How to use MissingLinkz yourself

MissingLinkz is built for AI agents, but you don't need one. If you're a marketer who's comfortable with a terminal, you can run every command yourself. Here's a full walkthrough.

Before you start

You need Node.js 18 or later installed on your machine. If you can run node --version in your terminal and see v18 or higher, you're ready.

On macOS, open Terminal. On Windows, open PowerShell or Command Prompt. On Linux, open your terminal emulator.

1

Install the CLI

This installs the mlz command globally so you can use it from any directory.

npm install -g missinglinkz

You can start using mlz build and mlz inspect immediately — no account needed for basic UTM generation and page inspection.

2

Register for a free account

Get 50 links/month free, no credit card required. Your API key is shown once — save it somewhere safe.

mlz auth register --email [email protected] 
api_key: mlz_live_abc123...    ← save this!
plan:    free
quota:   50 links/month

The key is automatically saved to ~/.missinglinkz/config.json. You won't need to enter it again on this machine.

3

Switch to human-readable output

By default, MissingLinkz outputs JSON (designed for agents to parse). For human use, switch to readable text:

export MLZ_FORMAT=human

This sets the format for your current terminal session. Add it to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to make it permanent. You can also use --format human on any individual command.

4

Run a preflight check on your campaign link

This is the main command. Replace the URL and campaign details with your own. It builds your UTM link, validates the destination, and inspects the landing page — all at once.

mlz preflight --url "https://yoursite.com/landing" --campaign "spring-launch" --source "linkedin" --medium "social" --format human
preflight result 
ready:       true
tracked_url: https://yoursite.com/landing?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=spring-launch

checks:
  PASS  og_tags        All essential Open Graph tags present
  PASS  twitter_card   Twitter Card tags configured
  PASS  viewport       Viewport meta tag present
  PASS  ssl            URL uses HTTPS
  PASS  resolution     Destination responded with 200
  PASS  redirects      No redirect chain detected
  PASS  response_time  Page loaded in 420ms
  PASS  canonical      Canonical URL matches destination
  PASS  favicon        Favicon found

summary:     12 passed, 0 warnings, 0 failed
verdict:     All checks passed. Ready to publish.

Copy the tracked_url — that's your campaign link with UTM tracking baked in. Paste it into your social post, email, or ad.

5

Create links for multiple platforms

Running the same campaign across LinkedIn, Twitter, and email? Run preflight once per platform with different --source values:

mlz preflight --url "https://yoursite.com/landing" --campaign "spring-launch" --source "twitter" --medium "social" --format human
mlz preflight --url "https://yoursite.com/landing" --campaign "spring-launch" --source "newsletter" --medium "email" --format human

Each command gives you a unique tracked URL for that platform. In Google Analytics, you'll see exactly which platform drove each visit.

6

Other commands you'll use

Preflight is the main one, but these come in handy:

Just build a UTM link (skip the landing page checks)
mlz build --url "https://yoursite.com" --campaign "launch" --source "twitter" --medium "social"
Audit a landing page (without building a link)
mlz inspect https://yoursite.com/landing
Check if a URL is reachable and healthy
mlz check https://yoursite.com/landing
Check your remaining link quota
mlz auth status
See all your campaigns and links
mlz campaigns list

What the preflight checks mean

OG tags
Open Graph tags control how your link looks when shared on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slack. Missing og:title, og:description, or og:image means a blank or ugly preview — which means fewer clicks.
Twitter Card
Similar to OG tags, but for Twitter/X. Without twitter:card and twitter:title, your tweet shows a plain URL instead of a rich card.
SSL
Is the page served over HTTPS? Browsers flag HTTP pages as "Not Secure," which kills trust and click-through.
Resolution
Does the page actually load? Catches 404s, 500 errors, and unreachable servers before you send traffic.
Redirects
How many hops between your link and the final page? Long redirect chains slow load time and can strip your UTM parameters — breaking your analytics.
Response time
How fast does the page load? Every extra second costs ~7% in conversions (Google/Deloitte).
Viewport
Is there a mobile viewport tag? Without it, your page won't render properly on phones — where most social traffic comes from.
Canonical
Does the canonical URL match the destination? A mismatch can split your analytics data across two URLs.
Favicon
Is there a favicon? Without one, browser tabs show a generic icon, which hurts brand recognition.
UTM conflicts
Does the destination already have UTM parameters? If so, yours will either conflict or get overwritten, corrupting attribution.

Ready to try it?

Install MissingLinkz and run your first preflight check in under a minute. Free tier, no credit card.

npm install -g missinglinkz

Don't use the terminal? Ask your AI agent (Claude Code, OpenClaw, Cursor) to run mlz preflight for you — it handles everything.