Today's Agent Skill: Business License and Permit Checklist Generator
What It Does
Operating without the right licenses or permits can result in fines, forced closures, and personal liability — yet most small business owners are not entirely certain which ones they need. Requirements vary by state, city, business type, and industry, making them nearly impossible to track from memory alone. This skill generates a customized research checklist of likely required licenses and permits based on your business type and location, giving you a concrete starting point for verification.
How It Works
You provide your business type, state, city, and whether you have employees. The agent draws on known regulatory categories to produce a tiered checklist covering federal, state-level, and local requirements — each with a plain-English description and the agency responsible for issuing it. This gives you a concrete research roadmap, not legal advice.
How to Deploy It
Trigger it by typing "generate my business license checklist" and describing your business type and location. Works with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, and Windsurf. Use the output as a research guide — verify each item at the issuing agency's website or with a local business attorney. The SBA's business license tool at sba.gov is a useful cross-reference for most industries.
SKILL.md — Ready to Deploy
## Description
Generates a tiered checklist of likely required business licenses and permits based on business type, US state, and employee count — as a research starting point, not legal advice.
## Trigger
User says "generate my business license checklist", "what licenses do I need?", or "help me figure out my permit requirements."
## Input
- business_type: Description of what the business does, e.g., "residential cleaning service", "food truck", "online retail" (required)
- state: US state where the business operates (required)
- city_or_county: City or county of primary operation (optional but improves specificity)
- has_employees: true or false (required)
- special_activities: Regulated activities like selling alcohol, handling food, performing home repairs, transporting people, or working with children (optional)
## Steps
1. Based on business_type, identify applicable federal regulatory categories: food (FDA, USDA), alcohol (TTB), financial services (SEC, FINRA), healthcare (HHS), childcare (ACF), transportation (DOT), firearms (ATF). List only those relevant to this business.
2. For the given state, identify standard statewide requirements: general business license, sales Copy the full SKILL.md and drop it into your agent's skills directory to activate this skill.