@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov

$4 trillion of public federal data, one npm install away.

The most comprehensive keyless-first MCP server for US federal and state/local (SLED) contracting + spending + regulation + partner vetting. 150 tools across 52 data sources — keyless-first: only 4 sources (Census business-patterns, FRED, BEA, and DOL's data endpoint) need a free key; the other 48 need none. Works today, in any AI agent.

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See it in action

👤  user        Find active SAM.gov solicitations under NAICS 541512 closing this month
                                                                                          
🤖  Claude     → sam_search_opportunities { ncode: "541512", limit: 5 }                  
✓  47,478 active opportunities indexed                                                  
                                                                                          
   • 5ef3db5d…  VA Bulk Oxygen Tank Rental         closes 2026-05-15  ($1.05M)         
   • a000339c…  Articulating Boom Lifts             closes 2026-05-30  ($310K)          
   • be9c24ef…  CMOP Hazardous Waste Removal        closes 2026-06-12  ($2.7M)          

👤  user        Pull the SOW + contracting officer for the first one
                                                                                          
🤖  Claude     → sam_get_opportunity { noticeId: "5ef3db5d…" }                          
✓  Department of Veterans Affairs · Combined Synopsis/Solicitation                       
   POC:           Rebecca Gobble  <rebecca.gobble@va.gov>  +1-410-642-2411                 
   Set-aside:     Total Small Business                                                    
   Attachments:   1   ↓ 36C24526Q0460_1.docx (172 KB)                                     
   SOW preview:   "RFQ# 36C24526Q0460 — Bulk Oxygen Tank Rental, Fill, Telemetry…"        

Zero API key. Zero registration. Zero signup. Just plug it in and ask.

Related MCP server: USA Spending MCP Server

Why this exists

The federal data this wraps is public domain. There is no good reason it should cost a five-figure subscription to query.

What this gives Claude (and other AI agents)

150 tools across 52 data sources — keyless-first: only 4 sources (Census business-patterns, FRED, BEA, and DOL's data endpoint) need a free key; the other 48 need none. (An earlier 52-tool build measured roughly p50 ~0.25s / p95 ~0.8s against production federal APIs; latency varies by source and upstream load — treat it as fast, not a benchmarked guarantee.)

How do I install it? Pick the path that matches you.

🟢 Path 1 — Claude Desktop, one-click (no terminal needed)

Best for non-developers. Just download a file and double-click.

1. Download mcp-sam-gov.mcpb from the latest release.

2. Double-click the file. Claude Desktop opens with an "Install Extension" dialog.

3. Click Install.

4. Done. Start a new conversation and ask "Find active SAM.gov opportunities under NAICS 541512".

That's it. No PowerShell, no npm, nothing.

Requires Claude Desktop ≥ 1.0 (which ships its own Node.js runtime).

🟡 Path 2 — Claude Code, one command

If you already use Claude Code (the CLI):

/plugin install cliwant/mcp-sam-gov

This installs the MCP server plus a SKILL.md workflow guide that teaches Claude when + how to use each of the 150 tools.

🔵 Path 3 — Manual install for any MCP host (Codex, Cursor, Continue, Gemini)

For Codex CLI / Cursor / Continue / Gemini CLI / anything that speaks MCP:

gh repo clone cliwant/mcp-sam-gov
cd mcp-sam-gov
npm install --omit=dev
npm install -g .

After install, the binary mcp-sam-gov is on your PATH. Add this to your host config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "mcp-sam-gov"
    }
  }
}

Specific config locations per host: see Host configurations below.

⚪ Path 4 — Direct path (zero install, just point at the file)

Skip installation entirely:

gh repo clone cliwant/mcp-sam-gov
cd mcp-sam-gov
npm install --omit=dev   # only runtime deps; dist/ is pre-built

Then point your host config at the absolute path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:\\Users\\you\\mcp-sam-gov\\dist\\server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Host configurations

Claude Desktop

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows) or ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov" }
  }
}

(Or skip this entirely — use Path 1's .mcpb and it auto-configures.)

Restart Claude Desktop fully (system tray quit on Windows / Quit menu on macOS), then look for the 🔨 icon. You should see "sam-gov (150 tools)".

Claude Code

Per-project .mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov" } } }

Or globally:

claude mcp add sam-gov mcp-sam-gov

Codex CLI

~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.sam-gov]
command = "mcp-sam-gov"
args = []

Cursor

Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server:

{ "mcpServers": { "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov" } } }

Continue

~/.continue/config.json:

{
  "experimental": {
    "modelContextProtocolServer": {
      "transport": { "type": "stdio", "command": "mcp-sam-gov" }
    }
  }
}

Gemini CLI

~/.gemini/settings.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov" } } }

Anything else

If your host speaks MCP over stdio, point it at mcp-sam-gov. No host-specific code.

What questions can I ask?

Once installed, you can ask in natural language. The agent picks the right tool sequence automatically.

Discovery

• "NAICS 541512 의 메릴랜드 입찰 중 30일 안에 마감되는 것 찾아줘"

• "Find active SAM.gov solicitations under NAICS 541512, MD only, closing in 30 days"

• "What's the canonical NAICS code for 'computer systems design'?"

RFP analysis

• "Pull noticeId 5ef3db5daeb54099a96d487783a38bd0 — give me the SOW, contracting officer, and attachments"

• "Show me the full RFP body for that notice"

Competitive landscape

• "Top 5 recipients of VA contracts in NAICS 541519 last fiscal year"

• "Show me Booz Allen's individual awards at DISA"

• "Who are the sub-contractors on Leidos' VA contracts?"

• "What's CMS in USAspending? (resolve the abbreviation)"

Trends & aggregation

• "How has VA 541512 spending trended over the last 5 fiscal years?"

• "Top 10 states by federal contracting spend in 541512"

• "Top PSC categories at DoD by spending"

• "Federal grant programs in cybersecurity by total $"

Agency intelligence (capture brief)

• "Give me a capture brief on VA: mission, FY26 budget breakdown, top sub-agencies"

• "What's VA's transaction volume for FY25?"

Recompete radar

• "VA 541512 contracts expiring in next 12 months over $1M"

• "Pull period of performance for award CONT_AWD_..."

Regulatory & legislative

• "Find FAR sections about SDVOSB set-aside requirements"

• "Turn this RFP's cited FAR/DFARS clause list into a Section L/M compliance matrix"

• "What new VA cybersecurity rules were published this quarter?"

• "Any Federal Register documents on the public-inspection desk from DoD today?"

• "Search Regulations.gov dockets on 'contractor cybersecurity' and pull the public comments"

• "Discover federal open datasets about 'wildfire' on data.gov"

• "Is there a Federal Register doc number 2026-08333? Pull the citation."

Partner & entity vetting

• "Screen 'Acme Defense LLC' against the OFAC sanctions list and SAM exclusions"

• "Look up NPI 1234567890 in NPPES — is this provider active?"

• "Does this subcontractor have adverse Single Audit findings in the Federal Audit Clearinghouse?"

• "How healthy is the bank on cert #3510 — risk ratios and quarterly financials?"

• "Pull this public company's revenue trend and latest 10-K from SEC EDGAR"

• "Any EPA compliance/enforcement flags for this facility?"

Compliance & eligibility

• "What's the SBA small-business size standard for NAICS 541512?"

• "Search the eCFR for the exact text of a rule"

• "What's the US import duty rate (HTS) for lithium-ion batteries?"

Pricing, labor & fiscal

• "GSA CALC ceiling-rate band for a senior systems analyst"

• "Find the SCA wage determination for Baltimore County, MD and give me the fringe rates"

• "How much has CPI-U risen over the last 3 years for an escalation clause?"

• "What's the current total US public debt (Debt to the Penny)?"

Cyber

• "Is CVE-2021-44228 (Log4Shell) on the CISA KEV must-patch list, and what's the due date?"

Health & research funding

• "NIH RePORTER projects on mRNA vaccines funded last year"

• "Recruiting clinical trials for diabetes sponsored by industry"

• "Industry payments to physicians in CA from the CMS Open Payments Research dataset"

Grants

• "Cybersecurity grants posted in the last 30 days"

• "Pull grant id 361238"

Optional — higher rate limits + archives

The MCP server runs keyless by default. For higher SAM.gov rate limits + the full archive (notices older than ~12 months), set SAM_GOV_API_KEY in your host's env block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "mcp-sam-gov",
      "env": { "SAM_GOV_API_KEY": "your-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Get a free key at sam.gov/SAM/pages/public/searchKeyData.jsf. The agent doesn't need to know — the key path is transparent.

DATA_GOV_API_KEY — the api.data.gov / api.gsa.gov family

A handful of sources ride the shared api.data.gov gateway — Congress.gov, GovInfo, Regulations.gov, FAC, NPPES, and the data.gov v4 dataset catalog. They work keyless out of the box via the public DEMO_KEY (a low shared hourly quota). Set DATA_GOV_API_KEY to raise those limits substantially:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "mcp-sam-gov",
      "env": { "DATA_GOV_API_KEY": "your-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Get one free (instant, no wait) at api.data.gov/signup. The same key is accepted across all api.data.gov / api.gsa.gov sources. Like the SAM key, it is sent only on the wire (never logged); unset simply means DEMO_KEY. BLS sources similarly accept an optional free BLS_API_KEY to lift their daily quota.

Keys & higher limits — the full inventory

Most tools are keyless. Four sources require a free key — Census (census_business_patterns), FRED (fred_search_series, fred_series_observations), BEA (bea_regional_data), and DOL's data endpoint (dol_get_dataset) — those sources have no keyless tier, so the tool throws without one. (DOL's catalog dol_list_datasets is keyless.) The other keys are optional: they only raise a rate limit or unlock a single filter. Every key below is free.

Two ways to set any key — pick one:

1. Host env block — the "env": { … } object shown in the examples above.

2. A .env file in the server's working directory — configure your keys once:

   CENSUS_API_KEY=your-key-here
   FRED_API_KEY=your-key-here
   # optional — raise limits / unlock filters
   SAM_GOV_API_KEY=your-key-here

   The server auto-loads .env at startup. A real environment variable always wins over .env (standard precedence), and .env is git-ignored so your keys never get committed.

Ask the server which keys it needs. The keyless api_key_status tool lists every key, whether it's required or optional, the free signup URL + what it unlocks, and whether each is currently configured (a boolean — the key value is never shown). Creating the account at the signup URL is your one manual step; the server automates discovery (api_key_status) and configuration (.env). To confirm a key actually works, call that source's own tool.

Staying up to date

npm doesn't notify installed users of new versions, so the server does — minimally. On startup it makes one anonymous request to the public npm registry for its own latest version and, only if a newer one exists, prints a single line to stderr (e.g. a newer version is available: 1.7.0 → 1.8.0). It sends no usage data (a version check, not telemetry), never touches the protocol's stdout, is non-blocking, and stays silent when you're current.

• Update: npm i -g @cliwant/mcp-sam-gov@latest — or just restart if your config uses npx @cliwant/mcp-sam-gov@latest.

• Opt out: set MCP_SAM_GOV_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 (or NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=1).

• What changed: the releases page + CHANGELOG.

Found a bug? Want a feature? Report it in one step

This server is built to improve from real usage. Because an AI agent (not a human) calls the tools, the feedback path runs through the agent:

• On the two "something may be broken" errors — schema_drift (a federal API changed shape) and upstream_unavailable (an outage) — the error envelope carries a report field: a prefilled GitHub issue link your agent can offer you.

• Or just tell your agent "report a bug" / "this result looks wrong" / "I wish it could do X" — it calls the feedback tool, which returns a prefilled issue link for you to open and submit.

Nothing is ever posted automatically. The server has no token and no account — it only builds the link; you open and submit it. Prefilled links carry only the tool name, error kind, and server version — never your query values. The repo is public, so redact anything sensitive first.

You can also open one directly: New issue — bug / feature / wrong-output templates.

Tool catalog (150 tools)

Grouped by workflow. Keyless-first — most tools need no key; Census business-patterns, FRED, BEA, and DOL's data endpoint require a free key, and a handful of others gain higher limits from an optional free key (noted above). Descriptions are condensed — each tool's own inputSchema carries the full contract and honesty caveats.

• sam_search_opportunities — keyless HAL search of active SAM.gov contracting opportunities

• sam_search_shaping — pre-solicitation radar (Sources Sought / Presol / Special Notices before the RFP exists)

• sam_get_opportunity — full detail by 32-char hex noticeId (POCs + attachments + body)

• sam_fetch_description — full RFP body as plain text

• sam_fetch_attachment_text — extract attachment text (RFP / SOW / Q&A / wage tables) from PDF + DOCX + text/HTML

• sam_attachment_url — build the public download URL for an attachment resourceId

• sam_lookup_organization — federal-organization id → canonical fullParentPathName

• sam_lookup_notice_fields — batch-fill nulled naics/set-aside/PoP/deadline for 1–100 noticeIds from the opt-in GSA daily CSV

• grants_search — Grants.gov federal grant opportunities (financial assistance, distinct from SAM contracts)

• grants_get_opportunity — full detail for a single grant opportunity by id

• usas_search_awards — aggregate share-of-wallet at agency × NAICS

• usas_search_individual_awards — line-item federal contracts (returns generatedInternalId)

• usas_get_award_detail — full award detail: period of performance, options, set-aside, competition

• usas_search_awards_by_recipient — every contract a recipient won in an agency × NAICS slice

• usas_search_subawards — enumerate subcontracts on prime awards (supply chain / teaming)

• usas_search_recompetes — recompete radar (PoP ending in a window, soonest-first, no silent drops)

• usas_search_expiring_contracts — deprecated alias of usas_search_recompetes (legacy shape)

• usas_analyze_incumbent — per-award incumbent + public recompete-pressure hints (labels, not a score)

• usas_search_teaming_partners — small-business teaming discovery by cert × NAICS × agency, exclusion-screened

• usas_spending_over_time — contract-spending time series (fiscal_year / quarter / month)

• usas_search_agency_spending — spending broken down by awarding agency

• usas_search_subagency_spending — break a parent agency down by sub-agency / office

• usas_search_psc_spending — spending by Product Service Code (PSC)

• usas_search_cfda_spending — spending by CFDA grant-program code

• usas_search_state_spending — spending by state / territory

• usas_search_federal_account_spending — spending by federal account / Treasury Account Symbol (TAS)

• usas_search_recipients — recipient list with parent/child hierarchy

• usas_get_recipient_profile — full recipient detail (UEI, alternate names, totals)

• usas_get_agency_profile — agency profile by toptier code (mission, abbreviation, website)

• usas_get_agency_awards_summary — award activity for a fiscal year (transaction count + obligations)

• usas_get_agency_budget_function — budget-function breakdown for an agency × fiscal year

• usas_list_toptier_agencies — all toptier agencies + current-FY obligations

• usas_lookup_agency — resolve 'VA' / 'DHS' → canonical toptier name + 4-digit code

• usas_autocomplete_naics — anti-hallucination NAICS guard

• usas_autocomplete_recipient — anti-hallucination recipient guard

• usas_naics_hierarchy — navigate the NAICS tree (2→4→6) + active-contract count per code

• usas_glossary — 151 federal-spending terms

• usas_list_disaster_codes — list Disaster Emergency Fund Codes (DEFC): COVID-19, IIJA/infrastructure, and other emergency-appropriation tags

• usas_disaster_spending — disaster/emergency-fund spending BY GEOGRAPHY for given DEFCs (which state/county/district captured COVID/IIJA relief money)

• fpds_search_awards — FPDS-NG federal contract award actions (the authoritative award-action feed)

• gao_protest_lookup — recent GAO bid-protest decisions from the public Legal-Products RSS feed (recent window only)

• ofac_screen_entity — keyless OFAC denied-party / sanctions screening

• sam_check_exclusions — keyless SAM debarment/exclusion screening by name and/or UEI/CAGE

• sam_integrity_lookup — one-call integrity screen (exclusion verdict + honest FAPIIS pointer)

• fac_search_audits — Single Audit summaries from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse

• fac_get_findings — drill into the audit-RISK findings for an entity

• fdic_search_institutions — search the FDIC-insured-institution directory

• fdic_institution_financials — quarterly financial time-series for one institution (by cert #)

• fdic_risk_ratios — counterparty risk ratios for one institution

• fdic_institution_history — structural-change event log (mergers, charter changes)

• fdic_branch_deposits — branch-deposit footprint

• fdic_bank_failures — historical bank failures & assistance transactions

• fdic_industry_summary — industry & state banking-sector annual aggregates

• echo_search_facilities — search EPA-regulated facilities by state with compliance/enforcement screening

• echo_facility_report — EPA ECHO Detailed Facility Report for one facility (by FRS RegistryID)

• epa_tri_facilities — EPA Envirofacts TRI (Toxics Release Inventory) facilities by state/industry (environmental / ESG vetting)

• openfda_enforcement — FDA drug / device / food recalls & enforcement actions (product-safety supplier vetting)

• openfda_device_clearances — FDA 510(k) medical-device clearances (device-maker capability check)

• openfda_drug_approvals — openFDA Drugs@FDA drug-approval applications (sponsor, approved products, submission/approval history)

• nhtsa_recalls — NHTSA vehicle recalls by make / model / year

• nhtsa_complaints — NHTSA vehicle safety complaints by make / model / year

• cpsc_recalls — CPSC consumer-product recalls (product supplier vetting)

• courtlistener_search_opinions — US federal court opinions (COFC contract claims / bid protests, Federal Circuit) — data via CourtListener / Free Law Project (disclosed)

• nonprofit_search — IRS-990 nonprofit search by name / state / NTEE — via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (disclosed)

• nonprofit_financials — IRS-990 nonprofit financials by EIN — via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (disclosed)

• edgar_lookup_cik — resolve a company ticker or name to its 10-digit SEC CIK

• edgar_company_filings — a company's SEC filings

• edgar_company_facts — curated XBRL financial facts for a filer

• edgar_company_concept — one filer × one XBRL concept × the complete reported time-series

• edgar_xbrl_frames — cross-filer XBRL cross-section (one concept across all filers for a period)

• edgar_full_text_search — full-text search across EDGAR filings, 2001–present

• edgar_filing_index — bulk cross-filer filing index for a quarter

• edgar_daily_filing_index — per-day cross-filer filing index

• fed_register_search_documents — search Federal Register documents by query / agency / type / date

• fed_register_get_document — full detail for a document by number (citation, body URL, CFR refs)

• fed_register_public_inspection — the Federal Register public-inspection desk (pre-publication)

• fed_register_list_agencies — Federal Register agency slugs reference

• regulations_search_dockets — search Regulations.gov rulemaking dockets

• regulations_search_documents — search Regulations.gov rulemaking documents (rules, proposed rules, notices)

• regulations_search_comments — search public comments on rulemakings

• regulations_get_docket — fetch one Regulations.gov docket by id

• ecfr_search — full-text search across the entire CFR (titleNumber=48 for FAR); returns ranked snippets + ecfrUrl

• ecfr_get_section — the FULL text of one CFR section by citation (any title; for FAR/DFARS prefer far_clause_lookup)

• ecfr_list_titles — all 50 CFR titles + last-amended dates

• far_clause_lookup — authoritative FAR/DFARS clause text + its prescription (exact clause number)

• far_search — FAR/DFARS-scoped search (excludes GSAM, collapses to current in-force version)

• far_compliance_matrix — cited-clause list → proposal-ready Section L/M compliance matrix (eligibility gates flagged)

• congress_search_bills — search Congress.gov bills / legislation

• congress_get_bill — one bill by congress / type / number

• govinfo_search_packages — search GovInfo (GPO-authoritative) packages in a collection

• govinfo_get_package — one GovInfo package summary + download links (txt/xml/pdf/mods)

• govinfo_list_collections — the GovInfo collection catalog

• gsa_benchmark_labor_rates — GSA CALC awarded ceiling-rate market band for a labor category (a distribution, not one price)

• sam_search_wage_determinations — find SCA / Davis-Bacon wage determinations for a locality

• sam_get_wage_rates — prevailing-wage + fringe / H&W rate table parsed from a WD, plus the EO minimum-wage floor

• bls_timeseries — BLS time series (CPI-U / ECI escalation, PPI, employment) — the pricing/escalation layer

• bls_oews_wages — benchmark occupational wages & employment (BLS OEWS) by area × occupation

• bls_qcew — county × NAICS market size / wages / location quotient (competition density)

• treasury_debt_to_penny — daily total US public debt outstanding (Treasury Fiscal Data)

• treasury_avg_interest_rates — average interest rate the Treasury pays by security type

• treasury_monthly_statement — Monthly Treasury Statement: receipts, outlays, deficit/surplus by month

• treasury_query_dataset — escape-hatch query over 7 confirmed Treasury Fiscal Data datasets

• bea_regional_data — GDP / personal income by industry × geography (BEA Regional; requires free BEA_API_KEY)

• census_business_patterns — establishments / employment / annual payroll by NAICS × geography (Census CBP; requires free CENSUS_API_KEY)

• fred_search_series — search the FRED macroeconomic series catalog (GDP/CPI/rates/unemployment; requires free FRED_API_KEY)

• fred_series_observations — time-series observations for a FRED series (missing values → null; requires free FRED_API_KEY)

• gsa_perdiem_rates — federal travel per-diem: monthly lodging + M&IE meals caps by city+state or zip (keyless via DEMO_KEY)

• nih_reporter_search_projects — awarded NIH RePORTER research-grant projects

• nsf_search_awards — awarded NSF research-grant awards

• nsf_get_award — one NSF award by its numeric award id

• clinicaltrials_search_studies — federally-registered clinical studies with sponsor/funder enrichment

• clinicaltrials_get_study — one clinical study by NCT id (incl. brief summary)

• clinicaltrials_facet_counts — exact per-value study-count distribution over the whole registry

• cms_search_datasets — discover CMS Open Payments (Sunshine Act) datasets

• cms_query_dataset — query a CMS Open Payments datastore distribution (industry→physician payments)

• nppes_lookup_provider — CMS/HHS NPPES NPI Registry provider lookup

• cms_medicare_provider_services — Medicare provider utilization & payments (healthcare market sizing)

• cms_hospital_compare — CMS Hospital Compare quality ratings

• cms_facility_directory — CMS nursing-home / home-health / hospice / dialysis facility directories

• cms_dmepos_suppliers — CMS DMEPOS (durable medical equipment) supplier directory + Medicare spend

• cms_revoked_providers — CMS Medicare revocation / exclusion list (provider compliance vetting)

• cve_lookup — look up NIST NVD CVE records

• cisa_kev_lookup — filter the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (binding BOD 22-01 remediation due-dates)

• nist_800_53_controls — NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 security & privacy controls lookup (FedRAMP/CMMC/RMF requirement text by controlId/family/keyword)

• hts_lookup — US import-tariff classification + duty rates from the USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule

• cbp_border_wait_times — live CBP land-border commercial-vehicle wait times (Canadian + Mexican ports; freight/logistics)

• census_geocode_address — resolve a one-line US address → matched address + Census geographies (tract, CD, place)

• census_geographies_by_coordinates — resolve a longitude/latitude point → Census geographies

• fema_disaster_declarations — FEMA disaster / emergency declarations by state, type, incident, year

• fema_search_public_assistance — FEMA Public Assistance funded projects

• fema_search_hazard_mitigation — FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance projects (HMGP/FMA/PDM/BRIC mitigation grants to state/local/tribal subrecipients; disaster-resilience, distinct from Public Assistance recovery)

• nws_active_alerts — currently-active NWS weather alerts (watches/warnings/advisories; disaster/climate readiness, pairs with the FEMA tools)

• socrata_discover_datasets — find Socrata dataset 4x4 ids by keyword

• socrata_query — query rows from an allowlisted Socrata/SODA open-data portal (53 curated state/county/city + federal hosts — checkbook, contracts, vendor payments, live solicitations across the SLED tier)

• ckan_discover_datasets — find CKAN datastore resource ids by keyword

• ckan_query — query rows from an allowlisted CKAN datastore resource (state/city spend/checkbook)

• opengov_list_governments — directory of 525+ US state/local governments on OpenGov Procurement (filter by state/query)

• opengov_search_solicitations — a government's live public solicitations (title, status [open = accepting], deadline, portal link) — keyless anonymous endpoints

• bonfire_list_organizations — curated live-verified 186-org US seed directory of governments on Bonfire (Euna)

• bonfire_search_opportunities — an org's currently-open opportunities via keyless RSS (referenceNumber, name, closeDate, link); the RSS is the complete open set (exact total)

• arcgis_hub_discover_datasets — discover ArcGIS Hub datasets by keyword (the SLED GIS/infrastructure/permits/procurement layer Socrata & CKAN don't cover; a discovery aid with publisher surfaced for vetting)

• arcgis_feature_query — query rows from a curated allowlist of 23 US-gov ArcGIS REST feature layers: DC OCP PASS live solicitations; local-gov checkbooks/contracts; state DOT bid/award registers (TX / AK / IA / OK)

• datagov_search_datasets — search the data.gov v4 catalog for federal open datasets across all publishing agencies

• search_gov_domains — CISA get.gov authoritative .gov domain registry (resolve which org owns a .gov domain; enumerate federal agencies + map SLED entities)

• sba_size_standard — SBA small-business size standard for a 6-digit NAICS (set-aside eligibility gate)

• dol_list_datasets — browse DOL enforcement/compliance datasets (WHD, OFCCP, …) — keyless catalog

• dol_get_dataset — fetch DOL enforcement records (WHD wage-hour / OFCCP; requires free DOL_API_KEY)

• lda_search_filings — Senate lobbying filings: who lobbies which agency, on what issue, for how much (keyless)

• api_key_status — list which API keys the server can use, required vs optional, signup URLs, and whether each is currently set (value never shown)

Reliability & offline snapshots

This server is built around one rule: honest failure over confident fabrication. Everything below is about availability of public data — none of it bypasses access controls.

Keyless-first, and a down source throws. Every source works with no API key. When a source is rate-limited, blocked, or down, the tool returns a typed error (rate_limited / upstream_unavailable / schema_drift / …) — it never invents rows and never reports a DOWN service as "0 results" or "not found". A genuine empty result and an outage are always distinguishable.

Offline snapshots (on by default). Some reference data changes slowly — the toptier-agency list, the top-level NAICS tree, the USAspending glossary, SBA size standards, the latest Treasury "Debt to the Penny." By default, when a live federal source is briefly unreachable from your egress, the server falls back to a public, weekly-refreshed snapshot of that slow-changing reference data, hosted at raw.githubusercontent.com/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/snapshots. It only fetches on a live hard-failure (an outage / IP-reputation block), never during normal operation — public data, no telemetry. A served snapshot is never presented as live — the response carries _meta.dataPath: "snapshot" plus an asOf timestamp, and complete is forced off, so an AI agent (and you) always see the staleness. A rate limit (429) is always honored, never routed around onto the mirror.

• Disable it (pure live-only): set SAMGOV_SNAPSHOT_BASE_URL=off. Then no snapshot path is ever added and behavior is byte-for-byte identical to a live-only client.

• Point at your own mirror: set SAMGOV_SNAPSHOT_BASE_URL to your base URL to host the snapshots yourself instead of using the public default.

  { "mcpServers": { "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov",
      "env": { "SAMGOV_SNAPSHOT_BASE_URL": "off" } } } }

• Build the snapshots: run node scripts/build-snapshots.mjs from any clean, non-blocked egress (a laptop / home / clean CI runner). It self-diagnoses per-source reachability, prints a reachability table, and writes a manifest.json. On partial coverage it refreshes only the sources it can reach and leaves the last-good file in place for the rest (stale-but-honest, never blanked). It exits non-zero only when zero sources were reachable (a fully blocked egress — the signal to re-run from a cleaner one).

• The honest boundary. This covers public-data availability only. The snapshot builder ingests only public, redistributable (public-domain / CC0) data, and the reader refuses to serve any envelope not marked accessLevel: "public". It honors rate limits (a 429 is never routed around), uses no proxies, no IP rotation, no auth/paywall/CAPTCHA bypass, and refuses off-host redirects. If a source is blocked, the honest remedy is to build from a cleaner egress — not to evade the block.

Troubleshooting

Use as a TypeScript / JavaScript library (no MCP)

Beyond the MCP server, this package also exports the underlying federal-data clients as importable modules. Useful if you're building your own SaaS, AI agent, or CLI and want programmatic access without spawning an MCP server.

npm install @cliwant/mcp-sam-gov

// SAM.gov client
import { SamGovClient } from "@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/sam-gov";

const sam = new SamGovClient(); // keyless
const result = await sam.searchOpportunities({ ncode: "541512", limit: 5 });
const opp = await sam.getOpportunity("5ef3db5daeb54099a96d487783a38bd0");

// USAspending wrappers
import * as usas from "@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/usaspending";

const recompete = await usas.searchExpiringContracts({
  agency: "Department of Veterans Affairs",
  naics: "541512",
  monthsUntilExpiry: 12,
});
const recipient = await usas.getRecipientProfile("ed02855e-60d7-2540-...-P");

// Federal Register / eCFR / Grants.gov
import * as fedreg from "@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/federal-register";
import * as ecfr from "@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/ecfr";
import * as grants from "@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/grants";

const farResults = await ecfr.search({ query: "SDVOSB", titleNumber: 48 });

This is the canonical home for the Cliwant federal-data libraries — there is no separate library package. Two earlier repos (govicon-sam-gov and govicon-mcp-sam-gov) have been archived and consolidated here. All client code lives in src/sam-gov/, src/usaspending.ts, src/federal-register.ts, src/ecfr.ts, src/grants.ts.

Privacy Policy

This server runs locally and collects nothing — no telemetry, no analytics, no accounts. Your prompts and results are processed in memory on your machine and are never sent to Cliwant. Each tool calls the relevant official government API directly over HTTPS; optional API keys stay in your local environment and are sent only to that source. See the full Privacy Policy (contact: seungdo.keum@cliwant.com).

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Disclaimer

This server uses publicly available federal API endpoints. It is not affiliated with the General Services Administration, SAM.gov, USAspending.gov, the Office of the Federal Register, the National Archives, Grants.gov, or any federal agency. Federal procurement, spending, and regulation data is in the public domain.