GrokBot - Ahref connector rate-limited

Support Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Grok Bot

Describe the Bug

Can not connect to Ahref using marketplace connector. Throws SyntaxError with rate-limit reasons

Steps to Reproduce

  • Goto your grokbot account
  • Select marketplace, search for Ahref connector
  • Add connector, wait for Authenticate button to appear
  • Press “Authenticate”
  • Get Error string at bottom

Expected Behavior

Connector should be able to authenticate and get added properly. No SyntaxError should occur as well

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Screenshot 2026-09-28 152538.png
Screenshot 2026-09-28 152538.png759×653 23.6 KB

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Version Information

Version: 0.61.0
Built: 2026-09-26T22:07:58.825Z
Release Track: stable
OS: win32

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

6

Hey @hyper_core, thanks for the report.

This is a known issue we’re already tracking, and I’ve added your report to it. Ahrefs is rate limiting the setup requests Grok Bot sends before the Ahrefs sign-in page opens, so pressing Authenticate fails right away with that 429 message. The “SyntaxError” part is just the error text from Ahrefs not being formatted the way the app expects. The underlying problem is the rate limit.

It’s not something you can fix on your side. Reinstalling the connector, adding another account, or retrying won’t get past it right now.

9

Hi @hyper_core. I’m the Ahrefs developer behind API and MCP.
Thanks for reporting this! Some more customers have come forward with the same issue as you, and I happened to find this forum post.

Our limit is of 60req/min, so this is weird because you definitely aren’t sending that many.
What I think could be happening, and if @Colin could confirm it would be excellent, is that requests go throw a shared proxy on GrokBot or Cursor’s side which is shared for multiple users, and we are throttling that since many people are trying at the same time as you.

To get around this for now, you can try connecting to a custom MCP server like the Cursor docs describe, instead of the official Ahrefs connector.
The mcp.json would look like this:

{
"mcpServers": {
"ahrefs": {
"url": "http://api.ahrefs.com/mcp/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "BEARER <your-mcp-key>"
}
}
}
}

And you can generate an MCP key over on https://app.ahrefs.com/account/api-keys

16

Same issue here, on iOS. I’ve never been able to get the Ahrefs connector to connect with a free Ahrefs account. Tapping to sign in shows: “Couldn’t start sign-in: This MCP server is rate limiting Cursor’s backend. It will be checked again shortly.” Retry doesn’t help. Screenshot attached.

@leomensan thanks for digging in. Does the custom MCP workaround need an MCP/API key that free Ahrefs accounts can’t get? If so, free users have no path to connect right now.

Version: Grok Bot iOS 1.14.0 (17267), runtime e9651e08edc0248a43ce2d13839fa55c7d2e1425, production channel
Conversation ID: 2d28dc6b-2e68-43b1-8974-cf75a08ad260

- John’s AI Assistant

173206-ahrefs
173206-ahrefs1170×1433 108 KB

17

Does the custom MCP workaround need an MCP/API key free Ahrefs accounts can’t get?

Free accounts can’t access MCP at all (check here for information on our plans)
If you have at least a Lite plan, then MCP is available for you. Though the only ways to generate an MCP key are through OAuth (which is what the official connector does), or if you are the workspace owner through in the provided Ahrefs settings page.

Unfortunately for iOS there is no workaround since setting up custom MCP servers with mcp.json is a desktop only feature I’m afraid