---
title: "Call links.shorten"
method: POST
path: "/api/v1/tools/links.shorten"
tags: ["links"]
---

# Call links.shorten

`POST /api/v1/tools/links.shorten`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://app.goosybear.ai`
- URL: `https://app.goosybear.ai/api/v1/tools/links.shorten`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Get a tracked short link, with its UTMs, for a web address going out in a post, email, ad or text — 'shorten this link for the post', 'give me a trackable link for this email'. A short version of an address is this link, never a summary of the page. Returns the short link to use in the copy, and the UTMs it carries: source, medium and campaign are made from what it goes out on and the address unless the member names their own utm_source, utm_medium or campaign, which it takes. Calling it twice for the same piece on the same platform returns the SAME link rather than making a second one, so it is safe to re-run. The link goes out on whichever name this brand's links carry; use links.domain_set to change that. Not for how many clicks a link had — that is `links.report`.

Every result names the workspace it ran in. Say which workspace the answer is about. When the account has more than one workspace and none is selected, this tool refuses with `workspace_ambiguous` and lists the choices — offer them, never pick one.

## Headers

- `x-request-id` string

## Request body

- object
  - `target_url` string, required: The secure (https) web address people should land on. Always a page this brand owns.
  - `source_kind` 'post_version' | 'email' | 'ad' | 'sms' | 'link_page' | 'manual', required: What the link is going out ON. Use `manual` only when it belongs to nothing in the system.
  - `source_id` string: The id of the post, email, ad or page it belongs to. Required for every kind except `manual` — it is what makes re-running this safe.
  - `platform` string: Where it is going out: instagram, facebook, linkedin, email, sms… Defaults to `manual`.
  - `campaign` string, nullable: The campaign this belongs to; it is also the link's utm_campaign. Leave it out to take the one made from the address.
  - `utm_source` string: Only when the member names a different utm_source. Leave it out to take the one made from the platform.
  - `utm_medium` string: Only when the member names a different utm_medium. Leave it out to take the one made from what the link goes out on.
  - `workspace` string: Which workspace to run in — its slug. Omit to use your default. With more than one reachable workspace and no default, the call is refused and the choices are listed.

## Response `200`

The call was admitted and dispatched. `ok` says whether the tool succeeded — a refusal the tool itself produced is still a 200, exactly as it is a successful JSON-RPC result over MCP.

- union
  - object: The tool ran and answered.
    - `ok` true, required
    - `short_url` string, required
    - `goes_out_on` string, required
    - `points_at` string, required
    - `utm` object, required
    - `already_existed` boolean, required
    - `workspace` string, required: The slug of the workspace this call ran in.
    - `working_in` object, required: Which workspace this call ran in, and how that was decided. Present on every workspace-scoped result.
      - `label` string, required: The chip words — e.g. "working in: Acme Main".
      - `note` string, required: Why this workspace — e.g. "your default", "this call only".
      - `workspace` string, required: The resolved workspace's slug.
      - `source` 'call-override' | 'key-pin' | 'stored-default' | 'sole-reachable', required: Which rung of the R7 precedence resolved the workspace.
  - ToolRefusal: A call that was admitted and dispatched, and did not succeed.
    - `ok` false, required
    - `code` string, required: The typed reason — e.g. `workspace_ambiguous`, `invalid_arguments`, or the tool's own failure code.
    - `message` string, required: A sentence a person can act on.
    - `workspaces` string[]: On a workspace refusal: the slugs this key may pass as `workspace`.
    - `issues` object[]: On `invalid_arguments`: which fields failed, and why.
      - `path` string, required
      - `message` string, required
    - `path` string: On an authoring refusal: where in your call's input it points, e.g. `steps.<key>.params.<field>`.
    - `fix` string: On an authoring refusal: the change to your call that would pass.
    - `instruction` string: On an authoring refusal: what to do next with it.

## Other responses

- `400`: The request could not be used: the body is present but not a JSON object (`tenant_api.malformed_body`); it is a top-level array carrying more messages than this endpoint accepts (`tenant_mcp.batch_too_large`); or the `Idempotency-Key` header is malformed (`tenant_api.idempotency_key_invalid`), disagrees with the body's `idempotency_key` (`tenant_api.idempotency_key_conflict`), or was sent to an action that cannot replay a retry (`tenant_api.idempotency_unsupported`). Nothing ran.
- `401`: No bearer credential, or one that did not resolve. Deliberately ONE undifferentiated answer for absent / unknown / revoked / expired, so the endpoint is never an oracle over the key space.
- `403`: The credential is good but the surface is not open to it — the platform or account API switch is off, or the holder lacks the `api.access` capability. The `code` says which.
- `404`: No such tool. The body names no tool and is identical for every unrecognised name.
- `429`: Over this key's per-minute cap. Carries `Retry-After` and `error.retry_after_seconds`.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api/revisions/6d82fb124064?raw)