Set up Claude Desktop

Connect Claude Desktop to GovData and query UK Government data in natural language.

Before you start

Create a GovData account (free)
Go to your console and create an agent
Copy the agent's API key — it starts with gd_live_ or gd_test_

1.Open the MCP config file

Open Claude Desktop, go to Settings (gear icon) → Developer → Edit Config. This opens claude_desktop_config.json.

Or open the file directly:

macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
Linux	`~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

2.Add the GovData server

Add the following to your config file. If you already have other MCP servers configured, add the govdata entry inside the existing mcpServers object.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "govdata": {
      "url": "https://mcp.govdata.dev/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key from the console.

3.Restart and verify

Restart Claude Desktop. You should see a hammer icon in the chat input area — click it to confirm the GovData tools are loaded.

4.Try it out

Start a new conversation and ask:

"What are the current UK income tax rates?"

Claude will automatically call the right GovData tools and return the answer with source citations.

What's next?

MCP Reference — see all available tools, resources, and prompts
Quick Start — learn about the REST API for programmatic access