NetLicensing MCP Server

The official Labs64 NetLicensing MCP Server — a natural language interface that lets AI agents manage software licenses, customers, and entitlements through conversational commands.

Works with Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot (Agent mode), VS Code, JetBrains / IntelliJ IDEA, and any other MCP-compatible client.

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Why use this?

• Natural Language Licensing — Ask your AI assistant to create products, issue licenses, validate entitlements, and generate shop URLs without touching the NetLicensing UI or writing API calls.
• Full API coverage — Various tools spanning the entire NetLicensing REST API: products, modules, templates, licensees, licenses, bundles, tokens, transactions, and payment methods.
• Built-in audit prompts — Five ready-to-run prompt templates for account audits, expiry sweeps, anomaly detection, and cleanup workflows.
• Safe by default — All delete operations expose a force_cascade option; nothing is silently cascaded.
• Zero-dependency quick start — Run with uvx or Docker without a local Python install.

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What can you ask?

Once connected, you can talk to NetLicensing in plain language:

• "List all products in my NetLicensing account."
• "Create a new licensee for customer@example.com under product PTEST."
• "Validate the license for licensee L001 — does it pass?"
• "Generate a shop URL for licensee L001 so they can self-serve their renewal."
• "Which licenses are expiring in the next 30 days?"
• "Find any licensees with no active licenses — flag them for cleanup."
• "Transfer all licenses from licensee L001 to L002."
• "Create an API key token scoped to read-only access."
• "Show me all transactions from the last month."

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Features

Area	Tools
Products	list, get, create, update, delete
Product Modules	list, get, create, update, delete
License Templates	list, get, create, update, delete
Licensees	list, get, create, update, delete, validate, transfer
Licenses	list, get, create, update (activate/deactivate), delete
Bundles	list, get, create, update, delete, obtain
Tokens	list, get, create shop URL, create API token, revoke
Transactions	list, get, create, update
Payment Methods	list, get, update
Utilities	list licensing models, list license types
Audit Prompts	full account, single customer, expiry sweep, cleanup, anomaly detection
Delete Safety	force_cascade option on all delete tools

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Quick Start

Option A — uvx (no install required)

NETLICENSING_API_KEY=your_key uvx netlicensing-mcp

Option B — pip

pip install netlicensing-mcp
NETLICENSING_API_KEY=your_key netlicensing-mcp

Option C — Docker

stdio (default) — for Claude Desktop / VS Code

docker run -i --rm \
  -e NETLICENSING_API_KEY=your_key \
  ghcr.io/labs64/netlicensing-mcp:latest

HTTP mode — for remote/shared deployments

docker run -d -p 8000:8000 \
  -e NETLICENSING_API_KEY=your_key \
  ghcr.io/labs64/netlicensing-mcp:latest http

Verbose logging (any mode)

# CLI flag
docker run -i --rm \
  -e NETLICENSING_API_KEY=your_key \
  ghcr.io/labs64/netlicensing-mcp:latest -v

# Or via env var
docker run -i --rm \
  -e NETLICENSING_API_KEY=your_key \
  -e MCP_VERBOSE=true \
  ghcr.io/labs64/netlicensing-mcp:latest

No API key? Leave NETLICENSING_API_KEY empty to run against NetLicensing's built-in sandbox with demo credentials — no account required.

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Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
NETLICENSING_API_KEY	No	(demo mode)	NetLicensing API key. Leave empty to use sandbox demo credentials.
NETLICENSING_BASE_URL	No	https://go.netlicensing.io/core/v2/rest	Override the NetLicensing REST API base URL (e.g. for on-prem deployments).
MCP_TRANSPORT	No	stdio	Transport mode: stdio (default) or http. Can also be passed as a CLI argument.
MCP_HOST	No	127.0.0.1	Host address to bind the HTTP server (HTTP mode only).
MCP_PORT	No	8000	Port to bind the HTTP server (HTTP mode only).
MCP_VERBOSE	No	false	Enable verbose debug logging (true, 1, or yes). Logs raw API requests/responses. Can also be set via -v CLI flag.

Note on HTTP deployments (e.g. AWS): When running in HTTP mode over a network, you can skip setting NETLICENSING_API_KEY on the server. The MCP server will automatically extract the key per-request if the connecting client provides it via the X-NetLicensing-API-Key HTTP header, Authorization: Bearer <key> header, or ?apikey=<key> query parameter.

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Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "netlicensing": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["netlicensing-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "NETLICENSING_API_KEY": "your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or use the official Docker image:

stdio (default) — for Claude Desktop / VS Code

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "netlicensing": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "NETLICENSING_API_KEY=your_key_here",
        "ghcr.io/labs64/netlicensing-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

HTTP mode — for remote/shared deployments

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "netlicensing": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-d",
        "-p", "8000:8000",
        "-e", "NETLICENSING_API_KEY=your_key_here",
        "ghcr.io/labs64/netlicensing-mcp:latest",
        "http"
      ]
    }
  }
}

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

The repo ships a .vscode/mcp.json that auto-configures Copilot Agent mode. Set NETLICENSING_API_KEY in your shell environment or a .env file, then click Start in the editor banner that appears above mcp.json.

JetBrains / IntelliJ IDEA

In Copilot Chat → Agent mode → Tools icon → Add More Tools… — paste the same JSON block shown in the Claude Desktop section above.

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Audit Prompt Templates

Five built-in prompts accessible in Copilot Agent and Claude Desktop:

Prompt	Purpose
audit_full	End-to-end account audit for a product
audit_customer	Deep-dive on a single licensee
audit_expiry	Find licenses expiring within N days and generate renewal URLs
audit_cleanup	Identify inactive / orphaned licenses for cleanup
audit_anomaly	Detect unusual usage patterns across all customers

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Troubleshooting

Check MCP server logs

# macOS / Claude Desktop
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-netlicensing.log
 
# Windows
Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\Claude\Logs\mcp-server-netlicensing.log" -Wait

Run the MCP Inspector (browser UI at http://localhost:5173)

mcp dev src/netlicensing_mcp/server.py

Common issues

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
401 Unauthorized responses	Invalid or expired API key	Regenerate your key at ui.netlicensing.io
Server not listed in Claude	Config file JSON syntax error	Validate with python -m json.tool claude_desktop_config.json
uvx: command not found	uv not installed	pip install uv or see docs.astral.sh/uv
Demo data instead of live data	NETLICENSING_API_KEY not set	Ensure the env var is exported in the shell that starts the client

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Development

git clone https://github.com/Labs64/NetLicensing-MCP
cd NetLicensing-MCP

# Create a virtual environment
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate       # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

# ... and install dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pip install hatch hatch-vcs

# Add your API key to a .env file (or export it in your shell)
cp .env.example .env
 
# Run the MCP Inspector
mcp dev src/netlicensing_mcp/server.py
 
# Run tests
pytest tests/ -v

# Clean previous builds
rm -rf dist/

# Build a wheel for local testing
hatch build --target wheel

# Build the Docker image locally
docker build -t ghcr.io/labs64/netlicensing-mcp:latest .

HTTP mode (for remote / shared deployments)

python -m netlicensing_mcp.server http
# Server listens on MCP_HOST:MCP_PORT (default: 127.0.0.1:8000)

Use ngrok or a reverse proxy to expose the HTTP endpoint to remote MCP clients:

ngrok http 8000
# Then point your client at the generated HTTPS URL

Cloud Deployment (AWS)

Deploy the MCP server to AWS for a public HTTPS endpoint that remote AI agents can connect to:

Option	Best for	Scale-to-zero	Setup
ECS Fargate	Production, consistent traffic	No	ALB + Fargate
App Runner	Low-traffic, development	✅ Yes	Auto-provisioned HTTPS

Quick deploy with the helper script

cd deploy/aws

# Option A — ECS Fargate
# Deploy (with optional HTTPS via ACM certificate)
./deploy.sh fargate \
    --certificate-arn arn:aws:acm:us-east-1:123456789:certificate/your-cert-id

# Option B — App Runner (mirror image to ECR first)
./deploy.sh mirror --ecr-repo 123456789.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/netlicensing-mcp
./deploy.sh apprunner \
    --ecr-image 123456789.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/netlicensing-mcp:latest

Connect MCP clients to the public URL

To use a shared, remote deployment, do not bake the NETLICENSING_API_KEY into the remote server settings. Instead, pass the API key from the client side using query parameters or HTTP headers.

For example, using the URL configuration in your MCP client with a query parameter:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "netlicensing": {
      "url": "https://your-endpoint.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/mcp?apikey=YOUR_API_KEY"
    }
  }
}

If you use a client or tool that supports passing HTTP headers directly, you can alternatively provide the key via X-NetLicensing-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY or Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY.

📖 Full instructions, architecture diagrams, and cost estimates: deploy/aws/README.md

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or pull request on GitHub.

For significant changes, open an issue first to discuss the approach.

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License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE

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