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Cbs Nl README

The full upstream README, mirrored for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals and our own overview live on the Cbs Nl listing page.

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@pipeworx/mcp-cbs-nl

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) StatLine — the Dutch national statistics office's full open-data catalogue, over OData v3. Population, labour, energy, prices, trade and several thousand other official tables, in Dutch and English.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1875+ live data sources. This is an independent, unofficial integration — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the upstream provider.

Tools

ToolWhat it answers
search_tablesWhich StatLine tables cover a topic — id, title, period, frequency, language
table_infoOne table's title, summary, period covered, frequency and update status
table_dimensionsThe columns of a table: key, meaning, unit, decimals — read this before get_data
dimension_valuesThe valid codes for one dimension (Periods, a region key, …)
get_dataObservations from a table, with OData $select / $filter / $top / $skip

Table ids ending in eng/ENG carry English labels; the rest are Dutch. Start at search_tables, then table_dimensions, then get_data — the dimension keys are table-specific and not guessable.

Auth

None. No key, no registration, no quota to manage.

CBS refuses Cloudflare's egress addresses on both OData services (a 400 ASP.NET error page from /ODataCatalog, an empty 406 from /ODataApi) while serving the identical URLs from other networks. Calls therefore fall back to a non-Cloudflare relay when the direct attempt is refused. Nothing about this is visible to a caller, but it explains why running this pack yourself, from your own network, may behave differently from the gateway's.

Data sources

  • Catalogue: https://opendata.cbs.nl/ODataCatalog/Tables
  • Tables: https://opendata.cbs.nl/ODataApi/odata/<table-id>/
  • Portal + documentation: https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/portal.html
  • Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek)

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cbs-nl": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/cbs-nl/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/cbs-nl/mcp returns the tools in the table above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth, connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:

config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1875+ data sources. The only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx reaches all of them from either one.

No MCP client? Call it over HTTP

Terminal
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/cbs_nl_search_tables \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"keyword":"population"}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/cbs_nl_search_tables. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.

Standalone (no gateway account)

This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:

config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cbs-nl": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-cbs-nl"]
    }
  }
}

Or run it directly to confirm it starts:

Terminal
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-cbs-nl

It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

Code
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Cbs Nl data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

License

MIT