Plain Freight MCP¶

Freight quotes from China to a US address, without a sales call. Plain Freight runs the same pricing engine a human customer is quoted from, and exposes it as an open MCP endpoint: one all-in delivered-duty-paid number covering freight, US customs clearance, import duty and delivery, for shipments from 100 g to 2,000 kg, door to door. No API key, no signup, no waiting for a rep to email back.

Server type: Remote (Streamable HTTP, stateless)
Auth: None (keyless); fair-use limits of 20 offers per hour per IP and 4 per email address
Endpoint: https://plainfreight.com/api/mcp
Server: plain-freight v1.0.0 (live initialize handshake captured)
Tools: 5 (estimate_price, check_goods, generate_offer, check_offer_status, track_shipment)
Coverage: China to US, 100 g to 2,000 kg, door to door
Built by: plainfreight.com

Why This Matters for Operators¶

Landed cost is the number importers get wrong most often: the quote that matters includes customs clearance and duty, not just freight. Plain Freight returns exactly that as one delivered-duty-paid figure, and says which mode the duty treatment applies to (included on door to door air and sea, paid at import on air consolidation). For a business pricing a product from a Chinese supplier, that turns "what will this actually cost to my door" into a two-tool question an agent can answer while the sourcing conversation is still open.

Tool Surface¶

Tool	What it does	Records
estimate_price	Rough price for a shipment	Nothing
check_goods	Whether goods can ship from China to the US and which documents they need	Nothing
generate_offer	Prices a real shipment and returns the offer	A quote request
check_offer_status	Reads the result of the second check on an offer	Read-only
track_shipment	Reads a booked shipment from its tracking link	Read-only

After a firm offer, the vendor runs a second check that verifies volumetric weight, goods class and certifications, and can surface follow-up questions or hold the offer for a person.

Authentication¶

None. The endpoint is open and stateless: initialize and tool calls need no account, and the vendor applies fair-use limits of 20 offers per hour per IP and 4 per email address, with programmatic volume available on request. For agents that can only send email, the vendor accepts quote requests by email and replies in the same thread.

Installation¶

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http plainfreight https://plainfreight.com/api/mcp

Cursor and other clients:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "plainfreight": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://plainfreight.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The server answers a bare GET with 405 (POST only) and completes a full initialize handshake unauthenticated.

Business Relevance¶

E-commerce and DTC importers price landed cost from China inside the same session where they compare suppliers.
Sourcing teams check whether a product can ship and which documents it needs before committing to an order.
Operators with booked shipments track them from the same connection that priced them.

Integration with CorpusIQ¶

Landed cost is a margin input, and CorpusIQ holds the rest of the margin picture. Composed, an agent can pair a Plain Freight delivered-duty-paid quote with revenue and ad spend from CorpusIQ's Stripe, Shopify and ad connectors to test whether a product still makes money at the quoted cost, and with China sourcing data from connectors like SeekAPI when choosing between supplier candidates.

Limitations¶

Coverage is one lane: China to US addresses, 100 g to 2,000 kg, door to door.
Fair-use limits (20 offers/hour/IP, 4/email) are built in; high-volume use needs the vendor's programmatic path.
generate_offer records a quote request; estimate_price and check_goods record nothing.
Duty treatment differs by mode and the offer states which applies; reading the offer terms is part of using the tools.

FAQ¶

Do I need an account or API key?¶

No. The endpoint is open and keyless, with fair-use limits per IP and per email address.

Does the quote include import duty?¶

It is a delivered-duty-paid figure: freight, US customs clearance, import duty and delivery. Duty is included on door-to-door air and sea, and paid at import on air consolidation; the offer says which applies.

Can it check whether a product can ship at all?¶

Yes. check_goods answers whether a product can ship from China to the US and which documents it needs, and records nothing.