US Government Open Data MCP

What is US Government Open Data MCP?

US Government Open Data MCP is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and TypeScript SDK that provides 198 tools covering 37 U.S. government and international data APIs. It runs on any MCP client (VS Code Copilot, Claude Desktop, Cursor) via stdio or HTTP Stream and supports selective module loading and standalone SDK imports for use without MCP.

How to use US Government Open Data MCP?

Run npx us-gov-open-data-mcp to start. Configure MCP clients by adding the server to your .vscode/mcp.json or claude_desktop_config.json with necessary environment variables (e.g., FRED_API_KEY, DATA_GOV_API_KEY). For HTTP streaming, use node dist/server.js --transport httpStream --port 8080. Load only specific modules with the --modules flag or MODULES environment variable.

Key features of US Government Open Data MCP

• 37 data sources with 198 tools across economic, fiscal, health, and more
• Disk-cached, rate-limited, and retry-with-backoff on every request
• Selective module loading for faster startup and smaller tool lists
• Standalone TypeScript SDK imports (no MCP required)
• 19 APIs require no authentication key at all
• Compatible with all MCP clients via stdio or HTTP Stream

Use cases of US Government Open Data MCP

• Analyze economic trends using FRED, BLS, and BEA indicators
• Track federal legislation, campaign finance, and lobbying disclosures
• Access public health data from CDC, FDA, and ClinicalTrials.gov
• Research housing and demographic data from HUD and Census Bureau
• Monitor financial institutions, bank failures, and consumer complaints

FAQ from US Government Open Data MCP

Which data sources are included?

37 U.S. government and international APIs covering fiscal (Treasury), economic (FRED, BLS, BEA), health (CDC, FDA, ClinicalTrials), education (NAEP, College Scorecard), energy (EIA, NREL), environment (EPA, NOAA, USGS), legislation (Congress.gov, Federal Register, OpenFEC), finance (SEC, CFPB, FDIC), and more.

Do I need API keys?

No key is required for 19 APIs (Treasury, Federal Register, USAspending, World Bank, CDC, FDA, EPA, NAEP, Senate Lobbying, FEMA, NHTSA, CMS, USPTO, CFPB, FDIC, USGS, ClinicalTrials.gov, BTS, Open Payments). The remaining 18 APIs require a free key from the respective government service.

Can I use the data without an MCP client?

Yes. Every API is importable as a standalone typed TypeScript SDK (e.g., import { getObservations } from "us-gov-open-data-mcp/sdk/fred"). These functions work independently of the MCP server.

What MCP clients are supported?

Any client that supports stdio or HTTP Stream transport, including VS Code Copilot, Claude Desktop, and Cursor.

Is the data accurate?

Data is sourced directly from official U.S. government and international APIs. The server returns raw results without modification, but accuracy depends on upstream sources. Numbers may lag days to years behind reality depending on the source. Correlation does not imply causation.