PolicyForge MCP Server vs Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI)
A side-by-side look at the PolicyForge MCP Server and Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose PolicyForge MCP Server for legal work as a local process; choose Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) for legal as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose PolicyForge MCP Server when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Legal domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
POLICYFORGE_API_KEY. - You want tools like
generate_policy, generate_baa, list_policies.
Choose Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Legal domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
CLV_API_URL, CLV_API_KEY. - You want tools like
verify_license, batch_verify, list_supported_states.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Legal | Legal |
| Quality signal | 61/100 · Good | 59/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | POLICYFORGE_API_KEY | CLV_API_URLCLV_API_KEY |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 3 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 16 | 4 |
| Full listing | View PolicyForge MCP Server | View Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) |
Tools & capabilities
PolicyForge MCP Server tools 16
generate_policyGenerate a legal policy (privacy policy, terms of service, cookie policy, refund policy, EULA, or disclaimer) for a business and return its Markdown content plus a hosted URL. Consumes one policy from the account's quota. IMPORTANT: if you are working inside the user's project, call get_disclosure_checklist and scan the codebase FIRST (dependencies, script tags, cookie writes, outbound hosts), then fill the optional fields below from what the code actually does — do not ask the user for facts you can read from source. Only ask for what code cannot tell you: legal company name, contact email, physical address, governing law. For terms_of_service, eula and disclaimer, always ask for governing_law: without it (or a physical address to infer it from) the document contains a marker to fill in. The result lists claims to verify: specific statements about third parties, certifications or deadlines that your inputs did not supply. Show them to the user and fix them with update_policy before publishing. Generation takes 40-60 seconds; if it is not finished within about 45 seconds this returns a job ID instead, and check_generation fetches the result. Never call generate_policy again for the same policy while a job is running.generate_baaGenerate a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA) between a covered entity and a vendor that handles Protected Health Information. Built from the clauses required by 45 CFR 164.504(e) and validated clause by clause before it is returned. Use this instead of generate_policy for BAAs — a BAA is a binding two-party contract, not a published policy, so it needs both parties' legal names and addresses and is never hosted at a public URL. Ask the user for the party details, effective date, and governing law: these are negotiated facts you cannot read from source code. Requires a Pro plan. The result is a draft for counsel to review, not executed legal advice. If it is not finished within about 45 seconds this returns a job ID; use check_generation for the result.list_policiesList the policies previously created on this PolicyForge account, newest first.get_policyRetrieve a single policy by ID, including its status, hosted URL, and full Markdown content.check_generationGet the result of a generate_policy, generate_baa or regenerate_policy call that was still running when it returned a job ID. Returns the finished policy, the error if generation failed, or says it is still running. Use this instead of starting the generation again, which would create a duplicate.update_policyUpdate an existing policy in place — the policy ID, hosted URL, and embed keep working, so links already published on the user's site stay valid. Use this instead of generate_policy when the business context changed (new SDK, new data flow, renamed company): fetch the current content with get_policy, then either send small changes as `edits` (exact find/replace pairs, best for one-line fixes) or submit the complete revised Markdown as `content`. The previous content is saved as a version first, so restore_policy_version can undo a bad update.regenerate_policyRe-run the AI generation engine over a policy's stored business context merged with the changed fields you provide — same policy ID and hosted URL, so published links keep working. The previous content is saved as a version first (see list_policy_versions / restore_policy_version). Consumes one generation from quota, like generate_policy. Use this when the business context changed substantially (new integrations, new jurisdiction, renamed company); for small wording fixes prefer update_policy, which is free and instant. If it is not finished within about 45 seconds this returns a job ID; use check_generation for the result.audit_complianceCompliance gap analysis: submit the stack manifest you built by scanning the codebase (see get_disclosure_checklist), optionally with a policy_id to audit against. PolicyForge compares what the code does with what the policy discloses and returns missing disclosures, overstated claims, missing policy types, and recommendations. Without a policy_id it audits the manifest alone (which policies are needed and what they must cover). Does not consume generation quota.check_policy_freshnessDrift detection: scan the codebase now (get_disclosure_checklist), build the current stack manifest, and compare it against the manifest stored when the policy was last generated/regenerated. Reports what changed in the stack so you know whether the policy still matches the code. Runs locally on the two manifests — no AI call, no quota.list_policy_versionsVersion history for a policy: snapshots taken before every API update, regeneration, or restore, plus any auto-generated compliance update drafts. Use get-version content via restore_policy_version, or fetch a single version's content with this policy's versions endpoint.restore_policy_versionRestore a policy to a previous version from list_policy_versions. The current content is snapshotted as a new version first, so a restore is itself reversible. The hosted URL is unchanged.delete_policyPermanently delete a policy. The hosted URL and any embeds of it stop working immediately, and this cannot be undone. Confirm with the user before deleting anything they may have linked from their site.- +4 more on the listing page
Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) tools 4
verify_licenseVerify a single US contractor's license against the official state (or city) licensing board. USE WHEN: the user has a specific license number and wants to confirm it's valid, current, and free of disciplinary action — e.g. 'is TX license TACLA00000103C still active?', 'check if this electrician's license expired', 'pull disciplinary history for this contractor.' DO NOT USE FOR: searching by contractor or business name when the license number is unknown (use search_by_name); discovering what states/cities are supported (use list_supported_states); verifying federal licenses, doctors/lawyers, or non-construction trades (out of scope). RETURNS: {valid, name, license_number, trade, expiration, status, state, disciplinary_actions[], source_url, cached, checked_at}. Result is fetched live from the authoritative state portal; active licenses are cached 24h, expired/not-found results are always re-fetched. EXAMPLE: state='TX', license_number='TACLA00000103C', trade='hvac' → {valid:true, name:'ANDERSON, ORIN RAE', status:'Active', expiration:'05/12/2026', source_url:'https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/...'}. ERRORS: 400 INVALID_INPUT (malformed license/state/trade — fix the args and retry); 502 STATE_PORTAL_UNAVAILABLE (the state portal itself is down — retry after a few minutes); 429 RATE_LIMITED (back off and retry). All errors return a human-readable message; transient errors (502/429) are safe to retry, 400 is not.batch_verifyVerify up to 50 contractor licenses in a single call. Items are dispatched concurrently against their respective state/city portals; one item failing does not abort the others. USE WHEN: the user mentions verifying multiple licenses — phrases like 'I have 12 license numbers', 'verify these 5 contractors', 'bulk-check', 'verify them all', a list of subcontractors on a project, periodic compliance sweeps, COI/insurance review batches. **If the user has stated they want to verify N>1 licenses, this is the tool — don't fall back to list_supported_states first; the user already knows what they want to verify.** Even if the user hasn't pasted the list yet, batch_verify is the right next step (you can ask for the list, then call this). Cheaper in conversation turns than calling verify_license N times. DO NOT USE FOR: a single license (use verify_license — clearer output); >50 licenses in one call (split into multiple batches); searches by name (use search_by_name); discovering what states are supported (use list_supported_states). RETURNS: {summary: {total, succeeded, failed}, results: [{result, error}]} where each result is the same shape as verify_license, and `error` is non-null on per-item failures. Inspect individual `error` strings to retry just the failed items. EXAMPLE: licenses=[{state:'TX', license_number:'TACLA00000103C', trade:'hvac'}, {state:'CA', license_number:'1234567', trade:'general'}] → {summary:{total:2, succeeded:2, failed:0}, results:[...]}. ERRORS: per-item errors are reported in `results[i].error` rather than aborting the whole batch. Top-level 400 only fires on schema violations (e.g. >50 items, empty array).list_supported_statesList every supported jurisdiction TradesAPI can verify contractor licenses against — all 50 US states, DC, and registered city-level licensing portals (Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, Nashville). USE WHEN: the user asks 'what states do you cover', 'do you support [state]', 'which cities have municipal licensing'; before constructing a verify_license call when you're unsure of the trade vocabulary; to confirm a portal is currently healthy before a batch run. DO NOT USE FOR: per-license verification (use verify_license); name searches (use search_by_name). RETURNS: {total_states, total_municipalities, states: [{code, name, portal_url, supported_trades[], supports_name_search, status, municipalities: [{code, city, portal_url, ...}]}]}. `status` is 'healthy' | 'degraded' | 'maintenance'. `supported_trades` is the set of trade values observed in test fixtures (best-effort; some search-only states may return []). `supports_name_search` indicates whether the state's portal allows search_by_name queries. EXAMPLE: returns 51 state rows (50 states + DC) with municipalities nested under their parent state — IL has Chicago nested, NY has NYC, etc. ERRORS: 502 STATE_PORTAL_UNAVAILABLE only if the API itself is down; this tool reads from registry metadata, not state portals, so it's normally always available.search_by_nameFuzzy-search contractors by business or individual name within a single state (or city) licensing database. USE WHEN: the user has a contractor's name but not their license number — 'find Smith Plumbing in Texas', 'is there an active electrician named John Doe in California', vetting a contractor whose card you don't have in hand. Match is case-insensitive and tolerates partial words and reordered tokens (e.g. 'Smith Plumbing' matches 'Plumbing Smith Inc'). DO NOT USE FOR: license-number lookup (use verify_license — it's faster and authoritative); discovery of what states are supported (use list_supported_states); states where supports_name_search:false (the call will 400 — check list_supported_states first). RETURNS: {query: {state, name, trade}, total_results, results: [{name, license_number, trade, status, state, confidence, source_url}], cached, checked_at}. `confidence` is 0.0-1.0 (1.0 = exact match). Results are ranked by confidence descending. EXAMPLE: state='TN', city='nashville', name='100 PERCENT PLUMBING', trade='plumbing' → {results: [{name: '100 PERCENT PLUMBING INC', license_number: '...', confidence: 0.95, ...}]}. COST: this tool deducts 2 credits per call (vs 1 for verify_license) because name searches are more expensive — they may scrape multiple result pages. ERRORS: 400 NAME_SEARCH_NOT_SUPPORTED (this state's portal doesn't expose a name-search endpoint — check list_supported_states.supports_name_search); 502 STATE_PORTAL_UNAVAILABLE (retry); 429 RATE_LIMITED (back off).
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
PolicyForge MCP Server
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-52": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@policyforge/mcp@latest"
],
"env": {
"POLICYFORGE_API_KEY": "YOUR_POLICYFORGE_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI)
{
"mcpServers": {
"contractor-license-verification-tradesapi-2": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"contractor-license-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"CLV_API_URL": "YOUR_CLV_API_URL_HERE",
"CLV_API_KEY": "YOUR_CLV_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
PolicyForge MCP Server is categorized under Legal and uses a local stdio subprocess. Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) belongs to Legal and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick PolicyForge MCP Server for legal work and Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) for legal.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
PolicyForge MCP Server has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add mcp-52 and contractor-license-verification-tradesapi-2 as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, PolicyForge MCP Server has a quality signal of 61/100 (Good) with 3 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars. Contractor License Verification (TradesAPI) has 59/100 (Good) with 2 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars.