Connect Semrush to Claude Code
Give Claude Code governed access to Semrush’s 23 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.
Set up
Add Semrush to Claude Code in four steps
Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Claude Code then gets it through the same governed connection.
- 1
Add Semrush to Runlayer
Semrush isn’t in the Runlayer catalog yet, so an admin adds it by its MCP server URL.
Adding a connector manually - 2
Connect Claude Code to Runlayer
Runlayer’s CLI installs the Runlayer Plugin natively in Claude Code, and an Anthropic org install also reaches Claude Code. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, Semrush’s 23 tools show up in Claude Code’s own tool list (supported Claude Code versions).
Claude Code setup guide - 3
Sign in to Semrush
Sign in the way Semrush requires. Runlayer holds the credentials so they stay out of the client’s configuration.
- 4
Use Semrush from Claude Code
Semrush’s approved tools appear in Claude Code. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.
Tools
23 Semrush tools in Claude Code
Runlayer policy decides which of these Claude Code users can call.
Audience research
Audience Analytics: visitor profile of a domain — demographics (age, gender, income, education, household size, occupation), audience interests, visitor geography by country, audience overlap between…
Backlink research
Backlink profile analysis: referring domains, anchor texts, authority scores, link growth history, and competitor link comparison.
Backlinks research
Backlink Analytics: for a single domain's link profile — backlinks, referring domains and IPs, anchor texts, geographic and TLD distribution, Authority Score breakdown, domain and referring-domain…
Competitors research
Competitive Research: find who competes with a domain in organic search, paid search, and Google Shopping (PLA); compare keyword overlap and backlink profiles between multiple domains; analyze market…
Domain overview
Get high-level counters for a domain, subdomain, subfolder, or URL — Semrush Rank, keyword/traffic/cost totals, PLA, SERP Features.
Execute report
Execute any Semrush report.
Get report schema
Get a report's parameters.
Keyword research
Keyword Analytics: look up any keyword — search volume, CPC, competition, keyword difficulty, SERP results (organic and paid), related keywords, broad match variations, phrase questions, and ads…
Control
What Runlayer can see and stop in Claude Code
Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what Claude Code exposes to Runlayer.
Gateway policy (available)
Every Semrush call from Claude Code passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.
Audit trail (available)
Each call is recorded with the user, Claude Code as the client, the tool, and the policy and scanner decisions.
Client hooks (available)
Capture supported prompts, reasoning, local and MCP tool calls, responses, and scanner decisions in real time.
Anthropic inference hooks (available)
With Claude Enterprise, Anthropic sends each governed Claude Code prompt to Runlayer before inference, with nothing installed on devices (Anthropic beta).
OTLP telemetry (available)
Claude Code can export OpenTelemetry logs to Runlayer for observe-only session reconstruction.
Stop a call before it runs (available)
Runlayer can deny a tool call before Claude Code runs it.
Block output after it runs (available)
Runlayer can block a tool’s output before Claude Code’s model sees it.
Redact output in place (available)
Runlayer can mask sensitive parts of a tool’s output in Claude Code and pass the rest through.
In Claude Code
- When a tool fails, Runlayer records the error but cannot hide it.
Frequently asked questions
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