• PERMITTED
  • RESTRICTED
  • CONFLICT
  • ACTION

How to audit software license compliance with your AI

Connect your AI to your codebase or document folder once. From there, your agent handles the heavy lifting of parsing legal text and identifying risks.

Ask AI about this page

Short answer

How can I use AI to check software license compliance?

Your AI uses the LicenseCheck API to scan license files and extract specific legal permissions, obligations, and restrictions. You get a clear breakdown of what you can and cannot do with each piece of software. This helps you catch compliance issues before they become legal problems.

Where every issue lands.

Compliance outcomes

The AI categorizes every license it scans into specific risk buckets.

PERMITTED

Safe to use

The AI identifies licenses that match your project's needs. You get a list of software that requires no extra legal review.

RESTRICTED

Usage limits

The AI pulls out specific constraints like commercial use bans or redistribution rules. You'll see exactly where you need to be careful.

CONFLICT

License clashes

The AI flags incompatible licenses that can't exist in the same project. This highlights direct legal contradictions in your stack.

ACTION

Human review

The AI flags ambiguous or complex legal language. These items are passed to you for a final manual check.

The workflow

What your AI does when a license file arrives.

The AI handles the tedious task of reading through dense legal text to find the rules that actually matter to your project.

  1. Scan the file

    The AI looks at the raw license text to understand the basic terms and scope.

    check_software_license

  2. Extract details

    The agent pulls specific legal clauses, such as attribution requirements or copyleft triggers.

    get_license_details

  3. Identify restrictions

    The AI compares the extracted terms against your project's usage to find prohibited actions.

    get_license_details

  4. Flag risks

    The agent summarizes the findings into a clear report of what is allowed and what is forbidden.

    check_software_license

Try it

Copy these to start.

Use these prompts to kick off your audit.

Starting points

These are opening lines. Swap out the bracketed text with your specific file paths or repository names.

LicenseCheck Connector

You're all set. Choose your MCP client and follow the setup instructions.

Connector linkhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_75oKU8x6kQJG0YfKIXadGE8T9yPcWPlnBuGpCZsO/mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the steps below to connect in seconds.

  1. 1In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. 2Click “Add custom connector” and paste the connector link above as the remote MCP server URL.
  3. 3Click Add and start a new chat — LicenseCheck capabilities are ready to use.
Configuration · claude_desktop_config.jsonCopy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "licensecheck-api-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_75oKU8x6kQJG0YfKIXadGE8T9yPcWPlnBuGpCZsO/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Copy into chat04

  • Check the license in /src/vendor/lib/license.txt and tell me if I can use it in a commercial product.

  • Audit the licenses in my current repository and list any that require me to share my source code.

  • Read the license file for the 'auth-module' package and summarize the attribution requirements.

  • Scan all license files in the /docs/legal folder and flag any that conflict with MIT terms.

  • Claude
  • ChatGPT
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Windsurf
  • Claude Code
  • JetBrains
  • Cline

Start here

Connect LicenseCheck API once, then ask.

Just follow the link to connect. Your credentials stay encrypted on our side, and you can start chatting with your AI immediately.

Connect LicenseCheck API to your AI

FAQ

How this task behaves

  • 01

    Can the AI change my license files?

    No. The AI only reads and analyzes the files; it cannot modify or delete any of your code or legal documents.

  • 02

    Does the AI provide legal advice?

    No. The AI identifies permissions and restrictions based on the text it reads, but you must consult a lawyer for actual legal decisions.

  • 03

    Can it scan an entire GitHub repo?

    Yes, if you provide the path or point your AI client to the local repository folder.

  • 04

    What happens if a license is too vague?

    The AI will flag the license as needing human review rather than guessing at the legal meaning.

  • 05

    Does it work with custom license files?

    Yes, the AI parses the text of any license file it is directed to check.

  • More questions about LicenseCheck API? The Connector page answers them. See everything the LicenseCheck API Connector can do

Connect LicenseCheck to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT & more