About pubrecords
pubrecords is a paid MCP server for agents and teams researching US public records, government funding, and contracts. It brings company, SEC, court, spending, license, grant, and contract data behind one API key.
Key features
- 01Search company records and retrieve entity details
- 02Find SEC filings and federal court cases
- 03Look up federal spending and provider records
- 04Search licenses and verify entities across sources
- 05Search grants, contracts, deadlines, and award notices
- 06Python SDK and REST access
Use cases
- 01Research a company using public filings and records
- 02Review court cases involving a named party
- 03Check federal spending or provider information
- 04Find grants and contracts for an organization
MCP support
Exposes public-records, grant, and federal-contract tools to MCP clients over streamable HTTP. The same tools are also available through REST.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/mcp/claude mcp add --transport http bch1212-pubrecords https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/mcp/{"mcpServers":{"bch1212-pubrecords":{"type":"http","url":"https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/mcp/"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"bch1212-pubrecords":{"type":"http","url":"https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/mcp/"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"bch1212-pubrecords":{"type":"http","url":"https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/mcp/"}}}{"mcpServers":{"bch1212-pubrecords":{"serverUrl":"https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/mcp/"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/mcp/Auth requiredTools
10| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | string | Yes | |
| limit | integer | No | |
| state | any | No | |
| status | any | No |
Details
From the project READMEHalverson IQ Data
One paid MCP server for US public records, federal grants, and federal contracts. Companies, SEC filings, court dockets, spending awards, licenses, Grants.gov opportunities, and SAM.gov contract notices share a single API key and a single bill.
What this server includes
This repository is the combined Halverson IQ Data server.
| Source | Tools |
|---|---|
| OpenCorporates, SEC EDGAR, CourtListener, USASpending, NPPES, FCC | Public-records tools (companies, filings, courts, spending, licenses, entity verification) |
| Grants.gov | Grant search, details, agency rollup, deadline radar |
| SAM.gov | Contract search, notice details, award notices |
Not part of this server: business-intel and outdoor datasets (separate or retired), and web-page fetching (a different pipeline with its own fetchers and cache).
One customer key is checked on every tool. Free tier is 30 calls/day across the whole server. Pro is unlimited on the same key. Upgrade: https://mcpize.com/pubrecords-mcp
Pricing
| Tier | Price | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 30 calls/day |
| Pro | $29/mo | Unlimited |
| Metered | $0.03/call | Pay-as-you-go |
Keys are issued per user. Ask the operator for a key, or have them mint one with POST /admin/keys. Examples below use the placeholder YOUR_API_KEY.
Tool reference
Public records
| Tool | Args | Returns |
|---|---|---|
search_companies | name, state?, status?, limit? | OpenCorporates entities |
get_company_details | company_id, jurisdiction | Officers, registered agent, filings |
search_sec_filings | company_name, form_type?, date_from?, limit? | EDGAR filing list |
get_sec_filing | accession_number | Filing metadata + index URL |
search_court_cases | party_name, court?, date_from?, limit? | RECAP federal dockets |
lookup_federal_spending | recipient_name, agency?, year?, limit? | USASpending awards |
lookup_npi | name?, specialty?, state?, limit? | NPPES providers |
get_ucc_filings | debtor_name, state | UCC liens (roadmap — see Data Gaps) |
verify_entity | name, state? | Cross-source 0–100 confidence score |
search_licenses | entity_name, license_type?, state? | NPI + FCC license union |
Grants and federal contracts
| Tool | Args | Returns |
|---|---|---|
search_grants | keyword?, agency?, amount_min?, amount_max?, status?, limit? | Grants.gov opportunities |
get_grant_details | opportunity_id | Full Grants.gov record |
search_contracts | keyword?, naics_code?, agency?, set_aside?, limit? | SAM.gov solicitations |
get_contract_details | notice_id | One SAM.gov notice |
search_awards | recipient_name?, agency?, year? | SAM.gov award notices |
get_agencies | type? (grants, contracts, or both) | Agencies with open opportunities |
get_deadlines | days_ahead? | Grants closing inside the window |
match_opportunities | org_description, org_type?, focus_areas?, limit? | Top grants + contracts for an org profile |
focus_areas on the REST route is a comma-separated string. The MCP tool accepts a list.
Contract tools call SAM.gov only when SAM_API_KEY is set. If it is missing they return {"success": false, "error": "SAM_API_KEY is not configured"} and do not send a request.
Install in Claude
claude mcp add --transport http halverson-iq-data https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/mcp/
Note the trailing slash on
/mcp/. Without it the gateway issues a 307 that drops the POST body, breaking the JSON-RPC handshake.
Then set the API key in your client:
X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY
Python SDK
A thin Python wrapper for non-MCP integrations lives in pubrecords-sdk/:
pip install pubrecords
from pubrecords import PubRecords
client = PubRecords(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")
print(client.health())
print(client.search_companies(name="Apple", state="CA"))
print(client.search_grants(keyword="broadband"))
REST surface
Every MCP tool is also available over plain HTTP. Send the same X-API-Key on each call.
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
"https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/tools/search_companies?name=Apple&state=CA"
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
"https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/tools/search_grants?keyword=broadband"
Production URL: https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app
GET /health (no auth)
GET /usage (X-API-Key)
GET /tools/<tool_name>?... (X-API-Key)
POST /admin/keys (X-Admin-Token; fails closed)
POST /billing/upgrade (X-Admin-Token; fails closed)
POST /mcp/ (MCP streamable-http transport)
GET /usage returns the remaining daily quota for that key. GET /health is unauthenticated.
Issuing a customer key
POST /admin/keys and POST /billing/upgrade return 403 unless PUBRECORDS_ADMIN_TOKEN is set and the X-Admin-Token header matches it. There is no default admin token.
curl -X POST https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/admin/keys \
-H "X-Admin-Token: $PUBRECORDS_ADMIN_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"key":"YOUR_API_KEY","tier":"free"}'
Promote that same key to the paid tier (this is the single billing switch):
curl -X POST https://mcp-pubrecords-production.up.railway.app/billing/upgrade \
-H "X-Admin-Token: $PUBRECORDS_ADMIN_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"key":"YOUR_API_KEY"}'
Local development
git clone https://github.com/bch1212/mcp-pubrecords.git
cd mcp-pubrecords
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env
uvicorn server:app --reload --port 8000
Run tests:
pytest -v
Environment variables (see .env.example):
| Variable | Required | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
PUBRECORDS_ADMIN_TOKEN | Yes, to issue or upgrade keys | Admin secret. Missing or blank fails closed (403). |
SAM_API_KEY | Yes, for contract tools | Your SAM.gov key. Never commit a real value. |
PUBRECORDS_SEC_USER_AGENT | Production | Identifying User-Agent for SEC EDGAR. |
OPENCORPORATES_TOKEN | No | Raises the OpenCorporates anonymous cap. |
COURTLISTENER_TOKEN | No | Raises the CourtListener anonymous cap. |
PUBRECORDS_CACHE_TTL | No | Cache TTL in seconds (default 86400). |
PUBRECORDS_DB_PATH | No | SQLite file for cache and API keys. |
PORT | No | Listen port. Railway sets this. |
Data freshness
Responses are cached for 24 hours by default.
| Source | Refresh cadence |
|---|---|
| OpenCorporates | Daily / weekly (varies by jurisdiction) |
| SEC EDGAR | Filings appear minutes after submission |
| USASpending.gov | Monthly, with fiscal-year backfills |
| CourtListener (RECAP) | Daily, depending on uploads |
| NPPES NPI | Weekly |
| FCC License-View | Daily |
| Grants.gov | Posted opportunities, as the agency updates them |
| SAM.gov | Contract notices, as contracting offices post them |
For fresher queries, set PUBRECORDS_CACHE_TTL=300 (5 minutes). That multiplies upstream traffic.
Data gaps and source limits
The server returns a structured error envelope instead of invented rows when a query is outside coverage.
- UCC filings — there is no uniform federal UCC API.
get_ucc_filingsreturns{"error": "not_implemented"}until per-state adapters land. - State professional licenses — healthcare (NPI) and FCC are covered. Bar, real estate, contractor, and CPA licenses are state-by-state.
- OpenCorporates rate limits — anonymous traffic is capped. Set
OPENCORPORATES_TOKENfor production. - SEC EDGAR full-text — broad terms return wide sets. Combine with
form_type. - CourtListener — federal PACER/RECAP. State courts are not guaranteed.
- SAM.gov — contract tools do nothing until
SAM_API_KEYis set in the environment. Apply at https://sam.gov. The key is not embedded in this repo. - SAM award history —
search_awardsreads Award Notice rows from the opportunities API. Deeper recipient rollups stay onlookup_federal_spending(USASpending). - Match scores —
match_opportunitiesis deterministic token overlap on title and agency. It does not call a model. - No consumer PII — entity-level public records only.
License and compliance
This server proxies and caches public records that are already free to access from federal and public sources. Cached payloads are kept for 24 hours and can be flushed by deleting the SQLite file. Customer API keys and the admin token belong in the environment and the SQLite key store. Do not commit them.
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