LicenseCheck API MCP. Audit software license terms via AI.
Works with every AI agent you already use
…and any MCP-compatible client
Just plug in your AI agents and start using Vinkius.
LicenseCheck API MCP lets your AI agent query a massive database of software licenses to check permissions, conditions, and limitations.
Instead of manually reading legal text for every dependency, you ask your agent what a specific license allows. It pulls the exact metadata you need to keep your project compliant without opening a single legal portal.
What your AI agents can do
Check api status
Checks if the LicenseCheck database is online and responding to requests.
Check software license
Searches for a specific software license by its name or identifier.
Get license details
Pulls the full legal metadata, permissions, and conditions for a specific license ID.
See exactly what a specific license allows you to do with the code.
Find out what you must do to stay compliant, like including copyright notices.
Spot strict prohibitions and risk markers before they break your deployment.
Get the complete legal details and version history for any known software license.
List every license in the database to cross-reference against your project dependencies.
Verify the legal database is online and responding before you run a massive compliance audit.
Ask AI about this MCP
Supported MCP Clients
OAuth 2.0 CompatibleWaiting for input…
LicenseCheck API MCP Tools (4 tools)
Check API health, search for specific software licenses, pull full legal metadata, and list the entire license database using these four tools.
Make your AI actually useful.
Add this MCP to Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf and your AI stops guessing. It gets real tools to look things up, take action, and handle the stuff you keep doing by hand.
Start using LicenseCheck API on Vinkius019d8453check api status
Checks if the LicenseCheck database is online and responding to requests.
019d8453check software license
Searches for a specific software license by its name or identifier.
019d8453get license details
Pulls the full legal metadata, permissions, and conditions for a specific license ID.
019d8453list all licenses
Returns a complete list of every software license currently stored in the database.
Choose How to Get Started
Build a custom MCP for your own tools, or connect a ready-made integration from our catalog.
Build Your Own
Turn any API into an MCP. Import a spec, define Agent Skills, or deploy with MCPFusion.
- Import from OpenAPI, Swagger, or YAML specs
- Create Agent Skills with progressive disclosure
- Deploy to edge with MCPFusion framework
- Built in DLP, auth, and compliance on every call
- Real time usage dashboard and cost metering
- Publish to catalog or keep private
Make Your AI Do More
Start with LicenseCheck API, then connect any of our 4,900+ other servers whenever your AI needs more. One click, no limits.
- Use this MCP plus 4,900+ others, all in one place
- Add new capabilities to your AI anytime you want
- Every connection is secured and compliant automatically
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- Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
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Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by LicenseCheck. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.
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Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
The Model Context Protocol standardizes how applications expose capabilities to LLMs. Instead of operating in isolation, your AI gains direct access to external platforms, live data, and real-world actions through secure, standardized connections.
This server provides 4 capabilities that interface natively with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP client. No middleware. No custom integration required.
Reading legal text for every new dependency.
You add a new package to your project. Now you have to find the license file, open it in a new tab, and try to figure out if the legal jargon means you can use it in a commercial product. You copy the license name, paste it into a search engine, read three different blog posts arguing about what the terms actually mean, and still feel unsure if you are about to contaminate your proprietary codebase.
With this MCP, you just ask your AI client what the license allows. It queries the exact legal metadata and tells you if commercial use is permitted and what conditions you must meet. You get a straight answer about your compliance status in seconds, completely skipping the tab-switching and legal guesswork.
LicenseCheck API MCP gives you instant legal context.
You no longer have to manually cross-reference your package manager output against a spreadsheet of approved licenses. You do not have to ping your legal team every time a developer wants to try a new framework. The manual lookup process disappears entirely.
Your agent handles the legal research in the background. You just write code, pull in dependencies, and let the MCP verify the terms automatically. Compliance becomes a background task instead of a roadblock.
What you can do with this MCP connector
You pull in a new open-source dependency. Before you merge, you need to know if its license plays nice with your commercial product. Usually, this means opening a new tab, finding the legal text, and trying to decipher what copyleft actually means for your specific use case. This MCP changes that.
You just ask your AI client if the license allows commercial distribution or requires source code disclosure. It checks the exact legal metadata and gives you a straight answer.
Instead of playing lawyer every time you add a package, you treat compliance like a quick chat. You can ask about specific conditions, check what is strictly prohibited, or just get a full list of known licenses to audit your current stack. Since it connects through Vinkius, you do not have to manage separate API keys or deal with messy authentication setups for every different legal database.
Your agent just handles the lookups in the background while you focus on writing code. It turns a tedious, error-prone manual review into a simple question and answer session. You get the exact legal boundaries of your dependencies without ever leaving your terminal.
019d8453-7abe-705c-b7d3-a7035f88f355 How LicenseCheck API MCP Works
- 1 Add the LicenseCheck MCP to your AI client and paste in your API key from LicenseAPI.dev.
- 2 Ask your agent to check the terms of a specific dependency or audit your current package list.
- 3 Read the plain-English breakdown of permissions, conditions, and restrictions your agent pulls back.
The bottom line is you get instant, accurate legal context for any software license without leaving your coding environment.
Who Is LicenseCheck API MCP For?
The compliance officer tired of manually reading legal text for every new dependency. The software architect who needs to know if a GPL library will contaminate a proprietary codebase. The open-source maintainer checking if a contributor's license choice matches the project goals.
Checks exact license terms to ensure the company isn't accidentally violating copyleft restrictions on proprietary software.
Audits new dependencies during the design phase to prevent incompatible licenses from entering the codebase.
Quickly verifies the legal requirements of incoming pull requests to keep the project's licensing clean.
What Changes When You Connect
- Stop guessing what a license allows. When you use get_license_details, your agent pulls the exact permissions and conditions so you know if commercial use is actually allowed.
- Catch copyleft contamination early. Ask your agent to check_software_license before merging, and it will flag strict requirements that could force you to open-source your proprietary code.
- Audit your entire dependency tree in minutes. Use list_all_licenses to pull the full catalog, then cross-reference it against your package manager to spot risky libraries.
- Know exactly what you must do to comply. Instead of reading dense legal text, your agent extracts the mandatory conditions so you know exactly which copyright notices to include.
- Never let a downed database block your audit. Run check_api_status to verify the legal data source is healthy before you start a massive compliance review.
Real-World Use Cases
The Friday afternoon merge panic
A developer wants to merge a new library but isn't sure if the license allows commercial use. They ask their agent to check_software_license, and it instantly confirms the permissions without halting the release.
The annual compliance audit
A legal team needs to verify every open-source package in the company's main product. An ops lead uses list_all_licenses to get the full database, then queries get_license_details for each dependency to build a risk report.
The copyleft contamination scare
An architect notices a GPL dependency in a proprietary microservice. They ask the agent to get_license_details, which pulls the exact conditions and confirms whether the specific version triggers the viral open-source requirement.
The pre-deployment health check
A CI pipeline needs to verify license terms before building a Docker image. The pipeline script runs check_api_status first to ensure the legal database is up, then queries the specific licenses to block the build if restrictions are violated.
The Tradeoffs
Blaming the MCP for missing licenses
Someone searches for a brand new, obscure license using check_software_license and gets nothing, assuming the tool is broken.
→ The database only holds known licenses. Use list_all_licenses to see what is actually available before assuming a search failed. If it is not in the catalog, the MCP cannot pull metadata for it.
Ignoring the API health check
A compliance script runs a massive batch of get_license_details calls and fails halfway through because the upstream service went down.
→ Always run check_api_status at the start of your script to verify the database is online before burning through your queries. This prevents partial audit failures and wasted compute time.
Assuming permissions mean zero conditions
A developer checks a license, sees it allows commercial use, and ships the code without reading the rest of the legal requirements.
→ Getting the permissions is only half the job. Always ask for the conditions too, because you still have to include the required copyright notices. Use get_license_details to pull both at once.
When It Fits, When It Doesn't
Use this if you need to quickly verify the legal terms, permissions, and restrictions of open-source and proprietary software licenses. It is perfect for checking if a dependency allows commercial use or requires source code disclosure. You will rely heavily on check_software_license and get_license_details to pull exact metadata. Do not use this if you need to actively manage, revoke, or update license keys in your own application. This is strictly a read-only lookup tool for legal compliance. If you need to enforce license keys at runtime or block unauthorized users, you need a dedicated license management system, not a legal database lookup.
Common Questions About LicenseCheck API MCP
Does LicenseCheck API MCP work with proprietary licenses? +
Yes, it includes both open-source and proprietary license data. You can search for specific proprietary terms just like you would for MIT or GPL.
How do I know if LicenseCheck API is down before I run an audit? +
Use the check_api_status tool. It pings the service and confirms it is operational before you start pulling heavy license data.
Can I use LicenseCheck API MCP to revoke a compromised license key? +
No, this is a read-only legal database. It tells you what a license allows, but it does not manage or revoke active software keys in your application.
What happens if check_software_license returns no results? +
It means that specific license identifier is not in the database. Use list_all_licenses to see the exact names and formats the database currently supports.
Does LicenseCheck API MCP tell me if a license is compatible with my project? +
It gives you the exact permissions and conditions. Your AI client uses that data to tell you if it is compatible, but the MCP itself just provides the raw legal facts.
How do I authenticate my LicenseCheck API MCP connection? +
You need a LicenseCheck API key. Paste it into the environment variables when you subscribe to this MCP on Vinkius. The agent uses it automatically for every request.
Will list_all_licenses crash my agent if the database is huge? +
No, it just returns the raw catalog array. The API handles the heavy lifting on their end. Your agent processes the text output, so memory limits depend on your client, not this MCP.
What error does get_license_details throw if I pass a bad license ID? +
It returns a standard HTTP 404 not found error. The tool passes the exact API response back to your agent so it knows the ID was invalid instead of making up fake legal metadata.
Use it with your favorite AI tools
Connect this server to Cursor, Claude, VS Code, and more.