Setup Guide

You're 5 minutes away from building GHL sub-accounts with your voice. Let's get you connected.

! What You'll Need

Have these four things ready before you start. Claude will ask for each one when you run setup_ghl_mcp.

1
Purchase Email
The email you used at checkout
2
License Key
From your welcome email
3
GHL API Key
Created in your sub-account
4
Location ID
Found in your GHL URL

Items 1 and 2 were sent to your email after purchase. Items 3 and 4 come from your GHL account — this guide shows you exactly where to find them.

1 Find Your License Key

Check the email you used at checkout. You should have received a welcome email from Elite DCS with your license key. It looks like this:

xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

Copy this key — you'll paste it into Claude in Step 4. Your license activates on up to 3 machines (desktop, laptop, work computer). Reinstalling on the same machine doesn't count.

Don't have the email? Check your spam/junk folder. It comes from Elite DCS LLC. If you still can't find it, reply to your purchase receipt or email [email protected].

2 Get Your GHL API Key

Switch into the correct sub-account first. API keys are scoped to individual sub-accounts — a key from Sub-Account A won't work with Sub-Account B.

(Agency users: you can create an agency-level key instead. Pass your Company ID to setup_ghl_mcp when prompted.)

Navigate to:

Settings → Integrations → Private Integrations → Create Private Integration
Screenshot: GHL Settings > Integrations > Private Integrations page
(Screenshot will be added)

Configure your integration:

  1. Name it Claude Code MCP (or any name you'll recognize)
  2. Enable all permission scopes — Claude needs broad access to manage your account
  3. Immediately copy the API Key when it appears
Your API key can only be copied ONCE — at the moment you create the integration. After you leave that screen, the key is permanently masked. If you lose it, delete the integration and create a new one.
Screenshot: The API key display — copy it immediately
(Screenshot will be added)

3 Find Your Location ID

Your Location ID (sub-account ID) is in the URL when you're inside a sub-account. Look at your browser's address bar:

https://app.gohighlevel.com/v2/location/YOUR_LOCATION_ID/dashboard

It's the long string between /location/ and /dashboard. It looks something like: abc123DEFghi456

Screenshot: Browser address bar with Location ID highlighted
(Screenshot will be added)

Copy this value. You'll paste it into Claude in Step 4.

4 Connect GHL Command to Claude

You need to tell Claude where to find GHL Command. There are two paths depending on which Claude you use. Pick one.

  1. Open the Claude Desktop App.
  2. Click Claude menu (top-left) → Settings... → Developer tab → Edit Config. The config file opens in your default text editor.
  3. Paste this block (or merge into your existing mcpServers if you have other MCP servers configured):
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ghl": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@elitedcs/ghl-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}
  1. Save the file.
  2. Quit Claude completely (Cmd+Q on Mac) and reopen it.

Open Claude Code and paste this single line:

! claude mcp add --scope user -t stdio ghl -- npx -y @elitedcs/ghl-mcp@latest

The ! prefix tells Claude Code to run the command directly. Then restart Claude Code (Ctrl+C then re-open).

That's the install. No git, no Node.js prereqs, no terminal commands you have to memorize. npx handles fetching the latest version automatically each time Claude starts.

5 Activate Your License

After you restart Claude, it has GHL Command loaded but locked. Activate it by typing this prompt (replace the four placeholders with your real values from Steps 1–3):

Run setup_ghl_mcp to activate GHL Command:
  email: YOUR_PURCHASE_EMAIL
  license_key: YOUR_LICENSE_KEY
  ghl_api_key: YOUR_GHL_API_KEY
  ghl_location_id: YOUR_LOCATION_ID

Claude will ask permission to call setup_ghl_mcp — approve it. The tool validates your license against our server, verifies your GHL credentials work, and writes them to your machine. You'll see "Setup complete!" with your activation count (e.g., 1/3).

Quit Claude completely and reopen it once more. When it comes back, all 165 tools are unlocked. Try:

"List my GHL contacts"

If you see your contacts, you're done.

6 Enable Workflow Builder (Optional)

The 6 workflow builder tools use GHL's internal API and require Firebase authentication. Skip this if you don't need to create or edit workflows — the other 165 tools work without it. You can always add this later.

⚡ The easy way: One-click capture

Skip the DevTools maze. Drag a button to your bookmarks bar, click it inside GHL, and your three Firebase values appear automatically.

Open the One-Click Capture Tool →
Or do it manually with Chrome DevTools (the hard way)

Step 6a: Open Chrome DevTools while logged into GHL

Log into app.gohighlevel.com → Press Cmd + Option + I (Mac) → Click Application tab

Step 6b: Navigate to the Firebase storage

IndexedDB → firebaseLocalStorageDb → firebaseLocalStorage → Click the entry

Step 6c: Find these three values in the JSON object:

What You Need Where to Find It
Firebase API Key The fbase_key field — the string between firebase:authUser: and :[DEFAULT]
Refresh Token stsTokenManager → refreshToken
User ID The uid field

Once you have the three Firebase values, re-run setup_ghl_mcp with all three extra fields:

Re-run setup_ghl_mcp with workflow builder enabled:
  email: YOUR_PURCHASE_EMAIL
  license_key: YOUR_LICENSE_KEY
  ghl_api_key: YOUR_GHL_API_KEY
  ghl_location_id: YOUR_LOCATION_ID
  ghl_user_id: FROM_FIREBASE_CAPTURE
  ghl_firebase_api_key: FROM_FIREBASE_CAPTURE
  ghl_firebase_refresh_token: FROM_FIREBASE_CAPTURE
Firebase refresh tokens can rotate. If workflow tools stop working after a few weeks, run the One-Click Capture again and re-run setup_ghl_mcp with the fresh values.

? Need Help?

If anything goes wrong during setup, here are the most common fixes:

  • "License validation failed" or "License key not found" — Make sure you're using the exact email from checkout and the license key from your welcome email. Both must match what we have on file. Check your spam folder if you don't see the welcome email.
  • "GHL API key is invalid (401)" — The key can only be copied once when you create it. If you lost it, delete the integration in GHL and create a new one.
  • "GHL API key doesn't have access to this Location ID" — You created the key in a different sub-account than the Location ID you entered. Switch sub-accounts in GHL and create a new key inside the right one.
  • "Install limit reached" — Your license is activated on its 3-machine limit. Email [email protected] with your purchase email and we'll reset it.
  • "Only setup_ghl_mcp is available" after restart — Setup didn't write credentials successfully. Re-run setup_ghl_mcp with all four required fields.
  • Something else? — Email [email protected] with a screenshot and I'll help you personally.
Back to Product Page