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Summary
Read a Substack publication: list, search and open posts, read comments and the RSS feed, and find a writer's publication from their @handle. 7 read-only tools, no API key.
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Example prompts for Substack
Click any prompt to copy it. Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini, Copilot or OpenClaw to run it against this connector.
Claude is AI and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
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Substack + ChatGPT
Read a Substack publication: list, search and open posts, read comments and the RSS feed, and find a writer's publication from their @handle. 7 read-only tools, no API key.
Prerequisites
See the full setup instructions baked into the connector (visible in the in-app store when you select the connector). The required environment variables for this connector are:
SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URL
Step 1 — Get credentials
- There is no key and no Substack login. Set
SUBSTACK_PUBLICATION_URLto the publication's home address, with nothing after the domain:https://yourname.substack.comor a custom domain such ashttps://www.lennysnewsletter.com. - A profile link (
https://substack.com/@handle), a note link or a post link does not work. From a profile, open the publication shown there and copy the address bar up to the domain. In an app share linkopen.substack.com/pub/NAME/p/...,NAMEis the subdomain: usehttps://NAME.substack.com. - Start with
substack_list_posts(newest first, orsort=topfor the most liked), thensubstack_get_post_by_idorsubstack_get_post_by_slug(the part after/p/in a post link) for the full text.substack_find_publication_by_handleturns an @handle into the writer's publication address.
The connector reads the public JSON endpoints Substack's own site uses (Substack has no documented public API), so it sees what a signed-out visitor sees: paid posts show their preview only. Lists take limit (up to 50) and offset. A 404 on every tool means there is no publication at the configured address; an HTML page instead of JSON means the address is a profile or not a Substack site.
Step 2 — Install the adapter
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/HelpCode-ai/anythingmcp/main/docker-compose.quickstart.yml -o docker-compose.yml
printf 'JWT_SECRET=%s\nENCRYPTION_KEY=%s\n' "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" "$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > .env
docker compose up -d
Step 3 — Add the connector in ChatGPT
Your server URL: in AnythingMCP, open MCP Servers → the server this connector is on, and copy its URL (
https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/…). Use it wherever this guide showsYOUR_SERVER_ID.
ChatGPT connects to MCP servers as custom apps in developer mode, available on paid plans (not on Free). On Business and Enterprise workspaces an admin may have to allow it first.
- In ChatGPT, open Settings → Security and login and turn on Developer mode.
- Go to chatgpt.com/plugins and click +.
- Enter a name and a short description, e.g. Name:
Substack. - Under Connection, enter the MCP server URL
https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp/YOUR_SERVER_IDand create the connection. - When ChatGPT asks, sign in to AnythingMCP (OAuth) and allow access.
Available tools
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
substack_list_posts | List the publication's posts, newest first or most liked first |
substack_search_posts | Full-text search the publication's post archive |
substack_get_post_by_id | Fetch one post by its numeric id, with the full body_html (a preview only for paid posts), subtitle, post_date, audience, comment_count and… |
substack_get_post_by_slug | Fetch one post by its slug, the part after /p/ in a post link (for https://name.substack.com/p/my-first-post the slug is my-first-post) |
substack_get_comments | Get the comments on a post, as threads: each comment has id, name, handle, date, body, reaction_count and its replies under children |
substack_get_rss_feed | Fetch the publication's RSS 2.0 feed (/feed): the most recent posts with title, link, publication date and HTML content |
substack_find_publication_by_handle | Look up a Substack writer by @handle (from a profile link substack.com/@handle) and return their name, bio and the publications they write… |
FAQ
Does the free ChatGPT plan work with custom MCP connectors? No. Custom MCP connections need developer mode, which is only on paid plans.
Next steps
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