Ladu Adu Tools
About
LADU’s MCP server connects AI assistants directly to LA County ADU data. Ask about any address and get a plain-English buildability verdict, the parcel’s zoning and regulatory overlays (hillside, coastal, fire, flood, historic, fault zones), and the governing city’s ADU rules. Qu
Details
- Author
- ladu-dev
- Downloads
- 304
- Categories
- Other
Jump to
- Check buildability for any LA County address
- Lookup parcel rules, zoning, and overlays
- Get structured ADU rules for 51 cities
- Compare two jurisdictions side-by-side
- Estimate ADU cost and timeline
- Access 19,000+ permitted ADU records (2018–present)
Setting up with Highlight
This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:
- Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
- Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
-
Configure the plugin with the settings below
Plugin Name
Ladu Adu ToolsCommand (node, npx, python, etc.)Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
- Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches
From the repository
Add the URL https://www.ladu.co/mcp to your MCP client configuration (e.g., Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline). Restart the client, and the tools become available automatically. There is no authentication step.
estimate_adu_cost
Estimate the total cost to build an ADU in an LA-area city, including construction and permit fees. Returns a cost range, timeline, and plain-text summary.
list_cities
List all 51 LA-area cities supported by the ADU cost calculator, with their slugs, display names, county, and governing municipality.
lookup_parcel_rules
Look up the ADU regulatory facts for a specific Los Angeles County property by street address: zoning, lot size, applicable overlays (hillside, coastal, fire, flood, historic, fault, etc.), and the governing jurisdiction's ADU rules (setbacks, max size, max height, parking, permit fees and timeline). Covers all ~2.4M LA County parcels; overlay detail is richest for City of Los Angeles parcels.
check_buildability
Assess whether an ADU can likely be built at a specific Los Angeles County address. Returns a plain-English buildability verdict (likely / possible with caveats / complex), the parcel's zoning and flagged overlay conditions, the governing jurisdiction's ADU rules, the count of permitted ADUs nearby, and a quotable summary. Use this when a user asks 'can I build an ADU at <address>?'.
get_adu_rules
Get the structured ADU regulations for an LA-area city: setbacks, max size, max height, parking, permit fees, timeline, and city-specific special rules. City-level (no address needed). Use list_cities for valid slugs.
get_adu_permit_counts
Get ADU permit totals for an LA-area city from LADU's permit database: total permits on record, permits in the most recent full year, year-over-year change, and median permit valuation. Falls back to the LA County aggregate when a city has little city-specific data (the response says which).
get_adu_permit_trends
Get the year-by-year ADU permit trend (permits and median valuation per year, 2018–present) for an LA-area city or the LA County aggregate. Use for 'ADU growth in <city>' questions.
find_nearby_adus
Find permitted ADUs near a Los Angeles County address (within a radius, default 2 miles). Returns recent permits with their address, year, status, JADU flag, and distance — useful for 'are people building ADUs near <address>?'. Addresses only; no owner information.
get_adu_permit_valuations
Get the distribution (25th percentile, median, 75th percentile) of declared ADU permit valuations for an LA-area city, optionally for a single year. Declared valuation is the applicant's stated construction cost on the permit and is typically lower than all-in project cost — use estimate_adu_cost for a project cost estimate.
compare_jurisdictions
Compare the ADU rules of two LA-area cities side by side: max size, height, setbacks, parking, permit fees, and timeline. Returns a row-by-row diff and a summary of the differences. Use list_cities for valid slugs.
Claude Desktop / Cursor
Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.
{
"mcpServers": {
"ladu adu tools": {
"ladu": {
"url": "https://www.ladu.co/mcp"
}
}
}
}McpServers
{
"ladu": {
"url": "https://www.ladu.co/mcp"
}
}LADU MCP Server
Real ADU data for Los Angeles County, available to any MCP-compatible AI assistant.
Endpoint: https://www.ladu.co/mcp
Protocol: MCP JSON-RPC 2.0 (HTTP transport)
Auth: None — free, public, read-only
Docs: ladu.co/mcp-server
---
Quick start
Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"ladu": {
"url": "https://www.ladu.co/mcp"
}
}
}
No API key. No signup. Restart your client and the tools are available.
---
Tools
| Tool | What it does |
| --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| check_buildability | Buildability verdict for any LA County address — zoning, overlays (hillside, coastal, fire, flood, historic, fault), ADU rules, nearby permit count |
| lookup_parcel_rules | Full regulatory detail for a parcel: zoning, lot size, all applicable overlays, governing jurisdiction's ADU rules |
| get_adu_rules | Structured ADU rules for any of 51 supported cities: setbacks, max size, height, parking, permit fees, timeline |
| compare_jurisdictions | Side-by-side rule comparison for two cities |
| estimate_adu_cost | Cost range + timeline for a given city, square footage, ADU type, and finish level |
| get_adu_permit_counts | Total permits, most-recent-year count, YoY change, and median valuation for a city |
| get_adu_permit_trends | Year-by-year permit counts and median valuations (2018–present) for a city |
| get_adu_permit_valuations | 25th/50th/75th percentile of declared permit valuations by city and optional year |
| find_nearby_adus | Permitted ADUs near an address within a radius (default 2 miles) |
| list_cities | All 51 supported LA-area cities with slugs, display names, and governing municipality |
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Example questions
Once connected, ask your AI assistant:
- _"Can I build an ADU at 1234 Main St, Los Angeles?"_
- _"What are the ADU rules in Santa Monica vs. Pasadena?"_
- _"How much would a 600 sq ft detached ADU cost in Culver City?"_
- _"How many ADUs were permitted in LA County in 2024, and what's the trend?"_
- _"Are people building ADUs near 456 Oak Ave, Pasadena?"_
---
Data
- Permit records: 19,000+ LA County ADU permits from public LA County Assessor and LA City/County Building & Safety records, deduplicated by case number, covering 2018–present
- Parcel data: ~2.4M LA County parcels with zoning, overlays, and regulatory facts
- City rules: Structured regulations for 51 LA-area jurisdictions
Methodology: stats.ladu.co/methodology
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Privacy
The server returns property characteristics, zoning, regulations, and aggregate permit statistics. It never returns owner names, contact information, financial details, or mortgage data. It runs against a least-privilege read-only database role — private information is not reachable at the database level.
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Rate limiting
Tool calls are rate-limited per client. The server returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header and a JSON-RPC -32000 error when the limit is reached.
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Built by LADU — Los Angeles ADU specialists.
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