How do I find my LicenseCheck API Key?

Log in to your [**LicenseCheck account**](https://licenseapi.dev/), and you will find your API Key in your dashboard or profile settings. Copy and paste it below.

What types of licenses are covered?

The API covers thousands of common open-source licenses (like MIT, Apache, GPL) as well as various proprietary and commercial licensing models.

Can the agent check for specific permissions?

Yes. Every license record retrieved by your agent includes metadata on permitted actions, such as commercial use, distribution, and modification.

LicenseCheck API MCP Server for Claude Desktop 4 tools — connect in under 2 minutes

Name: LicenseCheck API
Availability: InStock
Author: Vinkius

modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/user

Built by Vinkius GDPR 4 Tools IDE

Claude Desktop is Anthropic's native application for interacting with Claude AI models on macOS and Windows. It was the first consumer application to ship with built-in MCP support, making it the reference implementation for the Model Context Protocol standard.

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The modern way to manage MCP Servers — no config files, no terminal commands. Install LicenseCheck API and 2,500+ MCP Servers from a single visual interface.

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Classic Setup·json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "licensecheck-api": {
      // Your Vinkius token. get it at cloud.vinkius.com
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    }
  }
}

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* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure

About LicenseCheck API MCP Server

Empower your AI agent to orchestrate your entire software compliance and license auditing workflow with LicenseCheck, the specialized source for open-source and proprietary license data. By connecting the LicenseAPI.dev service to your agent, you transform complex legal lookups into a natural conversation. Your agent can instantly retrieve license details, audit permissions and conditions, and query limitations without you ever touching a legal portal. Whether you are conducting dependency research or managing corporate compliance, your agent acts as a real-time legal consultant, ensuring your licensing data is always verified and precise.

Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect LicenseCheck API to your AI workflow. Add Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 4 tools in the chat interface. ask a question, Claude calls the right tool, and you see the answer. Zero code, zero context switching.

What you can do

License Auditing — Search for thousands of software licenses by name or ID and retrieve detailed metadata, including versions and IDs.
Permission Oversight — Audit specific permissions allowed by a license to understand the legal reach of your software usage instantly.
Condition Discovery — Query mandatory conditions required by specific licenses to assist in compliance and archival planning.
Legal Intelligence — Retrieve limitations and prohibitions for any license to identify relevant risk markers for your project.
Compliance Monitoring — Check API status to ensure your legal research workflow is always operational.

The LicenseCheck API MCP Server exposes 4 tools through the Vinkius. Connect it to Claude Desktop in under two minutes — no API keys to rotate, no infrastructure to provision, no vendor lock-in. Your configuration, your data, your control.

How to Connect LicenseCheck API to Claude Desktop via MCP

Follow these steps to integrate the LicenseCheck API MCP Server with Claude Desktop.

Open Claude Desktop Settings

Go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config to open claude_desktop_config.json

Add the MCP Server

Paste the configuration above into the mcpServers section

Restart Claude Desktop

Close and reopen Claude Desktop to load the new server

Start using LicenseCheck API

Look for the 🔌 icon in the chat. your 4 tools are now available

Why Use Claude Desktop with the LicenseCheck API MCP Server

Claude Desktop by Anthropic provides unique advantages when paired with LicenseCheck API through the Model Context Protocol.

Claude Desktop is the reference MCP client. it was designed alongside the protocol itself, ensuring the most complete and stable MCP implementation available

Zero-code configuration: add a server URL to a JSON file and Claude instantly discovers and exposes all available tools in the chat interface

Claude's extended thinking capability lets it reason through multi-step tool usage, chaining multiple API calls to answer complex questions

Enterprise-grade security with local config storage. your tokens never leave your machine, and connections go directly to Vinkius Edge network

LicenseCheck API + Claude Desktop Use Cases

Practical scenarios where Claude Desktop combined with the LicenseCheck API MCP Server delivers measurable value.

Interactive data exploration: ask Claude to query DNS records, look up WHOIS data, and cross-reference results in a single conversation

Ad-hoc security audits: type a domain name and let Claude enumerate subdomains, check DNS history, and flag configuration anomalies. all through natural language

Executive briefings: generate comprehensive domain intelligence reports by asking Claude to compile findings into a formatted summary

Learning and training: new team members can explore API capabilities conversationally without needing to read documentation

LicenseCheck API MCP Tools for Claude Desktop (4)

These 4 tools become available when you connect LicenseCheck API to Claude Desktop via MCP:

check_api_status

dev REST API. Check if the LicenseCheck service is operational

check_software_license

Search for a software license by name or identifier

get_license_details

Get full details and legal metadata for a specific license by ID

list_all_licenses

List all software licenses available in the database

Example Prompts for LicenseCheck API in Claude Desktop

Ready-to-use prompts you can give your Claude Desktop agent to start working with LicenseCheck API immediately.

"Check the software license 'MIT' using LicenseCheck."

"What are the limitations of the 'GPL-3.0' license?"

"List all software licenses available in the database."

Troubleshooting LicenseCheck API MCP Server with Claude Desktop

Common issues when connecting LicenseCheck API to Claude Desktop through the Vinkius, and how to resolve them.

Server not appearing after restart

Ensure the JSON is valid (no trailing commas). Check the file path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\\Claude\\ (Windows).

Authentication error

Verify your Vinkius token is correct. Go to cloud.vinkius.com to regenerate it if needed.

Tools not showing in chat

Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the chat input. If it shows 0 tools, the server may still be connecting. wait a few seconds.

LicenseCheck API + Claude Desktop FAQ

Common questions about integrating LicenseCheck API MCP Server with Claude Desktop.

How does Claude Desktop discover MCP tools?

When Claude Desktop starts, it reads the claude_desktop_config.json file and connects to each configured MCP server. It calls the tools/list endpoint to fetch the schema for every available tool, then surfaces them as clickable options in the chat interface via the 🔌 icon.

What happens if the MCP server is temporarily unavailable?

Claude Desktop handles disconnections gracefully. if the server is unreachable at startup, the tools simply won't appear. Once the server becomes available again, restarting Claude Desktop will re-establish the connection. There is no timeout penalty or error loop.

Can I connect multiple MCP servers simultaneously?

Yes. You can add as many servers as you need in the mcpServers section of the config file. Each server appears as a separate tool provider, and Claude can use tools from multiple servers in a single conversation turn.

Is there a limit on the number of tools per server?

Claude Desktop can handle hundreds of tools per server. However, for optimal LLM performance, Vinkius servers are designed to expose focused, well-documented tool sets rather than overwhelming the model with too many options.

Does Claude Desktop support Streamable HTTP transport?

Yes. Claude Desktop supports both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and the newer Streamable HTTP transport that Vinkius uses. Simply provide the server URL. Claude auto-negotiates the transport protocol.