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U.S. Government Open Data

U.S. Government Open Data is an MCP server that adds finance tools to AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor. Open data from 40+ U.S. government APIs: economy, spending, Congress, health, energy, disasters. It has 113 GitHub stars, is released under the MIT license and runs locally with npx -y us-gov-open-data-mcp.

github.com/lzinga/us-gov-open-data-mcp (opens in a new tab)

Data as of from the GitHub API and the official MCP registry; description from the project's repository. Report an error

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Install U.S. Government Open Data

Generated from the server's MCP registry entry. Replace your-value with your own values.

Claude Desktop

claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "u-s-government-open-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "us-gov-open-data-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DATA_GOV_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "FRED_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "CENSUS_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "BLS_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "BEA_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "EIA_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Settings > Developer > Edit Config. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\. Restart Claude Desktop afterwards.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --env DATA_GOV_API_KEY=your-value --env FRED_API_KEY=your-value --env CENSUS_API_KEY=your-value --env BLS_API_KEY=your-value --env BEA_API_KEY=your-value --env EIA_API_KEY=your-value --transport stdio u-s-government-open-data -- npx -y us-gov-open-data-mcp

Cursor

.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "u-s-government-open-data": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "us-gov-open-data-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DATA_GOV_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "FRED_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "CENSUS_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "BLS_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "BEA_API_KEY": "your-value",
        "EIA_API_KEY": "your-value"
      }
    }
  }
}

Project file; use ~/.cursor/mcp.json to enable it in every project.

VS Code

.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "data_gov_api_key",
      "description": "DATA_GOV_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "fred_api_key",
      "description": "FRED_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "census_api_key",
      "description": "CENSUS_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "bls_api_key",
      "description": "BLS_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "bea_api_key",
      "description": "BEA_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "eia_api_key",
      "description": "EIA_API_KEY",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "u-s-government-open-data": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "us-gov-open-data-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DATA_GOV_API_KEY": "${input:data_gov_api_key}",
        "FRED_API_KEY": "${input:fred_api_key}",
        "CENSUS_API_KEY": "${input:census_api_key}",
        "BLS_API_KEY": "${input:bls_api_key}",
        "BEA_API_KEY": "${input:bea_api_key}",
        "EIA_API_KEY": "${input:eia_api_key}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config formats checked against the official docs on Oct 7, 2026: modelcontextprotocol.io (opens in a new tab), code.claude.com (opens in a new tab), cursor.com (opens in a new tab), code.visualstudio.com (opens in a new tab).

Environment variables

Variables the server reads at startup.

NameRequiredDescription
DATA_GOV_API_KEYsecretNoapi.data.gov key, shared by Congress, FEC, GovInfo, FBI, NREL, Regulations.gov, College Scorecard, USDA FoodData, openFDA and USGS Water
FRED_API_KEYsecretNoFRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) API key
CENSUS_API_KEYsecretNoCensus Bureau API key
BLS_API_KEYsecretNoBureau of Labor Statistics API key (optional; raises rate limits)
BEA_API_KEYsecretNoBureau of Economic Analysis API key
EIA_API_KEYsecretNoEnergy Information Administration API key
NOAA_API_KEYsecretNoNOAA Climate Data Online token (station climate data works without it)
USDA_NASS_API_KEYsecretNoUSDA NASS Quick Stats API key
HUD_USER_TOKENsecretNoHUD User API token
DOL_API_KEYsecretNoDepartment of Labor API key
USPTO_API_KEYsecretNoUSPTO Open Data Portal API key
LDA_API_KEYsecretNoSenate Lobbying Disclosure (lda.gov) API key (optional; raises rate limits)
AQS_API_KEYsecretNoEPA Air Quality System API key (used with AQS_EMAIL)
AQS_EMAILNoEmail address registered for the EPA AQS API key
SEC_CONTACT_EMAILNoYour email for the SEC User-Agent; SEC asks automated tools for a contact and may block requests without one
NWS_USER_AGENTNoUser-Agent for the National Weather Service API, with your contact details (a default is sent otherwise)
MODULESNoComma-separated modules to load (default: all), e.g. 'fred,bls,treasury'
DOMAINSNoComma-separated domains to load, e.g. 'economy,health' (added to MODULES)
HIDE_UNCONFIGUREDNoSet to 1 to skip modules whose required API key is not set
TOOL_MODENo'full' (every tool) or 'discovery' (findtools and calltool only)

About U.S. Government Open Data

MCP Server + TypeScript SDK for 40+ U.S. Government APIs 300+ tools covering economic, fiscal, health, education, energy, environment, lobbying, housing, patents, safety, banking, consumer protection, workplace safety, transportation, seismic, clinical trials, pharma payments, research funding, procurement, and legislative data.

  • api
  • cdc
  • claude
  • congress
  • fda
  • fred
  • government-data
  • lobbying
  • mcp
  • model-context-protocol

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FAQ

U.S. Government Open Data FAQ

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

How do I install the U.S. Government Open Data MCP server?

Add the command npx -y us-gov-open-data-mcp to your MCP client: put it in claude_desktop_config.json for Claude Desktop, run claude mcp add for Claude Code, or add it to .cursor/mcp.json (Cursor) or .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code). The snippets on this page are ready to paste.

Is U.S. Government Open Data free?

The server is open source under the MIT license, so running it is free. It needs credentials (DATA_GOV_API_KEY, FRED_API_KEY, CENSUS_API_KEY, BLS_API_KEY, BEA_API_KEY, EIA_API_KEY, NOAA_API_KEY, USDA_NASS_API_KEY, HUD_USER_TOKEN, DOL_API_KEY, USPTO_API_KEY, LDA_API_KEY and AQS_API_KEY) for the service it connects to, which may require a paid account.

Is U.S. Government Open Data actively maintained?

The most recent commit was on Oct 8, 2026. The latest release is v2026.10.8, published Oct 8, 2026. appsgit only lists MCP servers with a commit in the last six months.