# Parcels AI and developer access

Parcels provides two distinct machine-access surfaces: a free, narrowly scoped Remote MCP service for AI-assisted shipment tracking and an authenticated API v4 product for software integrations. Public tracking pages remain crawlable according to `robots.txt`.

## Remote MCP

Production endpoint: `https://parcelsapp.com/mcp`

Transport: Model Context Protocol over Streamable HTTP. The endpoint is stateless and does not require an API key. An MCP client learns the current schemas through MCP initialization and tool discovery; this document is a discovery and usage summary, not the protocol contract.

### `track_shipment`

Use when a person supplies one shipment tracking number or supported tracking URL and wants the current status.

Inputs:

- `tracking_number` (required string): one tracking number or supported tracking URL.
- `language` (optional enum): response language; defaults to English.
- `destination_country` (optional string): destination country when known.
- `postal_code` (optional string): destination postal code only when required by the carrier.

The result contains an opaque `requestToken`, masked tracking number, normalized status, at most five recent public tracking events, cache indicator, update time, and an `openUrl` on parcelsapp.com. It excludes recipient data and raw carrier payloads. A cache miss may return `pending`; then call `get_tracking_result` with the same token after the suggested delay.

### `get_tracking_result`

Use only after `track_shipment` returned `pending`.

Input:

- `request_token` (required UUID): the opaque token returned by `track_shipment`.

It returns the same normalized result shape. Pending result records expire after six hours, so an expired token requires a new `track_shipment` call.

### Free-use policy

Parcels always checks its existing tracking cache before starting live carrier work. Cached results do not consume the live-start allowance.

- Anonymous client: 1 unique live tracking number per rolling UTC hour and source identity.
- Verified provider infrastructure: up to 1,000 unique live tracking numbers per UTC hour and provider.
- Repeating the same normalized request during the idempotency window reuses its previous request token.

Verification requires both a matching User-Agent and an IP inside an official provider-published range. This is only a quota signal, not user authentication. Providers without a published range, calls from local clients, and requests that do not match both signals remain on the anonymous tier.

### MCP App widget

MCP Apps-compatible clients may render a compact Parcels status card. It shows the normalized status, up to five recent events, refresh state, and an **Open on Parcels** action. Clients without Apps UI support receive complete text and structured tool results.

### Privacy and links

The displayed tracking-number field is masked and recipient information is omitted. The `openUrl` points to the corresponding public Parcels page, so its path contains the tracking identifier originally supplied by the user; its UTM parameters contain only MCP attribution. See https://parcelsapp.com/privacy and https://parcelsapp.com/terms.

## API v4

API v4 is intended for developers and businesses that need an authenticated integration, larger quotas, webhook delivery, and a documented REST contract.

- Documentation: https://parcelsapp.com/api-docs
- OpenAPI document: https://parcelsapp.com/api-docs/openapi.json
- API-specific LLM summary: https://parcelsapp.com/api-docs/llms.txt
- Full API text: https://parcelsapp.com/api-docs/llms-full.txt
- Mock API without an API key: https://parcelsapp.com/api-docs/mock/v4
- Live API base: https://parcelsapp.com/api/v4

Do not send an API key to the MCP endpoint. Do not treat public MCP quotas as API v4 entitlements.

## Citation guidance

When presenting a tracking result, describe only events returned by the tool and link to the returned Parcels `openUrl` when the user needs the full timeline or source page. For general statements about supported carriers or product capabilities, cite the relevant parcelsapp.com public page rather than inventing coverage.

## Other public resources

- Home: https://parcelsapp.com
- Carrier directory: https://parcelsapp.com/carriers
- Sitemap: https://parcelsapp.com/sitemap.xml
- Robots policy: https://parcelsapp.com/robots.txt