Equipment Intelligence
Your agent asks; the backend answers. How old every piece of equipment in a Housecall Pro book really is, what a model actually is, and which units are oldest, ranked: $19 a month for 300 credits, and failed lookups cost nothing.
What it does
Equipment age is not on the Housecall Pro public API in any form, and specs never were. This subscription gives the agent you already use four lookups that answer both, metered in credits:
| Lookup | What comes back | Credits |
|---|---|---|
hcp_equipment_age_from_serial | Manufacture date and age from a serial number, confidence stated | 1 per answered lookup |
hcp_equipment_age_from_photo | Make, model, serial and age read from a nameplate photo, with specs when the model is covered | 3 per answered photo |
hcp_equipment_specs | Capacity, fuel and OEM data for a model number | 1 per answered lookup |
hcp_equipment_age_batch | A whole equipment export decoded at once and ranked oldest first | 1 per decoded unit |
Every answer states its confidence, and a serial that cannot be dated says so rather than guessing. The batch lookup takes the equipment export you already have and hands back every unit's age with the book ranked oldest first, which is the replacement conversation sorted by money.
Works with what you already run
Two ways in, same key, same credits. Your subscription key appears in the customer portal right after checkout, with no human in the loop.
Through the free MCP
The paid lookups ship inside the same free, open-source
housecall-pro-mcp you may already have installed. Add your subscription
key as HCPAPI_KEY in the MCP's config, next to where your Housecall Pro key
already sits, and the four lookups light up. Without the key they stay visible and answer
with subscription instructions instead of results, so nothing ever errors.
From any MCP client, with no install
The hosted MCP serves the same lookups from a URL, for clients where you cannot or would rather not run a local server:
| URL | https://mcp.hcpapi.com/mcp |
|---|---|
X-Hcpapi-Key | Required. Your subscription key. |
X-Hcp-Api-Key | Optional. Your own Housecall Pro API key. Adding it carries the standard Housecall Pro toolset (customers, jobs, invoices, estimates, the price book) through the same connection: the key is passed through to Housecall Pro per request, never stored and never logged. |
In Claude: Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector. Name it hcpapi,
set the URL above, and add the headers under advanced settings. Then, in a new chat, ask for
the age of any serial number: hcp_equipment_age_from_serial should answer with a
date, an age, and your remaining balance. Other MCP clients that support URL servers with
custom headers configure the same two values.
Pricing
300 credits, every month
Enough for roughly 100 nameplate photos, or a 300-unit book decoded, or any mix. Credits reset each cycle.
- Failed lookups cost nothing.
- Works through the free MCP and the hosted MCP with one key.
- Cancel any time; the key revokes when the subscription ends.
Not on sale yet. The list below is where it is announced first.
Lifetime covers skills. Credits and the hosted MCP subscription are separate. The skill shelf is a one-time purchase of files that read your own account or exports; this is a metered service answering from data you do not have. Lifetime buyers pay the same subscription as everyone else.
You pay for answers, not attempts
Failed lookups cost nothing. A serial that cannot be dated, a model that is not covered, and a photo that cannot be read are answered honestly and charged zero credits. That makes pointing the batch lookup at a messy book safe: units that cannot be decoded come back marked undetermined and charged zero, and the summary tells you exactly how much of the book was readable.
Free misses sit behind a daily allowance that grows with the age of your account. When a day hits it, further misses answer with a plain wait message that says when to retry; answered lookups keep working.
Coverage, stated honestly
The decoder runs deepest in heating: oil and gas boilers, furnaces and water heaters from the brands a heating contractor actually meets, with coverage growing monthly. A brand or model outside coverage answers as a free miss rather than a guess, so the worst case is a non-answer, never a wrong age on a replacement quote. If your book leans hard on one brand, ask first and get a straight answer about whether it is covered.
Questions
What is a credit?
One answered lookup. A serial decoded to a date and age costs 1 credit, specs for a model number cost 1, a nameplate photo read costs 3, and a batch run costs 1 per unit it decodes. The subscription grants 300 credits each month, and every answer comes back with your remaining balance.
What happens when I hit zero?
Nothing is charged and nothing is guessed: a call that costs more than you have left returns a plain "need N, have M" message instead of a result. Everything works again when your credits reset at the next monthly cycle. Credits reset rather than roll over.
Do failed lookups cost credits?
No. Failed lookups cost nothing. A serial that cannot be dated, a model that is not covered, and a photo that cannot be read are answered honestly and charged zero credits. Free misses sit behind a daily allowance that grows with the age of your account; if you reach it, the reply says so and tells you when to retry.
Is my Housecall Pro API key stored?
No. On the hosted MCP the optional X-Hcp-Api-Key header is passed through to Housecall Pro on each request and exists nowhere afterwards: never stored, never logged. With the free MCP the key never leaves your own machine at all.
What happens if I cancel?
The subscription stops billing, your API key revokes automatically when it ends, and unused credits end with it. Subscribing again issues a fresh key. Nothing already written into your own records is affected.
Whether this earns its price on a particular book is a fair question before subscribing: hello@hcpapi.com.
Independent project. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Housecall Pro.