Dogpolicies MCP

What dogpolicies-mcp does

dogpolicies-mcp provides MCP tools for researching dog policies and planning travel in California and Nevada. Results cover leash requirements, dog access, pet fees, weight limits, off-leash areas, campgrounds, hotels, beaches, trails, parks, and restaurant patios. Each returned fact includes its official source, such as an agency page or a business policy, along with the date it was checked.

The service also handles trip-oriented tasks. It can compare hotels for a specific dog, number of dogs, stay length, and fee budget; assemble a day-by-day plan; find dog-friendly stops along supported highways; and identify changes or corrections since a selected date.

How it works

The hosted endpoint is https://dogpolicies.com/mcp/ and uses Streamable HTTP. It requires no key or account. The package can instead run locally over stdio, with its data included for offline operation, or expose a local Streamable HTTP endpoint with --http --port.

Most tools are read-only. The correction-reporting tool is the exception. Trip plans can be returned as a shareable URL containing the plan itself, rather than saving the plan on the service. Change subscriptions produce Atom and JSON Feed links, store nothing, and do not send email.

Live road information requires network access. California road tools use Caltrans data for current lane closures, chain controls, weather, and message signs. These conditions are placed near relevant dog stops and are separate from permanent or published dog rules.

Setup and configuration

For hosted use, add the endpoint to an MCP client that supports remote servers. Claude users can add DogPolicies from Claude's connector directory or configure the custom connector manually. Claude Code supports claude mcp add --transport http dogpolicies https://dogpolicies.com/mcp/. Cursor and VS Code provide install links for the hosted URL, and Windsurf can be configured with the same server URL.

For local stdio use, Node.js 20.19 or newer is required:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dogpolicies": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "dogpolicies-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

The package includes an installer for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, and Claude Code. It detects supported configuration locations on Windows, macOS, and Linux, creates a backup, merges the server entry, and prints the required restart step. Windows clients that start commands without a shell should use cmd /c before the npx command.

Tools and capabilities

• Find hotels by dog weight, dog count, nights, and pet-fee budget, with fee calculations and match status.
• Build a daily itinerary containing a stay, beaches, trails, off-leash areas, parks, dinner patios, and nearby driving legs.
• Retrieve published policies for supported hotel brands and their listed exceptions.
• Find stops along I-5, US-101, Highway 1, I-15, I-80, and US-50 in California, plus I-15, I-80, US-50, US-95, and US-93 in Nevada.
• Query nearby places, search named places with filters, and browse prepared answers to common dog-travel questions.
• Check California road conditions and I-5 corridor conditions, including closures and chain controls.
• Review changes since a date, inspect changes near a place or route, and create change-feed links.
• Retrieve a place's detailed facts, source URLs, publishers, quotations, check dates, and rule IDs.

Limitations and notes

Nevada coverage is thinner than California coverage. Road-condition tools cover California routes and do not cover Nevada roads. Current road state depends on network access. A closed rest area reported by Caltrans is excluded as the next stop and carries the reported reason and end time. Trip slots can remain empty when the available data cannot fill them. Pet-fee calculations concern pet charges, not room rates, and some hotel matches are marked for confirmation rather than treated as certain.