Education Data API MCP server for AI agents

The Education Data MCP Server provides access to the Urban Institute's Education Data API through the Model Context Protocol, allowing Claude to easily retrieve and analyze education data from various sources.

Installation

To set up the Education Data MCP Server:

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/edu-data-mcp-server.git
cd edu-data-mcp-server

Install dependencies:
```
npm install
```
Build the server:
```
npm run build
```
Make the server available for npx:
```
npm link
```

Configuration

To use this MCP server with Claude, you need to add it to your MCP settings configuration file.

For Claude Desktop App (macOS)

Edit the configuration file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "edu-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["edu-data-mcp-server"],
      "disabled": false,
      "alwaysAllow": []
    }
  }
}

For Claude in VSCode

Edit the configuration file at /home/codespace/.vscode-remote/data/User/globalStorage/rooveterinaryinc.roo-cline/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "edu-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["edu-data-mcp-server"],
      "disabled": false,
      "alwaysAllow": []
    }
  }
}

Using the Tools

The server provides two main tools for accessing education data:

get_education_data

This tool retrieves detailed education data from the API.

Parameters:

level (required): API data level (e.g., 'schools', 'school-districts', 'college-university')
source (required): API data source (e.g., 'ccd', 'ipeds', 'crdc')
topic (required): API data topic (e.g., 'enrollment', 'directory')
subtopic (optional): List of grouping parameters (e.g., ['race', 'sex'])
filters (optional): Query filters (e.g., {year: 2008, grade: [9,10,11,12]})
add_labels (optional): Add variable labels when applicable (default: false)
limit (optional): Limit the number of results (default: 100)

Example:

{
  "level": "schools",
  "source": "ccd",
  "topic": "enrollment",
  "subtopic": ["race", "sex"],
  "filters": {
    "year": 2008,
    "grade": [9, 10, 11, 12]
  },
  "add_labels": true,
  "limit": 50
}

get_education_data_summary

This tool retrieves aggregated education data from the API.

Parameters:

level (required): API data level to query
source (required): API data source to query
topic (required): API data topic to query
subtopic (optional): Additional parameters (only for certain endpoints)
stat (required): Summary statistic to calculate (e.g., 'sum', 'avg', 'count', 'median')
var (required): Variable to be summarized
by (required): Variables to group results by
filters (optional): Query filters

Example:

{
  "level": "schools",
  "source": "ccd",
  "topic": "enrollment",
  "stat": "sum",
  "var": "enrollment",
  "by": ["fips"],
  "filters": {
    "fips": [6, 7, 8],
    "year": [2004, 2005]
  }
}

Available Resources

The server provides resources for browsing available endpoints:

edu-data://endpoints/{level}/{source}/{topic}: Information about a specific education data endpoint

Example Usage with Claude

Once configured, you can use the MCP server with Claude to access education data.

For example, if you ask Claude:

Can you show me the enrollment data for high schools in California for 2020?

Claude can use the MCP server to retrieve this data:

use_mcp_tool
server_name: edu-data
tool_name: get_education_data
arguments: {
  "level": "schools",
  "source": "ccd",
  "topic": "enrollment",
  "filters": {
    "year": 2020,
    "fips": 6,
    "grade": [9, 10, 11, 12]
  },
  "limit": 10
}

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "edu-data" '{"command":"npx","args":["edu-data-mcp-server"],"disabled":false,"alwaysAllow":[]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "edu-data": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "edu-data-mcp-server"
            ],
            "disabled": false,
            "alwaysAllow": []
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

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 this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "edu-data": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "edu-data-mcp-server"
            ],
            "disabled": false,
            "alwaysAllow": []
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect