# NYC Consumer Protection (DCWP) AI Agent Connect

> NYC Consumer Protection (DCWP) MCP gives your AI client direct access to New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection records. You can query thousands of consumer complaints, business inspections, administrative charges, and active business licenses without needing an API key. It is a ready-to-use connection for any MCP-compatible client like Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf.

## Overview
- **Category:** government-public-data
- **Price:** Free
- **Endpoint:** https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_d9qnaFpPi5iOO0w1lYwtBUM5XV68CkIyhZH56xUJ/ai-agent-connect
- **Tags:** new-york, nyc, dcwp, consumer-complaints, inspections, licenses, business, charges

## Description

You can now give your agent access to the official records of the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. This MCP lets you pull specific data on business conduct and regulatory compliance across the five boroughs. Instead of digging through web portals, you can ask your AI client to find specific landlord complaints, check the inspection history of a local business, or count how many active licenses exist in a particular category. 

The data includes over 76,000 consumer complaints, 290,000 inspections, and 137,000 administrative charges. Because these datasets are massive, the tools use time windows to keep queries fast and relevant. You can look back 90 days for complaints and inspections, or up to a year for administrative charges. This is built for anyone doing local business intelligence, consumer research, or compliance monitoring who needs hard numbers from NYC's regulatory ecosystem.

## Tools

### count_consumer_complaints
This tool counts DCWP consumer complaints within a specific timeframe. Use it to see the scale of complaints in a window before running a more detailed search.

### search_consumer_complaints
This tool searches the DCWP consumer complaint database. It returns the business category, name, complaint code, and result for specific businesses or categories.

### search_dcwp_charges
This tool searches DCWP administrative charges. It provides details on violation dates, charge text, and the outcome of the case.

### search_dcwp_inspections
This tool searches DCWP business inspections. It returns the business name, category, address, and inspection status.

### top_complaint_categories
This tool identifies the business categories with the highest number of complaints in a given window.

### top_complaint_codes
This tool lists the most frequent complaint codes reported by consumers within a specific timeframe.

### top_dcwp_inspection_types
This tool ranks the most common types of DCWP inspections occurring within a selected window.

### top_license_categories
This tool aggregates the number of issued business licenses by category across NYC.

## Prompt Examples

**Prompt:** 
```
What landlord complaints have DCWP received in the past 90 days?
```

**Response:** 
```
The search returns landlord and real estate agent complaints from the last 90 days, including the specific complaint codes and the results for each case.
```

**Prompt:** 
```
Which tobacco inspections did DCWP run most recently?
```

**Response:** 
```
The inspection search shows recent tobacco sale to minor inspections, including the business names, addresses, and current inspection status.
```

**Prompt:** 
```
Which business categories hold the most active DCWP licenses?
```

**Response:** 
```
The license category tool shows that categories like Home Improvement Contractors and Tobacco Retail Dealers have the highest counts of active licenses.
```

## Capabilities

### Complaint Analysis
Your agent can identify trending consumer issues by looking at complaint codes and categories.

### Business Auditing
You can check the inspection history and administrative charge records for specific NYC businesses.

### License Verification
Your AI client can pull counts of active or expired business licenses by category.

### Trend Identification
The agent can use top ranking tools to find the most frequent inspection types or complaint types in a window.

## Use Cases

### Vetting a Service Provider
Check if a specific landlord or contractor has a history of consumer complaints or failed inspections.

### Market Research
Identify which business sectors in NYC are facing the most regulatory scrutiny.

### Regulatory Monitoring
Track the frequency of specific inspection types like tobacco sales to minors.

### Legal Research
Search for past administrative charges and their outcomes to understand enforcement patterns.

## Benefits

- Access NYC regulatory data without managing your own API keys.
- Query massive datasets using built-in time windows to ensure fast responses.
- Connect directly to your existing AI workflow in Claude or Cursor.
- Get exact matches on business categories and complaint codes.

## How It Works

Get up and running with NYC data in minutes.

1. Subscribe to the NYC Consumer Protection MCP on Vinkius.
2. Connect your preferred MCP-compatible client like Claude or Cursor.
3. Ask your AI client a question about NYC business data.
4. The agent uses the specific DCWP tools to fetch and process the records.
5. Receive the formatted data directly in your chat interface.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**Do I need an API key to use this MCP?**
No. Vinkius hosts the connection and manages the access, so you can use the tools immediately without a personal API key.

**How recent is the data?**
The data is subject to a lag. Complaints and inspections typically trail the current date by a few weeks, while administrative charges may trail by a few months.

**How do I filter for specific business types?**
You can use the search tools with specific category names. It is best to use the top ranking tools first to find the exact category names used in the database.

**What is the default time window for searches?**
By default, complaint and inspection searches look back 90 days, while administrative charge searches look back 365 days.

**Can I see if a business license is active?**
Yes. You can use the license category tool and filter by status to see active or expired licenses.

**Do I need an API key?**
No. NYC Open Data serves all public datasets anonymously over its SODA API (data.cityofnewyork.us). This MCP defines no credentials and needs nothing configured.

**Do the text filters ignore case or match partial values?**
No. The NYC data platform only supports exact-match filters, so a filter value must equal the stored value. In this MCP, business categories are stored as listed (e.g. "Landlord or Real Estate Agent", "Tobacco Retail Dealer"), complaint codes as e.g. "Unlicensed" or "Sidewalk Blocked", outcomes as "Default Decision", "Pleaded" or "Hearing Decision", and license statuses as "Active" or "Expired". Use the top_* ranking tools, or a search tool with no filters, to see the exact stored values before filtering.

**Why do the complaint and inspection tools use a date window?**
The complaints table holds about 76,000 records, the inspections table about 290,000 and the charges table about 137,000. Every search and ranking is therefore scoped to a window: 90 days back by default (max 365) for complaints and inspections, 365 days back by default for charges. The count tool gives the window size before you list.

**How current is the data?**
The tables publish with a lag: the most recent consumer-complaint and inspection records trail today's date by a few weeks, and the charge records by a few months. Queries are keyed on the record's own date, so a default 90-day window returns what is currently published for that period.