The full upstream README, mirrored here for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals, and an original overview live on the Usgs National Map listing page.
USGS The National Map (TNM) Access API — the federal download catalog for national geospatial data: 3DEP elevation (DEMs and lidar point clouds), US Topo and Historical Topo quadrangles, NHD hydrography, NLCD land cover, National Structures, Transportation and Boundaries. Every product record carries a direct download URL, format, footprint and publication date.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1684+ live data sources.
tnm_datasets(filter?) — the dataset catalog with each dataset's exact
title, refresh cycle and formats. Call first.tnm_search_products(datasets?, bbox?, polygon?, prod_formats?, prod_extents?, q?, date_type?, start_date?, end_date?, limit?, offset?) —
search downloadable products.tnm_products_at_point(latitude, longitude, datasets?, prod_formats?, buffer_degrees?, limit?) —
which products cover a single coordinate.Keyless.
datasets takes the dataset's full title, not its id, and a title the
API does not recognise is ignored rather than rejected — you get an
unfiltered result set that looks like a successful narrow search. Resolve the
exact string with tnm_datasets first.bbox is xmin,ymin,xmax,ymax in WGS84 decimal degrees, longitude
first. A reversed box returns zero items with a 200; this pack refuses one
rather than passing it through.total is the real match count and items is one page. A
short array with a large total means "page it", not "that is all".Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/usgs-national-map/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:
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1684+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/tnm_datasets. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
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.
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:
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
MIT