exits on failure. Two ways to plug in:
MCP server. rankgoat mcp runs a Model Context Protocol server on stdio exposing all 34 capabilities (plan, generate, approve, backlinks, mentions, DR, GSC, sitemap, hubs, features, link equity, flywheel) as typed tools:
claude mcp add rankgoat -e RANKGOAT_API_KEY=rg_live_... -- npx -y rankgoat mcp
Or in any MCP client config:
{
"mcpServers": {
"rankgoat": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "rankgoat", "mcp"],
"env": { "RANKGOAT_API_KEY": "rg_live_..." }
}
}
}
Shell + SKILL.md. Agents that run shell commands can use the CLI directly; the bundled SKILL.md teaches them the workflows, including which calls spend credits and where to keep a human in the loop.
More at rankgoat.app/agent.
How RankGoat works
RankGoat members pay for done-for-you blog posts that get published on their own sites with dofollow outbound links to other members. The link graph is non-reciprocal and niche/DR-matched, so it builds real authority without pattern-matching as a scheme. Learn more at rankgoat.app or read the API reference.