How to Check Contractor Licenses with AI

General contractors spend hours every week manually checking subcontractor licenses. Open a state website, enter a license number, wait for results, copy to a spreadsheet, repeat fifty times. For a GC managing dozens of subs across multiple states, this eats entire afternoons.

What if you could just ask and get the answer?

That's now possible. TradeProof's MCP server connects directly to Claude AI, giving you instant access to 5 million+ official contractor license records across all 50 US states — without leaving your conversation.

What is MCP?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard created by Anthropic that lets AI assistants connect to external tools and data sources. Think of it like a USB port for AI — plug in a data source, and the AI can use it natively.

TradeProof built an MCP server that gives Claude access to official state licensing board data. When you ask Claude about a contractor, it calls TradeProof's API behind the scenes and returns structured results — license status, business name, classifications, expiration dates, workers' comp coverage, and more.

What You Can Do

The TradeProof MCP server provides five tools that Claude can use:

How to Set It Up

Setup takes under 2 minutes. You need Node.js 18+ and a free TradeProof API key.

Step 1: Get Your API Key

1. Go to tradeproof.net and create a free account
2. Navigate to Settings
3. Click Create API Key and copy it

Step 2: Add to Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop config file:

• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the TradeProof server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tradeproof": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@tradeproof/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "TRADEPROOF_API_KEY": "your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Fully quit and restart Claude Desktop. That's it.

Step 3: Add to Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport stdio \
  --env TRADEPROOF_API_KEY=your_key_here \
  tradeproof -- npx -y @tradeproof/mcp-server

Real Example

Once connected, you can ask Claude anything about contractor licenses in plain English:

You: "Is ABC Construction licensed in Florida?"

Claude: "Yes. ABC Construction LLC holds an active Certified General Contractor license (CGC061473) in Florida. Status: Current. Expires: August 31, 2026. City: Delray Beach, FL. Data sourced from Florida DBPR licensing board records."

No manual lookup. No state website. No spreadsheet. Just ask.

Batch Checking: The Power Feature

The real time-saver is batch checking. Paste a list of up to 100 subcontractor licenses and Claude checks them all at once:

You: "Check if these subcontractors are licensed: FL CGC061473, CA B-1234567, TX 12345"

Claude returns a summary — "2 of 3 active" — plus details on each one. For a GC onboarding subs for a new project, this turns a 2-hour task into a 10-second conversation.

Where the Data Comes From

TradeProof sources all license data from official state licensing board databases — the same government systems contractors use to file and renew their licenses. This is not self-reported data, uploaded PDFs, or third-party aggregations.

The database currently includes:

• 5 million+ license records
• All 50 states plus Washington, DC
• Workers' compensation coverage data for 32+ states
• Data refreshed nightly from state sources

Pricing

TradeProof's MCP server uses your API key quota. The free tier includes 25 lookups per month — enough to test and evaluate.

• Free: 25 lookups/month ($0)
• Developer: 1,000 lookups/month ($99)
• Scale: 10,000 lookups/month ($349)

The get_coverage_info tool is always free and doesn't count against your quota.

Frequently Asked Questions

Resources

• GitHub Repository (open source, MIT license)
• npm Package
• API Documentation
• Model Context Protocol