US Government Open Data MCP

An MCP server + TypeScript SDK for 37 U.S. government and international data APIs — 198 tools covering economic, fiscal, health, education, energy, environment, lobbying, housing, patents, safety, banking, consumer protection, workplace safety, transportation, seismic, clinical trials, pharma payments, and legislative data.

Quick Start

npx us-gov-open-data-mcp

What It Does

This server gives AI assistants (VS Code Copilot, Claude Desktop, Cursor) direct access to live data from 36 federal APIs. It cross-references data automatically — asking about a drug pulls FDA adverse events, clinical trials, lobbying spend, and congressional activity in one query.

18 APIs require no key at all. The rest use free keys that take under a minute to get.

Example Analyses

These were generated entirely from live government API data — no manual data entry:

Analysis What it shows
Worst-Case Impact PAC money → committee vote → law signed → measurable public cost (one case per party)
Best-Case Impact Senators defying industry pressure to pass legislation with positive outcomes
Presidential Economic Scorecard Clinton through Trump II — identical metrics, side-by-side, with context
Deficit Reduction Comparison Best Democratic plan vs. best Republican plan, graded on realism

Documentation

Doc What it covers
SDK API Reference All 36 modules — every function, parameter, and return type
Architecture How the system works — client factory, caching, rate limiting, module wiring
Adding New Modules Step-by-step guide to adding a new government API

Data Sources

Category APIs
Economic Treasury, FRED, BLS, BEA, EIA
Legislative Congress.gov, Federal Register, GovInfo, Regulations.gov
Financial FEC, Senate Lobbying, SEC, FDIC, CFPB
Health CDC, FDA, CMS, ClinicalTrials.gov, Open Payments
Other Census, USDA, World Bank, EPA, NOAA, FEMA, USGS, NHTSA, HUD, USPTO, NAEP, College Scorecard, NREL, DOL, BTS

Install

# Run without installing
npx us-gov-open-data-mcp

VS Code / Copilot

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "us-gov-open-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "us-gov-open-data-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "FRED_API_KEY": "your_key_here",
        "DATA_GOV_API_KEY": "your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "us-gov-open-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "us-gov-open-data-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "FRED_API_KEY": "your_key_here",
        "DATA_GOV_API_KEY": "your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

API Keys

18 APIs work with no key at all. For the rest, you have two options:

Option 1 — .env file (recommended for local development):

Create a .env file in your project root:

DATA_GOV_API_KEY=your_key_here
FRED_API_KEY=your_key_here

Option 2 — env block in MCP config (recommended for VS Code / Claude Desktop):

Add keys directly in the config as shown above.

Both methods work. The .env file is easier to manage if you have many keys. The env block is simpler for quick setup.

Key Free signup Used by
DATA_GOV_API_KEY api.data.gov/signup Congress, FEC, FBI, GovInfo, College Scorecard, NREL, Regulations.gov, USDA FoodData
FRED_API_KEY fredaccount.stlouisfed.org/apikeys FRED
CENSUS_API_KEY api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html Census
BEA_API_KEY apps.bea.gov/API/signup BEA
EIA_API_KEY eia.gov/opendata/register.php EIA
BLS_API_KEY bls.gov/developers BLS (optional)
NOAA_API_KEY ncei.noaa.gov/cdo-web/token NOAA
USDA_NASS_API_KEY quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api USDA NASS
HUD_USER_TOKEN huduser.gov/hudapi/public/register HUD
SEC_CONTACT_EMAIL Any valid email SEC EDGAR
DOL_API_KEY data.dol.gov/registration DOL

Example Analyses | Documentation | GitHub