Brilliant Directories API — Universal AI Integration

Give any AI agent full access to your Brilliant Directories site with one API key.

Manage members, posts (single-image and multi-image), leads, reviews, top and sub categories, email templates, pages (homepage, landing pages), 301 redirects, smart lists, widgets, menus, forms, tags, membership plans, and more — across every resource BD exposes via its REST API.

30-Second Quickstart

One command. Answer two questions. Done.

npx brilliant-directories-mcp --setup

The wizard asks for your BD site URL and API key, tests the connection, asks which app you use (Cursor / Claude Desktop / Windsurf / Claude Code), and writes the config for you. No JSON editing.

Restart your app, then ask your AI:

"List members on my BD site"

Get your API key from BD Admin > Developer Hub > Generate API Key.

For AI agents / scripts (non-interactive)

If an AI agent is guiding you, it can have you paste a single command with everything prefilled:

npx brilliant-directories-mcp --setup --url https://your-site.com --api-key YOUR_KEY --client cursor

This runs the full setup end-to-end with no prompts. Replace cursor with claude-desktop, windsurf, claude-code, or print (prints the JSON config instead of writing a file).

Setup by Platform

Claude Code / Cursor / Windsurf / Cline (MCP)

Option A — npx (recommended, no install needed):

claude mcp add bd-api -- npx brilliant-directories-mcp --api-key YOUR_KEY --url https://your-site.com

Option B — Global install:

npm install -g brilliant-directories-mcp
claude mcp add bd-api -- brilliant-directories-mcp --api-key YOUR_KEY --url https://your-site.com

Cursor / Windsurf / Cline — add to your MCP config file (~/.cursor/mcp.json, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bd-api": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "brilliant-directories-mcp", "--api-key", "YOUR_KEY", "--url", "https://your-site.com"]
    }
  }
}

Then ask your AI: "List all members on my BD site" or "Create a new member with email john@example.com"

ChatGPT (GPT Actions)

1. In your GPT: Configure > Actions > Create new action
2. Under Schema, choose Import from URL and paste:

   https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brilliantdirectories/brilliant-directories-mcp/main/openapi/bd-api.json
   

3. When prompted for bd_site_url, enter your BD site (e.g., https://mysite.com)
4. Set Authentication: API Key, Auth Type: Custom, Header Name: X-Api-Key, paste your key

n8n

Option A — Import OpenAPI spec (recommended):

Import the spec URL as a custom API definition:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brilliantdirectories/brilliant-directories-mcp/main/openapi/bd-api.json

n8n will prompt for your BD site URL and API key on import. No file editing required.

Option B — Plain HTTP Request node:

1. Create a new workflow, add an HTTP Request node
2. Set:
   • Method: GET
   • URL: https://your-site.com/api/v2/user/get
   • Header: X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY

Make / Zapier

Make: Create a custom app using the OpenAPI spec, or use HTTP module with X-Api-Key header.

Zapier: If you already have the BD Zapier app, it uses the same underlying API. For new endpoints, use Webhooks by Zapier with the X-Api-Key header.

curl / Any HTTP Client

# Verify your API key
curl -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://your-site.com/api/v2/token/verify

# List members
curl -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://your-site.com/api/v2/user/get?limit=10

# Create a member
curl -X POST -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -d "email=new@example.com&password=secret123&subscription_id=1&first_name=Jane&last_name=Doe" \
  https://your-site.com/api/v2/user/create

# Search members
curl -X POST -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -d "q=dentist&address=Los Angeles&limit=10" \
  https://your-site.com/api/v2/user/search

# Update a member
curl -X PUT -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -d "user_id=42&company=New Company Name" \
  https://your-site.com/api/v2/user/update

Troubleshooting

Verify your setup with one command:

npx brilliant-directories-mcp --verify --api-key YOUR_KEY --url https://your-site.com

Prints OK if credentials work, FAIL with the error otherwise. Good first step for any connectivity issue.

Debug mode — see exactly what's happening:

npx brilliant-directories-mcp --debug --verify --api-key YOUR_KEY --url https://your-site.com

Logs every API request and response to stderr (your API key is automatically redacted), then exits. Useful when something isn't working and you want to share output with BD support.

Drop --verify to start the full MCP stdio server with debug logging — it will appear to hang in a regular terminal because MCP servers run forever over stdio, waiting for an AI client to connect. Use --debug --verify for one-shot debugging from a shell.

Common issues:

• 401 Unauthorized — API key is wrong, revoked, or lacks permission for the endpoint
• 404 Not Found — site URL is wrong (check for typos; https:// is auto-added if missing)
• 429 Too Many Requests — rate limit hit (100 req/60s default); back off or increase limit in BD admin
• Unknown tool (from Claude) — the MCP server didn't load the OpenAPI spec; reinstall with npm install -g brilliant-directories-mcp

Authentication

All requests require the X-Api-Key header:

X-Api-Key: your-api-key-here

API keys are scoped by permission — you control which endpoints each key can access.

Rate Limits

Default: 100 requests per 60 seconds per API key. On request: up to 1,000 requests per minute — contact the Brilliant Directories support team to have your site's limit raised (any value between 100 and 1,000/min).

The limit is set server-side by BD, not a self-service setting in your admin. If you expect heavy API usage, email BD support before bulk operations and ask for a temporary or permanent increase.

When exceeded, the API returns HTTP 429 Too Many Requests. The MCP server surfaces this as an actionable error for your AI agent — it will know to back off or recommend requesting a higher limit.

Plan bulk operations: if you're asking your agent to import/update hundreds of records, either (a) request a higher limit from BD support first, or (b) tell the agent to pace itself (e.g., "import these 500 members, pausing to respect the 100/min rate limit").

Pagination

All list endpoints support pagination:

Response includes: total, current_page, total_pages, next_page, prev_page

Filtering

All list endpoints support filtering:

GET /api/v2/user/get?property=city&property_value=Los Angeles&property_operator==

Multiple filters:

GET /api/v2/user/get?property[]=city&property_value[]=Los Angeles&property[]=state_code&property_value[]=CA

Operators: =, LIKE, >, <, >=, <=

Sorting

GET /api/v2/user/get?order_column=last_name&order_type=ASC

Available Resources

Field Discovery

Some endpoints support dynamic field discovery:

# Get all available user fields
curl -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://your-site.com/api/v2/user/fields

# Get custom fields for a specific post type
curl -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://your-site.com/api/v2/data_posts/fields?form_name=my-form

Files

Stable asset URLs

For tools that import specs by URL (ChatGPT Actions, n8n, Postman):

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brilliantdirectories/brilliant-directories-mcp/main/openapi/bd-api.json

Security

• API keys are never embedded in the package
• All requests go directly from the user's machine to their BD site
• No data passes through third-party servers
• API key permissions control which endpoints are accessible
• Treat your API key like a password

Support

• BD Support: https://support.brilliantdirectories.com
• API Docs: https://support.brilliantdirectories.com/support/solutions/articles/12000108045