US Government Open Data MCP

US Government Open Data MCP

An MCP server + TypeScript SDK for 36 U.S. government and international data APIs — 188 tools covering economic, fiscal, health, education, energy, environment, lobbying, housing, patents, safety, banking, consumer protection, workplace safety, transportation, seismic, clinical trials, and legislative data.

Works with any MCP client (VS Code Copilot, Claude Desktop, Cursor) via stdio or HTTP Stream. Supports selective module loading and standalone SDK imports for use without MCP.

Built with FastMCP. Disk-cached, rate-limited, retries with backoff.

I did collapse all older commits into a single commit hence the large initial commit. This was to consolidate as well as get rid of many old files that were no longer relevant to the project when I made it public.

Data Sources

Quick Start

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",
        "DATA_GOV_API_KEY": "your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

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"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP Stream (for web apps, remote access)

# Start on port 8080
node dist/server.js --transport httpStream --port 8080

# Or via npm script
npm run start:http

The HTTP Stream endpoint will be at http://localhost:8080/mcp. Works with any MCP client that supports HTTP transport.

Selective Module Loading

Load only the modules you need for faster startup and smaller tool lists:

# Via CLI flag
node dist/server.js --modules fred,treasury,congress

# Via environment variable
MODULES=fred,bls,treasury node dist/server.js

# Combine with HTTP transport
node dist/server.js --modules fred,treasury --transport httpStream --port 8080

Available module names: treasury, fred, bls, bea, eia, census, fec, congress, federal-register, usaspending, sec, fbi, govinfo, noaa, usda-nass, world-bank, cdc, naep, college-scorecard, nrel, fda, epa, senate-lobbying, regulations, usda-fooddata, fema, nhtsa, cms, hud, uspto, cfpb, fdic, dol, usgs, clinical-trials, bts

API Keys

18 APIs require no key at all (Treasury, Federal Register, USAspending, World Bank, CDC, FDA, EPA, NAEP, Senate Lobbying, FEMA, NHTSA, CMS, USPTO, CFPB, FDIC, USGS, ClinicalTrials.gov, BTS). The rest need free keys — most take under a minute to get:

Set keys via environment variables or a .env file in the project root.

Using as a TypeScript SDK

Every API is importable as a standalone typed client — no MCP server required:

// Individual module imports
import { getObservations } from "us-gov-open-data-mcp/sdk/fred";
import { getIndicator } from "us-gov-open-data-mcp/sdk/world-bank";
import { getLeadingCausesOfDeath } from "us-gov-open-data-mcp/sdk/cdc";
import { searchBills } from "us-gov-open-data-mcp/sdk/congress";

// Or barrel import everything
import * as sdk from "us-gov-open-data-mcp/sdk";
const gdp = await sdk.fred.getObservations("GDP", { sort: "desc", limit: 5 });

// FRED
const gdp = await getObservations("GDP", { sort: "desc", limit: 5 });
console.log(gdp.observations); // [{ date: "2025-10-01", value: "31490.07" }, ...]

// World Bank — compare U.S. to Germany
const health = await getIndicator("SH.XPD.CHEX.PC.CD", { country: "US;DE", dateRange: "2015:2023" });

// CDC
const deaths = await getLeadingCausesOfDeath({ state: "California", year: 2017 });

All SDK functions include disk-backed caching, retry with exponential backoff, and token-bucket rate limiting. See docs/sdk.md for the full API reference.

Architecture

src/
  client.ts              # createClient() factory — cache, retry, rate-limit
  server.ts              # FastMCP bootstrap — stdio + HTTP, selective loading
  instructions.ts        # Cross-referencing guide for MCP clients
  sdk/
    index.ts             # Barrel export for all SDK modules
    fred.ts, bls.ts, ... # Typed API clients (no MCP dependency)
  modules/
    fred.ts, bls.ts, ... # MCP tool definitions + metadata

Each API is 2 files:

• sdk/*.ts — typed async functions, usable anywhere (no MCP/Zod dependency)
• modules/*.ts — MCP tool definitions wrapping the SDK, with metadata for client instructions

Adding a new API: create sdk/new-api.ts + modules/new-api.ts, add 2 lines to server.ts. See docs/adding-modules.md.

Documentation

• SDK API Reference — all exported functions and types
• Adding New Modules — how to add a new API
• Architecture — how the system works

Disclaimer

This project was built with the assistance of AI tools. All data is sourced from official U.S. government and international APIs — the server does not generate, modify, or editorialize any data. It returns raw results from federal databases exactly as provided.

Important:

• Data accuracy depends on the upstream government APIs. Numbers may lag days to years behind reality depending on the source.
• Correlation does not imply causation. Cross-referencing data sources (e.g., campaign finance + legislative votes) shows documented patterns, not proven cause-and-effect.
• This tool is for research and informational purposes. It is not legal, financial, medical, or policy advice.
• API rate limits and availability vary. Some endpoints may be temporarily unavailable or return incomplete data.
• The example analyses in the examples/ folder demonstrate the server's capabilities and should not be treated as investigative conclusions.

License

MIT