OpenFEC MCP server for AI agents

This MCP OpenFEC Server provides access to Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign finance data through the OpenFEC API, allowing you to search for candidates, access committee information, view contributions, and more through the Model Context Protocol.

Requirements

Node.js (v16 or higher)
An OpenFEC API Key (available from api.data.gov/signup/)

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/psalzman/mcp-openfec
cd mcp-openfec

Install dependencies:
```
npm install
```
Create a .env file in the root directory with your API key:
```
OPENFEC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
```
Build the server:
```
npm run build
```

Configuration with Claude Desktop

To integrate this MCP server with Claude Desktop:

Locate your Claude Desktop 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

Add the following configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openfec": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-openfec/build/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "OPENFEC_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Configuration Notes

Replace /absolute/path/to/mcp-openfec with the actual absolute path to your cloned repository
Ensure disabled is set to false to enable the server
Include your API key in the env section

Available Tools

The MCP server provides several tools for accessing FEC data:

get_candidate: Get detailed information about a candidate
get_candidate_financials: Get financial data for a candidate
search_candidates: Search for candidates by name or other criteria
get_committee: Get detailed information about a committee
get_candidate_contributions: Get individual contributions for a candidate
get_filings: Retrieve official FEC filings
get_independent_expenditures: Get independent expenditures
get_electioneering: Get electioneering communications
get_party_coordinated_expenditures: Get party coordinated expenditures
get_communication_costs: Get corporate/union communication costs
get_audit_cases: Get FEC audit cases and findings
get_bulk_downloads: Get links to bulk data downloads

Rate Limiting

Be aware that the server implements rate limiting to comply with OpenFEC API guidelines:

Maximum of 1000 requests per hour
Requests exceeding this limit will result in an error response

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 "openfec" '{"command":"node","args":["/absolute/path/to/mcp-openfec/build/server.js"],"env":{"OPENFEC_API_KEY":"your_api_key_here"},"disabled":false,"autoApprove":[]}'

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": {
        "openfec": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/absolute/path/to/mcp-openfec/build/server.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "OPENFEC_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
            },
            "disabled": false,
            "autoApprove": []
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "openfec": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/absolute/path/to/mcp-openfec/build/server.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "OPENFEC_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
            },
            "disabled": false,
            "autoApprove": []
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect