Bring HackerRank into yourAI workflow

HackerRank MCP

HackerRank MCP lets approved AI clients retrieve assessment, candidate, interview, team, and audit information from HackerRank. Recruiters and interviewers can review pipeline activity, prepare interview briefs, and create reports without changing HackerRank data.

This guide documents 45 customer-facing, read-only tools backed by HackerRank APIs. Configure the server at https://www.hackerrank.com/work/mcp.

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI applications work with external products. HackerRank provides the MCP server; Claude Code or ChatGPT Codex is the client where you ask questions and give instructions.

One connection, role-specific workflows

Use the same HackerRank connection for the work that matters to your role.

Choose your MCP client

The server is live in production. Interactive clients can start OAuth sign-in automatically; autonomous agents can use a personal V3 API key as a Bearer credential.

Claude Code CLI

Add the server from your terminal, then authenticate from the /mcp menu.

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Claude Code GUI

Add HackerRank as a remote connector, then enable it in your desktop Claude Code session.

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ChatGPT Codex

Add the production URL in Settings, then use the Authenticate action.

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Autonomous agent

Use a settings-generated personal V3 API key from a protected environment variable.

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Connect from your terminal

Add the production server for your user account:

claude mcp add hackerrank \
  --scope user \
  --transport http \
  https://www.hackerrank.com/work/mcp

1. Run claude in your terminal to start Claude Code.
2. Inside Claude Code, run /mcp.
3. Find HackerRank. If it shows needs authentication, select it and press Enter.
4. Complete the HackerRank sign-in in the browser window, then return to Claude Code.
5. Open /mcp again and confirm that HackerRank shows as connected with its available tool count.

Connect from Claude Desktop

HackerRank is a hosted remote MCP server. Add it as a custom connector to make it available in Claude Desktop and your desktop Claude Code sessions.

1. Open Claude Desktop and go to Customize → Connectors.
2. Select +, then Add custom connector.
3. Enter https://www.hackerrank.com/work/mcp as the remote MCP server URL. Leave the optional OAuth client ID and client secret empty.
4. Select Add, then find HackerRank in the connector list and select Connect.
5. Complete the HackerRank sign-in in your browser, then return to Claude Desktop.
6. Start or open a Claude Code session. From the + menu, open Connectors and enable HackerRank for that session.

For Claude account and organization-specific details, see Anthropic's remote custom connector guide.

Connect from ChatGPT Codex

Add the HackerRank production MCP directly in ChatGPT Codex.

1. Open Settings → Plugins → MCP.
2. Select Add Server and enter https://www.hackerrank.com/work/mcp.
3. Return to the MCP list and select Authenticate next to HackerRank.
4. Complete the HackerRank sign-in in your browser.
5. Return to ChatGPT Codex and confirm that the server shows as connected.

Connect an autonomous agent

Use this path for a non-interactive agent that cannot complete browser OAuth. The agent connects to the same production URL and sends the personal key with the Bearer scheme.

1. Sign in to HackerRank for Work and open your API token settings.
2. Generate a personal V3 API key with a label that identifies the agent.
3. Copy the key once and store it in a secret manager or protected environment variable. Do not put it in source control or an MCP configuration file.
4. Configure the remote MCP server to read that environment variable as its Bearer token.
5. Initialize MCP, list tools, and call check_api_connection to verify access.
6. Revoke the key from HackerRank settings when the agent no longer needs access.

export HACKERRANK_MCP_API_KEY='<personal-v3-api-key>'

codex mcp add hackerrank-agent \
  --url https://www.hackerrank.com/work/mcp \
  --bearer-token-env-var HACKERRANK_MCP_API_KEY

Authentication

HackerRank MCP accepts OAuth access tokens and personal V3 API keys concurrently on POST /work/mcp. Both use Authorization: Bearer <credential>; HackerRank validates and classifies every opaque credential.

OAuth for interactive clients

1. Add the production MCP URL to Claude Code or ChatGPT Codex without a custom authorization header.
2. Start authentication from the MCP server list.
3. Sign in from your browser, then return to your client.
4. Confirm that HackerRank shows as connected before asking it to use HackerRank.

Personal key for autonomous agents

Generate the key from your HackerRank token settings and keep it in a secret manager. The key uses your current HackerRank identity and company eligibility, and it can be revoked independently at any time.

Prompts to try

Copy any prompt below and edit it as needed.

Capabilities reference

All 45 read-only tools shown on this page, grouped by capability. This includes candidate, assessment, interview, team, question, invite template, and audit workflows.

Authentication observability

Every authentication attempt emits one secret-safe mcp_auth_result log. Facet it by credential mode, outcome, and sanitized reason:

FROM Log SELECT count(*)
WHERE service = 'hackerrank-mcp'
  AND message = 'mcp_auth_result'
FACET auth_method, auth_outcome, reason

For an introspection cache miss, use the MCP event's auth_correlation_id to find HRW's mcp_credential_introspection event with the same request_id.

FROM Transaction SELECT count(*)
WHERE oauthEvent = 'mcp_credential_introspection'
FACET oauthAuthMethod, oauthAuthOutcome, oauthReason

Learn with step-by-step videos

A video series will walk through practical HackerRank MCP workflows for recruiters, interviewers, and developers.