No. James isn't contradicting grace; he's describing it. Works don't produce living faith, they reveal it. Real trust in Christ naturally shows, the way a living body naturally breathes. The fruit proves the life; it doesn't purchase it.
The Grace Answer
James 2 gets set against Paul as if the Bible is arguing with itself. Paul says we are justified by faith apart from works. James says faith without works is dead. People read that and panic: so which is it, and how many works do I need before my faith counts? But James and Paul are answering two different questions, and neither one is telling you to earn anything.
Paul is answering, how is a sinner made right with God? Answer: by faith, as a gift, apart from works. James is answering a later question: what does real faith look like once it is there? His point is that living faith is not merely intellectual agreement. Even the demons believe God exists, and it does nothing for them. Saving faith is trust that has come alive, and life always shows.
Fruit reveals, it does not purchase
James uses the body as his picture: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Notice the logic. Works are to faith what breathing is to a living body. Breathing does not make you alive; it shows that you are. Nobody breathes in order to earn a heartbeat. In the same way, the good that flows out of a believer is evidence of the life within, not the price paid to get it.
So this verse is not a quota you have to hit to stay saved. It is a description of what happens when grace takes hold of a real person. You do not do works to become accepted. You are accepted, freely, and a genuinely trusted Christ begins to show up in how you live. The order is everything. Life first, then fruit. Never fruit in order to earn life. So you can breathe. The pressure to generate enough works to validate yourself is gone. Trust Christ, and the life He put in you will do what living things do.