OpenGov

You have an MCP server that exposes Socrata-powered open data portals to MCP clients. It lets you search datasets, view metadata, run SQL-like queries, and access portal statistics without needing an API key for public data. This makes it easy to build interactive data conversations and analyses with clients like Claude Desktop.

How to use

To use the OpenGov MCP Server, configure your MCP client to connect through the provided MCP entry points. You can run the server using either the quick npx method or a local development build, then point your client at a Socrata data portal such as data.cityofchicago.org. Once running, you can search datasets, view metadata, fetch column information, and query records using SoQL-like syntax.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Node.js and npm installed on your machine. Verify installation with node -v and npm -v.

Option 1: Quick setup with npx (recommended) creates or edits a Claude Desktop configuration and runs the MCP server on demand.

{
  "mcpServers": { 
    "opengov": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "opengov-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "DATA_PORTAL_URL": "https://data.cityofchicago.org"
      }
    }
  }
}

What to do next: restart your Claude Desktop if it was running, then start asking questions like “How many cars were towed in Chicago this month?” and follow with more detailed follow-ups.

Option 2: Manual installation from source for development or customization.

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/srobbin/opengov-mcp-server.git
cd opengov-mcp-server

# Install dependencies and build
npm install
npm run build

# Create Claude Desktop configuration
# (see the next snippet for the exact config structure)

Additional configuration and usage notes

You can configure your MCP client with either a remote HTTP-style endpoint or a local stdio-based server invocation. The examples below show how to wire the OpenGov MCP Server into Claude Desktop.

HTTP-style (remote) configuration is not shown here since the server is typically started locally via a runtime command. The focus is on running the MCP server as a local process that your client can communicate with.

Security and data access notes

Basic usage accesses public data portals, so no API key is required for standard queries. If you connect to private datasets or portals that require authentication, you will need to provide appropriate credentials through the portal settings or environment configuration used by your client.

Troubleshooting

If Claude Desktop cannot reach the MCP server, verify that DATA_PORTAL_URL is set to a valid Socrata-powered portal such as https://data.cityofchicago.org and that the MCP server process is running. Check that the environment variables are visible to the process and that the command and arguments exactly match the startup configuration shown in the installation steps.

Examples of common tasks

Search for datasets by keyword, category, or tags, view dataset metadata, fetch column information, or run data-access queries like SELECT * WHERE amount > 1000 ORDER BY date DESC with the provided tools.

Notes on availability

Public datasets from major portals such as Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other government entities are accessible via the MCP server without an API key for basic usage.

Available tools

get_data

Unified access tool used by Claude Desktop to search, retrieve metadata, and query data from Socrata portals