License & Terms of Services

FlowMCP sits between its own code, the third-party APIs a schema calls, and the data those APIs return — and each of those carries its own legal terms. The purpose of this page is to draw a clear line around what FlowMCP takes responsibility for and what it deliberately leaves to the user: FlowMCP records and links the relevant Terms of Services and data licenses, but it never interprets or certifies them. The page describes that three-layer model, the optional schema fields that carry the links, and where responsibility for compliance ultimately rests.

Three-Layer License Model

FlowMCP operates in a three-layer license model. Schema authors and users MUST understand all three layers.

Layer	What	Who Decides	What FlowMCP Does
1. FlowMCP Schema Code	The schema definition (.mjs files), core library, CLI	FlowMCP (we)	MIT-licensed
2. API Provider ToS	Terms of Services for using the third-party API	API Provider	Link only — no classification
3. Data License	License of returned data (e.g. CC-BY, Public Domain)	Data publisher	Link only — no classification

What FlowMCP Does NOT Do

We do not classify or interpret Terms of Services. This is intentional:

• ToS are living documents — they change without notice
• ToS interpretation requires legal expertise
• We have no jurisdiction to make compliance statements
• Users are solely responsible for compliance

Schema-Level Optional Fields

Schemas MAY include optional ToS-related fields in the main block:

export const schema = {
    main: {
        namespace: 'coingecko',
        version: '4.0.0',
        // ... required fields ...

        // Optional ToS Fields (informational only)
        docs: ['https://docs.coingecko.com'],
        termsOfService: 'https://www.coingecko.com/en/terms',
        termsOfServiceCheckedAt: '2026-05-18',
        termsOfServiceLanguage: 'en',
        dataLicense: null,
        dataLicenseName: null
    },
    tools: { ... }
}

Field Semantics

Field	Set when	Null when
termsOfService	ToS URL is known and verified	No ToS found, or not yet researched
termsOfServiceCheckedAt	URL was verified to be live and applicable to the API	URL not yet checked
termsOfServiceLanguage	Primary language of ToS document detected	URL not yet checked
dataLicense	Provider explicitly publishes a separate data license URL	No explicit data license
dataLicenseName	Common name of the data license (e.g. CC-BY)	No explicit data license

Implementation in flowmcp-cli

Schema authors are encouraged to use the tos-research skill to populate these fields semi-automatically.

The CLI exposes an opt-in disclaimer flag:

# In flowmcp.config.json
{
    "licenseDisclaimer": true
}

# Then:
flowmcp call coingecko_market_chart
# [License Info] Provider: coingecko
# [License Info] ToS: https://www.coingecko.com/en/terms (last checked: 2026-05-18)
# [License Info] We do not interpret ToS. Please review before commercial use.

Default: licenseDisclaimer: false (off).

User Responsibility

Users are solely responsible for:

• Reviewing each API provider’s ToS before use
• Complying with rate limits, attribution, and re-distribution rules
• Determining commercial vs non-commercial fit
• Adhering to LLM-training restrictions where present

FlowMCP makes no warranty about ToS compliance, data licensing, or fitness for any purpose.

Update Strategy

ToS change. FlowMCP recommends:

• 6-month re-check cadence for all schemas with termsOfService
• Reactive update when a known provider changes its ToS
• Audit script audit-tos-freshness.mjs flags schemas with stale termsOfServiceCheckedAt

Related

• ./00-overview.md — see chapter 00.
• ./01-schema-format.md — see chapter 01.
• ./05-security.md — see chapter 05.
• ./19-mcp-integration.md — see chapter 19.
• ./21-schema-lifecycle.md — see chapter 21.