License & Terms of Services

Normative language (MUST/SHOULD/MAY) follows the conventions defined in Conformance Language.

Defines how FlowMCP handles third-party API Terms of Services (ToS) and data licensing.

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 known provider ToS changes occur (e.g. Twitter 2023)
Audit script audit-tos-freshness.mjs flags schemas with stale termsOfServiceCheckedAt