FreightUtils MCP Server

FreightUtils MCP Server

The neutral freight reference layer for AI agents.

FreightUtils is the neutral freight reference layer for AI agents — source-backed dangerous-goods, customs, location and freight-calculation data an agent can call and cite, from primary sources (ADR 2025 / UNECE, HS 2022 / WCO, IATA-regulated airline prefixes). Neutral by design: no freight to sell and no carrier to push — a lookup returns what the named source says, with the citation attached so an agent can inspect it rather than take our word for it, regardless of who carries the load.

This Model Context Protocol server gives AI agents access to 26 freight calculation and reference tools, covering road, air, and sea freight. Built by a UK ADR-certified freight transport planner.

Every response cites its source — a _source block with the authority, edition, licence where held, and a verification status an agent can read — and the tools are deterministic, not generated answers. Reference only: never filing, booking, or legal advice, and results state when human review is required (validate is structural check-digit validation only; a clean ics2_check is not ENS acceptance; emissions figures are estimates, not audited reports).

Since 2.11.0, every tool also declares a typed outputSchema and returns structuredContent — the FreightUtils v1 response envelope: the answer under result, plus confidence, normalized_input, warnings, _source and a ready-to-use citation. The legacy flat JSON text channel is unchanged (byte-identical), so existing text-parsing consumers are unaffected.

Since 2.24.0 the envelope is version 1.2, which adds four fields beside ok: status (ok, partial when required inputs are missing, not_found, ambiguous or unsupported), missing_inputs (the inputs a partial answer still needs), edition (the edition the answer is served from, with the dates it applies from and may apply until; null for a computed or live answer) and as_of (the date the answer's data was last audited, or today for a computed answer). A refusal carries the same envelope on structuredContent, so an agent can read partial and missing_inputs there as well. The change is additive: envelope 1 and 1.1 answers still validate.

Since 2.26.0:

• ADR 2025 and ADR 2027. The tools that read ADR data — adr_lookup, adr_exemption_calculator, adr_lq_eq_check, consignment_calculator, shipment_summary and, from 2.29.0, adr_consignment_check — take edition ("2025" or "2027") and as_of (YYYY-MM-DD). edition wins; otherwise as_of (default today, UTC) picks the edition by the legal timeline. Without either, they answer ADR 2025 until 31 December 2026 and ADR 2027 from 1 January 2027. ADR 2027 is accepted and applies from 1 January 2027: an ADR 2027 answer for an earlier date says it is not yet applicable on that as_of (EDITION_NOT_YET_APPLICABLE). From 1 January to 30 June 2027 either edition may be applied (EDITION_TRANSITIONAL); ADR 2025 answers end on 30 June 2027, and from 1 July 2027 edition: "2025" is refused with EDITION_UNSUPPORTED. An answer on a named edition carries adr_edition; an ADR 2027 exemption answer for UN 0081, 0082, 0084, 0241, 0331, 0332, 0482, 1005 or 1017 also carries transitional_1_6_1_61 (the ADR 2025 note-a basis that 1.6.1.61 allows until 31 December 2030) beside the verdict, never instead of it.

Since 2.25.0:

• The ADR consignment check (2.29.0). adr_consignment_check takes the consignment object (lines[] with un_number, quantity { value, unit, basis }, packing_group / variant_index, packages, inner_packaging and, on an ID line, icao_limited_quantity; journey { date, tunnels_on_route, mode }) with edition / as_of beside it (journey.date is the default as_of) and answers status — pass, fail, conditional or insufficient_data — with missing_inputs[] (each input by path, the check it blocks, what to send) and checks_performed[] (each check's verdict, edition, date, basis and the ADR section and page it rests on). The 1.1.3.6 check is adr_exemption_calculator's answer, whole; the LQ / EQ checks are adr_lq_eq_check's; the tunnel check gives the whole load's code (the most restrictive, 8.6.3.2) and which tunnels on the route the load may use without and with the 1.1.3.6 relief (8.6.3.3); the document entries follow 5.4.1.1.1 (a), (b), (c), (d), (k), e.g. UN 1098 ALLYL ALCOHOL, 6.1 (3), I, (C/D). From 2.30.0 it also checks mixed loading (mixed_loading_7_5_2): every pair of lines against the ADR 7.5.2.1 table by the labels of Table A column (5), subsidiary labels included, Class 1 pairs against the 7.5.2.2 table by compatibility group, each pair with its deciding cell (e.g. 3 × 1.4) and source; and the foodstuffs precautions of 7.5.4 for goods with CV28, with the optional vehicle.foodstuffs_carried. Where the ADR text does not settle a case the check asks instead of assuming. Not yet checked: plates and placards (5.3), vehicle equipment (8.1), driver training (8.2.1), packaging codes. A keyed call stores a check receipt.
• Check receipts. A receipt is stored only when the package runs with an API key (FREIGHTUTILS_API_KEY) — a free key is enough (freightutils.com/pricing). Then every answer of the seven executed checks (adr_exemption_calculator, adr_lq_eq_check, uk_duty_calculator, consignment_calculator, shipment_summary, ics2_check and, from 2.29.0, adr_consignment_check) carries _meta.check_id and _meta.receipt_url. A receipt is the record of that one check, kept for 90 days at GET https://www.freightutils.com/api/receipts/{check_id} (?format=text for a summary): the inputs as consumed, the edition and as-of date, the data hashes, the rules applied, the result, anything unresolved and a receipt_hash a copy can be checked against. Without a key the answer carries the receipt hash inline and nothing is stored: _meta.receipt (stored: false, reason: "key_required"; from 2.28.0 the reason may also be "quota" — the key's daily stored-receipt allowance for the day is used up, the answer is unchanged and nothing is stored; receipt_hash and the hashed fields the answer does not otherwise carry, so the hash recomputes from the answer alone), and no check_id (the API's rule since 30 October 2026, typed in this package from 2.26.0). Verifying by id needs no plan and no payment — a keyed check's receipt is read with the same key — and a fetch counts as one request against the daily allowance, like a lookup. A receipt never holds a name, an address, a key or an IP address. Every check also names the edition it rested on (edition + as_of), or answers edition: null with _meta.edition_basis "no regulatory dataset read".
• Batch inputs. adr_lookup takes un_numbers[]; unlocode_lookup, airport_lookup, airline_lookup and hs_code_lookup take codes[] (up to 50 each); uk_duty_calculator takes lines[] (up to 10). Send the list alone: the answer is results[] in input order, each item with its own status. One call against the daily limit, one per item against the Pro monthly allowance.
• What each ADR code means. adr_lookup answers resolved_codes[] beside results[]: each code in Table A columns (5)–(20), once per answer, with the rows that carry it, its summary, ADR section and verification_status. include_codes picks compact (the default for a UN number), full (adds the url, title, meaning and references) or none; include_statements: true adds plain-word statements to every row. The meanings are FreightUtils' paraphrases of ADR 2025, cited to section, and verification_status says how each has been reviewed: paraphrase_unreviewed, machine_reviewed (two independent readings of the UNECE text, compared with the record; the owner adjudicates every disagreement), contested, owner_reviewed, dg_reviewed, needs_fix, or verified on the transport category and tunnel code entries read from the 1.1.3.6.3 and 8.6.4 tables (typed from 2.28.0).
• Scopes. --scope dg | customs | ops (or FREIGHTUTILS_SCOPE) serves only that scope's tools — see Scoped tool lists. The default serves all of them.
• The consignment object. consignment_calculator, shipment_summary and adr_exemption_calculator take one consignment argument (schema) instead of their own inputs; validate checks one with type: "consignment".

Website: https://www.freightutils.com API Docs: https://www.freightutils.com/api-docs

Tools (26)

Calculators

Dangerous Goods (ADR)

In 2.33.0: every record the fifteen record tools return declares fu_id (a stable FreightUtils identifier, the same across editions) and, where the dataset has editions, fu_version_id (fu_id@ ) — optional strings on passthrough records, so an answer without them still validates; the envelope declares _meta.ids { scheme, pattern }; each of those tools says so in one closing clause; and resolve_reference takes an fu: identifier of up to 200 characters, which resolves to exactly its one record or to none (every other identifier keeps the 32-character limit). Still 26 tools.

In 2.32.0: adr_consignment_check reads the UN packaging mark of each line — the optional `lines[].packages.