Connect Semrush to Codex
Give Codex governed access to Semrush’s 23 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.
Set up
Add Semrush to Codex in four steps
Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Codex 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 Codex to Runlayer
Runlayer’s CLI adds the Runlayer Plugin to Codex’s local plugin marketplace, and users then enable it in Codex. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, Semrush’s 23 tools show up in Codex’s own tool list (Codex 0.122 or newer, installed through the Runlayer CLI).
Codex 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 Codex
Semrush’s approved tools appear in Codex. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.
Tools
23 Semrush tools in Codex
Runlayer policy decides which of these Codex 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 Codex
Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what Codex exposes to Runlayer.
Gateway policy (available)
Every Semrush call from Codex passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.
Audit trail (available)
Each call is recorded with the user, Codex 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.
Stop a call before it runs (available)
Runlayer can deny a tool call or permission request before Codex runs it.
Block output after it runs (available)
Runlayer can block a tool’s output before Codex’s model sees it.
Redact output in place (not available)
Codex cannot take masked output, so Runlayer can block a tool’s output but not mask it. The gateway still applies policy to the call.
Frequently asked questions
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