American Default Research README

American Default Research MCP

Read-only research tools for U.S. household financial distress: economic indicators, county scorecards, and the American Distress Index, with dates, original publishers, and citations. The public service requires no account or API key for normal use. It does not access private homeowner records or expose the warehouse, arbitrary SQL, or financial transactions.

Connect to the hosted service

Endpoint: https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp

Transport: Streamable HTTP. Public documentation: https://americandefault.org/press/mcp/

In Claude, open Customize, Connectors, and add a custom connector using that URL. In ChatGPT, use the custom MCP connection in developer mode where your account supports it. Directory publication is a separate platform review; this README does not claim that either platform has approved the listing.

Anonymous access allows 10 calls per minute and 60 per hour per IP block. Higher-volume users can request an issued key through the public documentation. The static JSON endpoints are the suitable route for permitted bulk downloads. HTTP clients reading the website or its JSON endpoints should send a descriptive User-Agent identifying their application. Cloudflare Pages may reject a library's default identity with error 1010; a descriptive application name works without impersonating a browser. The hosted MCP transport is a separate endpoint.

Domain discovery

The main domain advertises the connector at https://americandefault.org/.well-known/ai-catalog.json. Its entry points to https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp/server-card, using the experimental MCP Server Card format. This format describes identity and connection details; tools remain discoverable through the MCP protocol.

For clients using Cloudflare's earlier discovery convention, both domains serve /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json. That compatibility card includes the exact tool descriptions and input schemas returned by the running SDK. The main-domain route proxies only this public metadata from the MCP host, without forwarding cookies or authorization. Cards support CORS, HEAD and conditional ETag requests. The registry metadata supplies the same name and version used at initialization. Discovery metadata does not grant access or guarantee agent recommendations.

Research examples

• Find indicators about mortgage delinquency, then retrieve the latest reading with its period and source.
• Retrieve King County, Washington's county distress scorecard using FIPS 53033.
• Retrieve the latest American Distress Index, its domains, and its historical reading. The index describes conditions and does not forecast outcomes.

Tools

Prefer v2 when comparing indicators. A series break or a suppressed trend means readings may not be comparable. Historical indicators are not presented as current. Full histories, where available, are at https://americandefault.org/api/indicators/{slug}.json.

Source and installation

This public repository is a source reference for the hosted connector. The production service also uses shared formatting, index metadata and public data files maintained separately. Cloning this repository alone does not provide a complete local data installation. Connect to the hosted endpoint above for normal use; no local process, API key or data download is needed.

For Cursor, add this to the client's MCP server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "american-default-research": {
      "url": "https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

For Cline, set the transport explicitly in cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "american-default-research": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://mcp.americandefault.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

All six tools are read-only. Invalid slugs or county codes return errors rather than fabricated results. The hosted HTTP health endpoint is /up.

Attribution and privacy

Our analysis is free to use with attribution to American Default Research. Source data stays under each publisher's terms; cite the source named here. These research tools do not need conversation history, account credentials, private documents, or personal financial details. Request bodies and bearer credentials must not be logged. The site's privacy policy is https://americandefault.org/privacy/.

Directory listing