Instaply MCP

Agentic job applications, running on your own machine, inside Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, and other local MCP clients.

Zero servers to maintain. Zero accounts. Your profile, your saved answers, your application history all live in one SQLite file at ~/.instaply/data.db. If the original author disappears tomorrow, every install keeps working forever — there is no remote service it depends on.

Why local-first

• No captcha walls. The worker runs in your real Chrome on your residential IP. hCaptcha and reCAPTCHA Enterprise almost never challenge normal users on residential traffic — the problem that breaks every cloud-hosted job-application bot just doesn't apply.
• No rate limits. JobSpy, Greenhouse, Lever — none of them rate-limit residential traffic the way they hammer datacenter IPs.
• No privacy trade-off. Your resume, profile, and answer vault never leave your machine. The MCP server doesn't even have a network egress for those.
• No subscription. Pay once for the package (or take it MIT-licensed off GitHub), use it as long as you have a job to apply to.

Install

Claude Code

claude mcp add instaply uvx instaply-mcp

Codex

codex mcp add instaply uvx instaply-mcp

Claude Desktop

You can either:

1. double-click the .mcpb bundle, or
2. add the same command-based config manually:

Edit your claude_desktop_config.json:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
    "mcpServers": {
      "instaply": {
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": ["instaply-mcp"]
      }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The Instaply tools appear in the tool tray.

Universal fallback

If a client prefers a raw Python module command instead of uvx, use:

python -m instaply_mcp

That works because the package now exposes a real __main__ entrypoint.

Tools

The v0.3.1 tools are local-only — no network, no hosted dependency:

Optional extras

pip install 'instaply-mcp[worker]'           # adds Playwright
python -m playwright install chromium        # one-time, ~150 MB cached

The base install (uvx instaply-mcp) gives you profile, answer vault, and audit trail. Add [worker] when you want apply_to_job to actually drive a browser.

What's coming next

• search_jobs(query, location) — local JobSpy + Greenhouse + Lever scrape via the [search] extra.
• Resume parser (PDF + DOCX, conservative prompt — never invents a background you don't have).
• import_from_dashboard(token) — one-shot migration for users who already have data in the hosted product.
• Auto post-submit detection so mark_complete becomes optional.

Storage layout

Single SQLite file:

~/.instaply/
└── data.db          # profile + answers + applications + jobs cache

Override with INSTAPLY_DATA_DIR env var if you want it elsewhere.

The schema is documented in instaply_mcp/db.py. It's stable; future versions will use ALTER TABLE migrations rather than rebuild.

License

MIT. Use it however you want. If you ship a commercial product on top of it, a "Powered by Instaply" link is appreciated but not required.

Hosted version (still maintained for now)

If you'd rather not run anything locally, the hosted product at instaply.asion.ai still works. It's the same engine; the local MCP and the hosted SaaS share the worker, the rules, and the answer-vault contract. Use whichever fits your taste.