Query Ahrefs SEO data — domain rating, backlinks, referring domains, organic keywords, top pages, keyword research, SERP overview, Rank Tracker and Site Audit — and check API unit usage.
Ahrefs ships in the w6w first-party pack. It declares 20 actions, 3 health checks, and the host runs its code in a sandbox that never sees the credential.
io.w6w.ahrefsAhrefs is an SEO and search-intelligence platform. This app connects a workflow to its v3 REST API with an API key, so a flow can pull the same data the Ahrefs reports show: a domain’s Domain Rating and its history, backlink and referring-domain profiles, anchor text, broken backlinks, organic keywords, top pages and organic competitors, plus search volume, difficulty and traffic potential for keywords, the live SERP for a keyword, Rank Tracker positions and Site Audit health scores and issues.
Every data call is a GET that takes a select list of columns, an optional where filter and order_by, and a limit. Ahrefs bills each request in API units (a 50-unit minimum, more per returned column and row), so each action returns the units the call actually cost, and a Limits and usage action reads the key’s monthly allowance and spend without consuming any. Free test targets (ahrefs.com, yep.com, firehose.com) cost nothing.
Ahrefs answers a bad key with HTTP 401 and a missing one with 403, both as a bare JSON array; this app reads the body rather than the status. Health checks verify the key against the free limits-and-usage call, whether the API answers, and the remaining unit headroom.
Three routes to the same 20 actions. The Workflow tab is generated from Ahrefs's own manifest and carries its real ids, so it is copy-pasteable; the Code and CLI examples are the same call for any action on any app, so every app-specific value in them is a blank you fill in.
backlink-broken-list List backlinks that point at a target's pages that no longer resolve — link-reclamation candidates.
backlinks-stats-get Live and all-time backlink and referring-domain counts for a target.
keyword-overview-get Search volume, difficulty, CPC and traffic potential for keywords in a country.
keyword-related-term-list Keywords that top-ranking pages for the seed keywords also rank for.
metrics-get Organic and paid keyword, traffic and cost totals for a target on a date.
organic-competitor-list List the domains that compete with a target for organic keywords.
project-list List Ahrefs projects (Rank Tracker and Site Audit) the key can see. Free.
rank-tracker-overview-get Keyword positions, traffic and changes for a Rank Tracker project on a date.
serp-overview-get The live search results for a keyword, with each result's rating and traffic.
site-audit-issue-list The issues found by a Site Audit crawl, with counts and change since a comparison crawl.
site-audit-project-list Health scores of Site Audit projects, optionally filtered by id, name or URL.
usage-get Read the plan, the API key's expiry and the API units this key and workspace have used and may use, plus the reset date. Free — consumes no units.
A workflow step names the app and the action, and the editor fills in the
connection when you pick one. This is the Step shape from the
workflow spec, carrying Ahrefs's real ids.
{
"manifestVersion": "2",
"name": "ahrefs-example",
"steps": [
{
"id": "anchor-list",
"uses": {
"app": "io.w6w.ahrefs",
"action": "anchor-list",
"connection": "conn_YOUR_CONNECTION_ID"
},
"with": {
"target": "<target>"
}
}
]
}anchor-list backlink-broken-list backlink-list backlinks-stats-get domain-rating-get +15 more actions available
Every app-specific value here is a blank you have to fill in. An
app action is reached through the connection that authenticates it, so the
address is a connection id, not the app id — and connections belong to your account,
so a public page cannot know yours. Create one for Ahrefs, then fill in
the three blanks: conn_YOUR_CONNECTION_ID, the action key, and the
parameters that action declares. The call itself is real — the shape is transcribed
from the studio's own snippet builder, which prints the same kind of blanks — but
nothing in it is specific to Ahrefs. The Workflow tab is where this app's
real ids are.
npm install @w6w/sdkyarn add @w6w/sdkpnpm add @w6w/sdkdeno add npm:@w6w/sdkimport { W6wClient, isActionRun } from "@w6w/sdk";
// Reads W6W_BASE_URL and W6W_TOKEN from the environment when omitted.
const client = new W6wClient();
const envelope = await client.run({
urn: "conn_YOUR_CONNECTION_ID",
action: "anchor-list",
payload: {
target: "<value>",
// select: "<value>",
// where: "<value>",
// orderBy: "<value>",
// limit: "<value>",
// mode: "<value>",
// protocol: "<value>",
},
});
if (isActionRun(envelope)) console.log(envelope.value); npm install -g @w6w/cli w6w run conn_YOUR_CONNECTION_ID --action anchor-list --payload '{"target":"<value>"}' Give an AI agent Ahrefs — without giving it Ahrefs's credentials. One MCP endpoint exposes every app, function and workflow the caller is entitled to, as tools it can discover and run. Access is granted per team while we onboard.
One tool call{
"name": "w6w_invoke",
"arguments": {
"ref": "app:io.w6w.ahrefs#anchor-list",
"input": {
"target": "<target>"
}
}
}
Every tool names its target with a single ref. The
app: form above doesn't name a connection at all — the
host resolves which of the caller's Ahrefs connections to sign
with, and refuses rather than guesses when the answer is ambiguous.
The token is attached host-side, at the moment of the call. It is never a tool argument, never in the model's context, and never in a transcript — so a prompt injection has nothing to exfiltrate.
Tools are derived per end user from what that person has actually connected and is entitled to — not one shared bot identity carrying the union of everyone's access.
Multi-step work runs on the workflow engine and returns a run handle the agent can poll — retries, branching and state survive the conversation that started them.
Ahrefs's declared health checks are on the surface too, so an agent can tell "the vendor is down" from "your credential expired" before it burns a retry on either.
The MCP surface is part of the hosted platform. Ahrefs itself is MIT, and the runtime that executes it is source-available (FSL).
Ahrefs declares its own checks, so its health is a property of the app rather than something the host guesses at.
Unauthenticated GET limits-and-usage. Ahrefs' JSON error body (Forbidden) passes: it proves the application is answering.
Monthly API units remaining, from the free limits-and-usage call.