opengov

OpenGov MCP Server provides a unified interface for Claude Desktop to search, discover, and query Socrata-powered open data portals. The server exposes a get_data tool that supports catalog searches, metadata lookups, column information, and SQL-like data queries against public datasets without needing an API key. By configuring Claude Desktop to point at this MCP server, you can ask natural language questions and have Claude translate them into structured operations such as dataset discovery, retrieving dataset metadata, or running data-access queries against a chosen portal.

Once configured, you can use the get_data tool to search datasets by keywords, list portal categories and tags, fetch dataset metadata and column information, and execute data-access queries using SoQL-like syntax. The server relies on the provided DATA_PORTAL_URL to target a Socrata portal (for example, data.cityofchicago.org). This makes it easy to work with multiple portals by changing the environment variable in your client configuration or environment.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js (and npm) installed on your machine
• Access to a Claude Desktop setup or similar MCP client that supports MCP servers

Manual installation from source:

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

# 2. Install dependencies
npm install

# 3. Build (if the project uses a build step)
npm run build

Configure Claude Desktop to point at the MCP server:

# Create or edit claude_desktop_config.json in your home directory
{
  "mcpServers": { 
    "opengov": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "opengov-mcp-server@latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DATA_PORTAL_URL": "https://data.cityofchicago.org"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop and start issuing queries like: "Show me datasets about traffic in Chicago" or "Get metadata for dataset 6zsd-86xi".

Tips:

• DATA_PORTAL_URL is required. Set it to the Socrata portal you want to query (e.g., https://data.cityofchicago.org).
• If you switch portals, update DATA_PORTAL_URL in your client configuration or environment.
• The first run via npx will download the latest server version automatically.
• Ensure network access to the target Socrata portal; some portals may have rate limits.
• This MCP server is designed for public datasets and does not require an API key for basic usage.