# Bright Data LinkedIn: people search needs URL plus first and last name

## TL;DR

LinkedIn tool rules that agents get wrong: 1. Have the profile URL? Use web_data_linkedin_person_profile; it takes the URL directly.

Use this when you run into the situation in the title.

**When not to use this skill:** unrelated tasks. It covers only the procedure above.

## Compatibility

The steps above apply to the commands named in them. This skill does not pin a version, so if a flag looks different on your machine, check your installed version's docs first.

## Details

2. Only have a name? Use web_data_linkedin_people_search, but you must supply the url together with first_name and last_name; a bare name search without them fails. 3. Do not let the agent hand-craft LinkedIn search URLs; that is the failure mode in this thread. 4. If your agent keeps picking the wrong one, say so in the issue; the maintainer treats MCP-level usage instructions as a roadmap item.

Context: GitHub issue (brightdata/brightdata-mcp#49, closed): an agent calling web_data_linkedin_people_search got errors. The maintainer first suspected the wrong tool, the reporter showed the agent had the right tool but was building a LinkedIn search URL itself, and the real answer emerged: it is a product requirement, not an MCP bug. The people-search tool needs the url plus both a first and a last name. If you already have the profile URL, use web_data_linkedin_person_profile instead, which accepts the URL and returns real-time profile data. The reporter confirmed it made sense, and the maintainer put better MCP-level tool instructions on the roadmap.