canidoit

Regulatory intelligence API — look up permits, licenses, and fees for food service businesses in Austin, SF, and NYC.

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What it can do

  • Lookup Requirements: Look up what permits, licenses, and regulatory requirements are needed for a business activity in a specific location. Returns detailed requirements including fees, agencies, proc
  • List Locations: List all locations (cities) currently supported by CanIDo for regulatory lookups.
  • Get Requirement Detail: Get detailed information about a specific permit or requirement by its ID. Args: requirement_id: The requirement ID (e.g., 'austin_mobile_food_vendor_permit').

What data it sees

Do you need an account

No: the server works without sign-in

Regulatory intelligence API — look up permits, licenses, and fees for food service businesses in Austin, SF, and NYC.

CanIDo is the regulatory intelligence API for AI agents. Answer the question: "What permits, licenses, or regulations apply if I want to do X at location Y?"

This MCP server currently covers food service businesses (food trucks, restaurants, catering, cottage food) across Austin TX, San Francisco CA, and New York City NY. Every response includes fees, issuing agencies (with URLs/phones), processing times, prerequisites, common gotchas, and a freshness score.

Tools:

lookup_requirements(activity, location, category?) — full permit requirements list_locations() — supported cities get_requirement_detail(requirement_id) — deep-dive on one permit Get a free API key at https://canido-api-production.up.railway.app (10 queries/month free tier).

How to connect

How to connect canidoit to Claude

The server address to paste into Claude settings:

https://canidoit--canido.run.tools

  1. Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
  2. Go to Settings → Connectors.
  3. Click Add custom connector.
  4. Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
  5. In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.

Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.

Authorization

After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.

How to connect canidoit to ChatGPT

The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:

https://canidoit--canido.run.tools

  1. Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
  2. Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
  3. Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
  4. Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
  5. Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
  6. In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.

OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.

Authorization

On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.

How to connect canidoit to Cursor

The server address to paste into Cursor settings:

https://canidoit--canido.run.tools

Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.

Manually:

  1. In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
  2. Paste the JSON copied below into ~/.cursor/mcp.json (per project: .cursor/mcp.json in the repo root).
  3. Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.

Authorization

If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.

Server tool list (3)

Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.

lookup_requirementsLook up what permits, licenses, and regulatory requirements are needed for a business activity in a specific location. Returns detailed requirements including fees, agencies, processing times, prerequisites, and common gotchas. Args: activity: Business type. One of: food_truck, mobile_food_vendor, restaurant, catering, cottage_food, home_food. location: Location to check. One of: austin_tx, san_francisco_ca, new_york_city_ny. category: Optional filter. One of: health, fire, zoning, building, alcohol, tax, business_registration, certification, environmental.
list_locationsList all locations (cities) currently supported by CanIDo for regulatory lookups.
get_requirement_detailGet detailed information about a specific permit or requirement by its ID. Args: requirement_id: The requirement ID (e.g., 'austin_mobile_food_vendor_permit').