Fec MCP Server

What sh-patterson/fec-mcp-server MCP server does

The sh-patterson/fec-mcp-server MCP server provides MCP access to federal campaign-finance records from the OpenFEC API. It has no web interface; an MCP client starts the command-line process and receives formatted text responses.

Its tools cover candidate discovery, committee financial summaries, itemized receipts, itemized disbursements, independent expenditures, committee filing flags, donor searches, and spending searches. Candidate searches can return principal committee IDs, which can then be used for committee-level requests.

How it works

The server sends requests to OpenFEC and presents the returned records, source IDs, and URLs in its responses. Financial summaries use committee totals for cycle-level receipts, disbursements, contribution categories, and loans, while cash and debt balances come from the latest final report. The response labels the period model used for each amount.

Each query returns one OpenFEC page rather than the complete matching dataset. Supported tools accept limits from 1 to 100, with a default of 20. Several search and transaction tools return continuation state. Pass the returned continuation value to the same tool with the same effective filters to retrieve later pages. Candidate continuation uses page numbers; transaction continuation uses OpenFEC keyset cursors.

Resolve a candidate or committee before requesting committee data. When comparing a financial summary with receipts or disbursements, keep the cycle and two-year transaction period aligned.

Setup and configuration

The sh-patterson/fec-mcp-server MCP server requires Node.js 20 or later and an OpenFEC API key. Set the key in the process environment under FEC_API_KEY; keep it private. The package can be installed globally with npm install -g fec-mcp-server, or run through npx fec-mcp-server.

For Claude Desktop, configure an MCP entry that starts the fec-mcp-server command and supplies FEC_API_KEY in its environment. The project also includes a Dockerfile. Build it with docker build -t fec-mcp-server ., then run the image interactively while passing the API key as an environment variable.

Tools and capabilities

Available tools include:

• search_candidates for federal candidate records and principal committee IDs.
• get_committee_finances for cycle totals and final-report balances.
• get_receipts and get_disbursements for itemized Schedule A and Schedule B records.
• get_independent_expenditures for Schedule E spending by, for, or against a candidate.
• get_committee_flags for RFAI and amended-filing records.
• search_donors for individual Schedule A records across committees.
• search_spending for Schedule B records across committees.

get_receipts and get_disbursements can optionally include a flagged-notables block. This analyst reference data is not FEC data or a legal determination and should be independently checked.

Limitations and notes

OpenFEC updates data nightly, and API caching may delay refreshed values for up to one hour. A registered API key has a base limit of 1,000 requests per hour. Counts may be exact, approximate, or unspecified, so narrow queries before drawing conclusions from result totals.

An RFAI or amendment returned by get_committee_flags is a review lead, not proof of a violation. Campaign-finance records should be attributed to the Federal Election Commission and OpenFEC. Review applicable FEC terms, acceptable-use requirements, and restrictions on commercial use and contributor data before using the service. The package is licensed under MIT.