data-gov-mcp-server-0.4.0 is not a library.

data-gov MCP Server

This crate provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server exposing the high-level helpers from the data-gov crate, which is backed by the data.gov Catalog API. The server operates as a thin proxy: it does not modify the library and forwards requests directly to the underlying implementation.

2026 migration note: data.gov retired its CKAN Action API. The server previously exposed low-level ckan.* tools alongside the high-level data_gov.* tools; the CKAN tools are gone. Use the data_gov.* tools below.

Features

Search data.gov datasets with cursor-based pagination
Retrieve DCAT-US 3 dataset details and organization metadata
Download DCAT distributions to the local filesystem with concurrency control
Works over standard MCP JSON-RPC framing on STDIN/STDOUT

Prod Readiness

This software is brand new, and has not been thoroughly tested or hardened. Use at your own risk.

Usage

cargo run -p data-gov-mcp-server

The process reads JSON-RPC 2.0 messages (one per line) from standard input and writes responses to standard output. On startup it emits a ready message that advertises the available methods.

Available Tools

Tools are invoked the standard MCP way: tools/call with the tool's name and an arguments object. Discover them at runtime with tools/list.

Data.gov tools

data_gov_search — Search datasets. Cursor-paginated via after; optional organization slug filter and a client-side organizationContains substring filter. Response wraps the raw page plus a compact summaries array.
data_gov_dataset — Fetch full DCAT-US 3 metadata for a dataset. Takes slug (e.g., electric-vehicle-population-data).
data_gov_autocomplete_datasets — Dataset title suggestions for a partial query (implemented as a capped full-text search).
data_gov_list_organizations — List publishing organizations.
data_gov_download_resources — Download distributions to the local filesystem. Optional distributionIndexes (zero-based) and formats filter; formats is matched as a case-insensitive substring against each distribution's format and mediaType, so "JSON" matches application/json, "CSV" matches text/csv, etc.

MCP protocol methods

tools/list — List available tools and their schemas.
tools/call — Invoke a tool by name with arguments.
initialize, initialized, shutdown — MCP protocol lifecycle.

A typical tools/call request:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "data_gov_search",
    "arguments": { "query": "climate", "limit": 5 }
  }
}

Responses mirror the JSON-RPC 2.0 schema and either contain a result payload or an error object.

Direct method dispatch (non-MCP clients)

For raw JSON-RPC clients that don't go through tools/call, the same tools are also exposed under dot-camelCase method names: data_gov.search, data_gov.dataset, data_gov.autocompleteDatasets, data_gov.listOrganizations, data_gov.downloadResources. Standard MCP clients (VSCode, Claude Desktop, etc.) only see — and only need — the snake_case tool names above.

Pagination

data_gov_search uses cursor-based pagination. When there are more pages, the response body carries an after field. Pass it back unchanged on the next call:

// Page 1
{"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"data_gov_search","arguments":{"query":"climate","limit":20}}}
// response: { "results": [...], "after": "WzgxLjM...", ... }

// Page 2 — pass the cursor back as `after`
{"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"data_gov_search","arguments":{"query":"climate","limit":20,"after":"WzgxLjM..."}}}

VSCode Integration

To use the MCP server in VSCode, add the following to your workspace .vscode/mcp.json. Adjust the command path accordingly to the location of the MCP server.

For more information on configuring VSCode to use MCP servers:

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers#_add-an-mcp-server

{
  "servers": {
    "data-gov": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "target/debug/data-gov-mcp-server",
      "args": []
    }
  },
  "inputs": []
}

This will configure VSCode to launch the MCP server and connect to it for tool-based workflows.

Configuration

Environment variables:

DATA_GOV_BASE_URL – Override the default Catalog API base URL (defaults to https://catalog.data.gov).
DATA_GOV_USER_AGENT – Custom user agent applied to the client.

These settings are optional; when omitted the defaults from the underlying library are used. The Catalog API does not require an API key.

Development

cargo fmt
cargo test -p data-gov-mcp-server

Disclaimer & license

This is an independent project and is not affiliated with data.gov or any government agency. For authoritative information, refer to the official data.gov portal.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

data-gov-mcp-server 0.4.0