---

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.

---

Why this exists

Status quo	With this MCP
GovWin: $30K-$100K/yr per seat	Free, MIT license
API key registration → wait 24h → quota tier shopping	npm install → working in 60s
5+ separate vendor APIs / scrapers	1 unified surface, 134 tools across 44 sources
LLMs hallucinate NAICS codes / agency names	Anti-hallucination autocomplete guards built-in
Brittle scraping breaks weekly	Daily live smoke test (badge above)
Procurement officer → IT ticket → 3-week wait	Claude Desktop double-click install

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)

Domain	What you can ask	Sources
🔍 Opportunities & solicitations	"Find SAM.gov solicitations under NAICS 541512 closing this month" — read the SOW, POCs, attachments	SAM.gov, Grants.gov
💰 Spending, awards & competition	"Show me Booz Allen wins at VA last fiscal year; top 10 PSC categories at DoD"	USAspending, FPDS, GAO
🕵️ Entity & partner vetting	"Screen this firm: OFAC sanctions, SAM exclusions, single-audit findings, bank health, EPA compliance + toxics-release"	OFAC, SAM, FAC, FDIC, EPA ECHO, EPA Envirofacts
🛒 Product safety & recalls	"Any FDA/NHTSA/CPSC recalls or enforcement against this supplier's products?"	openFDA, NHTSA, CPSC
⚖️ Litigation & courts	"Any Court of Federal Claims bid protests or Federal Circuit opinions involving this contractor?"	CourtListener (Free Law Project)
🏢 Nonprofit vendors	"Pull this nonprofit's IRS-990 financials before we subcontract to it"	IRS 990 (via ProPublica)
🏥 Healthcare providers & facilities	"Medicare utilization & payments for this provider; hospital quality ratings; is this provider on the revocation list?"	CMS (data.cms.gov)
📈 Financial disclosure (SEC)	"Pull this public company's revenue trend and latest 10-K filings"	SEC EDGAR
⚖️ Regulatory & legislative	"What VA cybersecurity rules were published this quarter? Any open Regulations.gov dockets?"	Federal Register, Regulations.gov, eCFR, FAR/DFARS, Congress.gov, GovInfo
💲 Pricing, labor & fiscal	"GSA CALC labor-rate band for a systems analyst; SCA wage determination for this county; CPI escalation; per-diem cap for a trip; regional GDP by industry; DOL wage-hour enforcement history"	GSA CALC, SAM WDs, BLS, US Census CBP, FRED, BEA, US Treasury, GSA per-diem, US DOL
🏛 Lobbying & influence	"Who lobbies the VA on cybersecurity, and how much do they spend?"	US Senate LDA
🏥 Health & research funding	"NIH/NSF grants on this topic; recruiting clinical trials; industry payments to this physician"	NIH RePORTER, NSF, ClinicalTrials.gov, CMS Open Payments, NPPES
🛡 Cyber compliance	"Is this CVE on the CISA KEV must-patch list?"	NVD, CISA KEV
🌐 Trade, geo & disaster	"HTS tariff for this product; Census tract for this address; FEMA declarations in this state"	USITC HTS, US Census, FEMA, Socrata, CKAN
🎓 Grants & datasets	"Cybersecurity grants posted in the last 30 days; discover federal open datasets"	Grants.gov, data.gov

134 tools across 44 federal data sources — keyless-first: only 4 sources (Census business-patterns, FRED, BEA, and DOL's data endpoint) need a free key; the other 40 sources 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 134 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 (134 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.

Env var	Required?	What it unlocks	Free signup
CENSUS_API_KEY	Required	census_business_patterns (no keyless tier — throws without it)	api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html
FRED_API_KEY	Required	the 2 FRED tools (no keyless tier — throw without it)	fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
BEA_API_KEY	Required	bea_regional_data (BEA Regional; no keyless tier — throws without it)	apps.bea.gov/API/signup
DOL_API_KEY	Required for data	dol_get_dataset (DOL enforcement records via X-API-KEY; the dol_list_datasets catalog is keyless)	dol.gov/developer
DATA_GOV_API_KEY	Optional	higher limits on all api.data.gov sources (Regulations.gov, FAC, NPPES, CMS, data.gov catalog, GSA per-diem) — lifts the shared DEMO_KEY cap	api.data.gov/signup
SAM_GOV_API_KEY	Optional	authenticated SAM.gov v2 search + the organization-name filter	open.gsa.gov/api/get-opportunities-public-api
LDA_API_KEY	Optional	higher rate limit on lda_search_filings (Senate LDA lobbying; keyless by default)	lda.senate.gov/api/register
BLS_API_KEY	Optional	the BLS v2 tier (~500 queries/day vs keyless ~25/day)	data.bls.gov/registrationEngine
NVD_API_KEY	Optional	a higher NVD rate limit (cve_lookup)	nvd.nist.gov/developers/request-an-api-key
OPENFDA_API_KEY	Optional	higher openFDA rate limit (openfda_enforcement, openfda_device_clearances; both work keyless)	open.fda.gov/apis/authentication
COURTLISTENER_API_TOKEN	Optional	higher CourtListener rate limit (courtlistener_search_opinions; works keyless)	courtlistener.com/help/api/rest
SOCRATA_APP_TOKEN	Optional	higher Socrata throttling limits	evergreen.data.socrata.com/signup

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.

---

Tool catalog (134 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.

Opportunities & solicitations — SAM.gov + Grants.gov (10 tools)

• 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

Spending, awards & competition — USAspending + FPDS + GAO (29 tools)

• 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
• 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)

Entity & partner vetting — OFAC · SAM · FAC · FDIC · EPA (15 tools)

• 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)

Product safety & recalls — openFDA · NHTSA · CPSC (5 tools)

• 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)
• 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)

Litigation & courts — CourtListener (1 tool)

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

Nonprofit vendors — IRS 990 via ProPublica (2 tools)

• 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)

Financial disclosure — SEC EDGAR (8 tools)

• 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

Regulatory & legislative — Federal Register · Regulations.gov · eCFR · FAR · Congress · GovInfo (18 tools)

• 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)
• 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

Pricing, labor & fiscal — GSA CALC · SAM WDs · BLS · Census CBP · FRED · BEA · US Treasury · GSA per-diem (15 tools)

• 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 5 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)

Health & research funding — NIH · NSF · ClinicalTrials · CMS · NPPES (9 tools)

• 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

Healthcare providers & facilities — CMS (5 tools)

• 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)

Cyber compliance — NVD + CISA KEV (2 tools)

• 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)

Trade & tariffs — USITC (1 tool)

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

Geo, disaster & state/local open data — Census · FEMA · Socrata · CKAN (8 tools)

• 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
• socrata_discover_datasets — find Socrata dataset 4x4 ids by keyword
• socrata_query — query rows from an allowlisted Socrata/SODA open-data portal
• ckan_discover_datasets — find CKAN datastore resource ids by keyword
• ckan_query — query rows from an allowlisted CKAN datastore resource (state/city spend/checkbook)

Dataset discovery — data.gov (1 tool)

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

Small business — SBA (1 tool)

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

Labor compliance — US DOL (2 tools)

• 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)

Lobbying & influence — US Senate LDA (1 tool)

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

Server utilities — key discovery (1 tool)

• 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)

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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.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Claude Desktop 🔨 menu doesn't show sam-gov	Fully quit Claude Desktop (system tray on Windows / Quit menu on macOS) and reopen. Check %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp*.log
command not found: mcp-sam-gov	Confirm npm install -g . succeeded; check that npm's global bin is on PATH (npm config get prefix)
MODULE_NOT_FOUND ...dist/server.js after npm install -g github:...	npm bug with git-dep symlinks on Windows. Use the clone + npm install -g . recipe (Path 3) instead.
EPERM: operation not permitted, rmdir during install	Previous failed install left dangling files. Run rmdir /s /q "%APPDATA%\npm\node_modules\@cliwant" (or @govicon if you installed an early version) then retry.
npm install fails with "private repo" / 404	The repo is now public — should not happen. If it does, try git clone https://github.com/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov.git directly.
Tools return empty results	SAM.gov rate-limits aggressive callers. Wait 1 minute. Or set SAM_GOV_API_KEY for the higher-rate authenticated path.
"Tool error: USAspending POST returned 400"	Usually means a field has a wrong type (e.g. fiscal year as string). Check the tool input schema in your host's tool browser.

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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.

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.