"Six months ago, everyone was talking about MCPs. And I was like, screw MCPs. Every MCP would be better as a CLI."

— Peter Steinberger, Founder of OpenClaw Watch on YouTube (~2:39:00) | Lex Fridman Podcast #491

APIsetu Transport CLI

⚠️ Unofficial CLI - Not officially sponsored or affiliated with APIsetu or Kerala Motor Vehicle Department.

A production-ready command-line interface for APIsetu Transport (Kerala Motor Vehicle Department) — verify driving licenses and vehicle registration certificates directly from your terminal.

Features

• Driving License Verification — Verify DL by license number, Aadhaar, name, or DOB
• Vehicle Registration Verification — Verify RC by registration number, chassis number, Aadhaar, or owner name
• Multiple Formats — Get responses as XML or PDF
• JSON Output — All commands support --json for scripting
• Colorized Output — Clean terminal output with chalk
• DigiLocker Integration — Official government data from Kerala MVD

Installation

npm install -g @ktmcp-cli/apisetu

Quick Start

# Get API credentials at https://apisetu.gov.in/
apisetu config set --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --client-id YOUR_CLIENT_ID

# Verify driving license
apisetu dl verify --dlno KL1234567890123

# Verify vehicle registration
apisetu rc verify --reg-no KL01AB1234

# Get PDF certificate
apisetu dl verify --dlno KL1234567890123 --format pdf --json

Commands

Config

apisetu config set --api-key <key> --client-id <id>
apisetu config show

Driving License (DL)

apisetu dl verify --dlno KL1234567890123
apisetu dl verify --uid 123456789012 --name "Full Name" --dob 01-01-1990
apisetu dl verify --dlno KL1234567890123 --format pdf --json

Options:

• --dlno <number> - Driving License Number
• --uid <aadhaar> - Aadhaar number
• --name <fullname> - Full name
• --dob <date> - Date of birth (DD-MM-YYYY)
• --format <format> - Response format: xml (default) or pdf
• --json - Output as JSON

Vehicle Registration (RC)

apisetu rc verify --reg-no KL01AB1234
apisetu rc verify --chasis-no ABC123XYZ456 --name "Owner Name"
apisetu rc verify --reg-no KL01AB1234 --format pdf --json

Options:

• --reg-no <number> - Vehicle Registration Number
• --chasis-no <number> - Chassis Number
• --uid <aadhaar> - Aadhaar number
• --name <fullname> - Owner full name
• --format <format> - Response format: xml (default) or pdf
• --json - Output as JSON

JSON Output

All commands support --json for structured output:

apisetu dl verify --dlno KL1234567890123 --json | jq '.'
apisetu rc verify --reg-no KL01AB1234 --json | jq '.certificateData'

API Response Formats

XML Format (Default)

Returns structured certificate data including personal information, issuance details, and document-specific data.

PDF Format

Returns PDF certificate data. Use with --json flag to capture the response.

Error Handling

The CLI provides clear error messages for common issues:

• 400 Bad Request - Missing or invalid parameters
• 401 Unauthorized - Invalid API credentials
• 404 Not Found - Record not found
• 500 Server Error - Internal server error
• 502 Bad Gateway - Publisher service error
• 503 Service Unavailable - Temporary service outage
• 504 Gateway Timeout - Service timeout

Why CLI > MCP?

No server to run. No protocol overhead. Just install and go.

• Simpler — Just a binary you call directly
• Composable — Pipe to jq, grep, awk
• Scriptable — Works in cron jobs, CI/CD, shell scripts

Use Cases

• Verify vehicle ownership before purchase
• Validate driving license authenticity
• Integrate vehicle verification into applications
• Automate transport document checks
• Build compliance systems

License

MIT — Part of the Kill The MCP project.