wtf is open-seo?

OpenSEO is an open source tool for search engine optimization work, positioned as a cheaper, self controlled alternative to paid tools like Semrush and Ahrefs. Instead of a monthly subscription, you bring your own API key from a data provider called DataForSEO and pay only for the SEO data you actually request. The tool covers several common SEO tasks: researching which keywords to target, tracking how your site ranks over time, seeing what competitors are doing, checking your backlinks, running site audits, and checking how visible your site is to AI systems. It has a hosted version you can try for free at the project's website, with an optional ten dollar a month subscription if you want to support the project instead of self hosting it. A notable part of this project is that it can connect directly to AI coding agents such as Claude Code, so an agent can pull your SEO data and follow prebuilt guided workflows, called Agent Skills, to carry out SEO tasks on your behalf. You can also write your own custom skills to adapt the tool to your own process. For people who want to run it themselves rather than use the hosted version, the README describes two paths: a simple Docker setup meant for personal use on your own machine, and a more advanced Cloudflare based setup meant for teams or multiple devices connected over the internet. Either way, you still need your own DataForSEO API key to pull real SEO data, and the README notes the hosted version costs a bit more than self hosting because it adds a service fee on top of the data provider's own charges. The project has nearly seven thousand stars and an active Discord community, though the README does not state a license.