GovData Docs

Set up any MCP client

Connect any MCP-compatible client to GovData using the Streamable HTTP transport.

Before you start

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

1.Connection details

Configure your MCP client with these settings:

Server URL https://mcp.govdata.dev/mcp
Transport Streamable HTTP (POST to the URL)
Authentication Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type application/json
Protocol version 2025-03-26

2.Initialize the connection

Send an initialize request to establish the session:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "initialize",
  "params": {
    "protocolVersion": "2025-03-26",
    "capabilities": {},
    "clientInfo": {
      "name": "my-app",
      "version": "1.0"
    }
  }
}

POST this as JSON to https://mcp.govdata.dev/mcp with your API key in the Authorization header.

3.Call a tool

Once initialized, you can call any GovData tool. For example, to calculate income tax:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 2,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "calculate_income_tax",
    "arguments": {
      "gross_income": 55000
    }
  }
}

4.Test with cURL

You can test the MCP endpoint directly from your terminal:

# List available tools
curl -X POST https://mcp.govdata.dev/mcp \\
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \\
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \\
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}'

# Call a tool
curl -X POST https://mcp.govdata.dev/mcp \\
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \\
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \\
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"calculate_income_tax","arguments":{"gross_income":55000}}}'

Generic JSON config

Most MCP clients accept a JSON configuration like this:

{
  "govdata": {
    "url": "https://mcp.govdata.dev/mcp",
    "transport": "streamable-http",
    "headers": {
      "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
    }
  }
}

What's next?