USB Vendor Grounding Data

Overview

USB Vendor Lookup works by matching USB vendor IDs (VID) and product IDs (PID) against a comprehensive database maintained by the Linux USB project. The database is updated weekly to ensure accurate and up-to-date information.

The tool

Once your client is connected to the VerveContext server, this appears in its tool list as USBVendorGroundingData. 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.

Tool call

{
  "name": "USBVendorGroundingData",
  "arguments": {
    "vendorid": "05AC"
  }
}

You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about 05AC in the terms this source covers is enough for it to reach for USBVendorGroundingData 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"
    }
  }
}

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.

Argument	Type	Description
`vendorid`Required	string	The USB vendor ID in 4-digit hex format (e.g., 05AC for Apple) length 4–4
`productid`Optional	string	The USB product ID in 4-digit hex format (optional) length 4–4

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.

Result

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "vendorId": "05AC",
    "productId": "8290",
    "found": true,
    "vendor": "Apple, Inc.",
    "product": "iPhone"
  }
}

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.

Field	Type	Example	Description
`vendorId`	string	`05AC`	USB vendor ID in 4-digit hexadecimal format
`productId`	string	`8290`	USB product ID in 4-digit hexadecimal format
`found`	boolean	`true`	Whether the vendor/product combination exists in database
`vendor`	string	`Apple, Inc.`	Manufacturer name corresponding to vendor ID
`product`	string	`iPhone`	Device product name corresponding to product ID

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 found: 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.

Status	What it means
`400` / `422`	The arguments did not validate. The message names the offending one.
`401`	The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server.
`403`	Blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Never a bad identity.
`404`	This source is not part of VerveContext. Check the catalog.
`429`	Out of credits, or a brief rate limit. The message tells them apart.

A call costs 1 credit each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

Device Identification: Identify unknown USB devices by their vendor and product IDs. Useful for IT asset management and inventory tracking.
Hardware Diagnostics: Diagnose USB device issues by looking up manufacturer information and product details.
Security Auditing: Audit USB devices connected to your network by identifying manufacturers and device types.
Driver Matching: Help users find appropriate drivers by identifying the exact manufacturer and product model.

Other ways to use USB Vendor Grounding Data

Set up USB Vendor 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.

Call it as a REST APIOne HTTPS endpoint and an x-api-key header, with SDKs for Node, Python and .NET.APIVerve →Reference →

Give it to an AI agentConnect over MCP and your agent calls it as a native tool — Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT.VerveKit →Reference →

Use it in Google Sheets or ExcelA =VERVE() formula fills a column — no script, no export, recalculates in place.VerveSheets →Reference →