Open Source License Grounding Data

Overview

Pass any license name or identifier to retrieve its official metadata. The API checks the record and returns the full name, canonical URL, SPDX ID, legacy identifiers, and whether it is active, retired, or superseded. It also flags applicability across software, content, or data domains, with paid plans adding compatible domain details.

Live Test Open Source License Grounding Data Source →

The tool

Once your client is connected to the VerveContext server, this appears in its tool list as OpenSourceLicenseGroundingData. It is read-only and open-world — it fetches and never mutates anything on your side — so most clients call it without asking you to confirm.

{
  "name": "OpenSourceLicenseGroundingData",
  "arguments": {
    "name": "MIT"
  }
}

You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about MIT in the terms this source covers is enough for it to reach for OpenSourceLicenseGroundingData on its own — naming it explicitly also works, and is the way to force the call.

Connecting

One server URL covers every source in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth: the client opens a browser once, and there is no key to paste into a config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vervecontext": {
      "url": "https://api.vervecontext.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

https://api.vervecontext.com/v1/mcp

Per-client setup — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.

Arguments

These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

What the model gets back

The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client reads fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" and error is null on success; a null field means the value was not available for that input, not that the call failed.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "domain_content": false,
    "domain_data": false,
    "domain_software": true,
    "legacy_ids": [
      "mit-license"
    ],
    "license": "MIT",
    "name": "MIT License",
    "license_url": "https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT",
    "license_status": "active",
    "isOsiApproved": true,
    "compatibleDomains": [
      "software"
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Why ground on it

A model can produce something that looks like this answer from its training data, and be confidently out of date or simply wrong. This source returns the current value in a shape you can check, which is the difference between an answer you can cite and one you have to hedge.

Point an evaluation at domain_content: it is the field most worth pinning a claim to, and it is either present and current or absent — never plausibly invented.

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.

A call costs 2 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

Dependency Compliance Auditing

CI pipelines check third-party package licenses against OSI approval and active status flags before merging pull requests.

SBOM Metadata Enrichment

Software asset managers match SPDX identifiers and canonical URLs to internal components when assembling software bills of materials.

Package Registry Verification

When developers publish a package, code repositories verify that declared license names map to active SPDX IDs.

Dataset Ingestion Governance

Flag datasets governed by retired licenses or terms not meant for data before ingesting them into analytics environments.

Other ways to use Open Source License Grounding Data

Set up Open Source License Grounding Data on VerveContext, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveContext account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

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