About whetstone-mcp
whetstone-mcp is an MCP server for AI agents and MCP clients to query U.S. government public records. It combines business registrations, new filings, watchlist screening, and federal awards through Apify-powered tools.
Key features
- 01Search business registrations in 25 states
- 02Retrieve new filings from 10 states
- 03Screen names against federal watchlists
- 04Look up federal contracts, grants, and loans
Use cases
- 01Checking a company's state registrations
- 02Finding recently registered businesses
- 03Screening a name against government lists
- 04Reviewing a company's federal awards
MCP support
Exposes four public-record lookup tools to MCP clients: business search, new filings, watchlist screening, and federal awards. It runs over stdio and uses an Apify API token.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
npx -y whetstone-mcpAPIFY_TOKENSecretApify API token; actor runs bill to your Apify account (pay-per-result).Local servers need a runtime on your machine (e.g. Node.js 18+). Config file locations differ by client; see your client’s docs.
Tools
4Saved tool list · updated 2w ago
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| states | array | No | Two-letter state codes to query (e.g. ["NY","TX"]). Omit for all 25 supported states. |
| exactMatch | boolean | No | Only return exact name matches (case-insensitive). Default false. |
| companyName | string | Yes | Business name (or part of it) to search for |
| maxResultsPerState | integer | No | Cap on records per state (1-200, default 25). |
Details
From the project READMEwhetstone-mcp
An MCP server for U.S. public-records data — so AI agents and MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) can look up business records, screen names against government watchlists, and pull federal awards directly.
Powered by the Whetstone actors on Apify. All data is official U.S. government public-record data.
Tools
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
business_search | Official Secretary of State business registration (KYB) across 25 states |
new_business_filings | Newly registered businesses from 10 states, windowed by date |
watchlist_screen | Screen a name against 12 federal watchlists (OFAC, BIS, State Dept) |
federal_awards | A company's federal contracts, grants, and loans (USAspending.gov) |
Setup
You need a free Apify API token (apify.com → Settings → API & Integrations). Runs bill to your Apify account under pay-per-result pricing (~$2 per 1,000 result rows; the free tier covers light use).
Claude Desktop
Add to claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"whetstone": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "whetstone-mcp"],
"env": { "APIFY_TOKEN": "apify_api_your_token_here" }
}
}
}
Restart Claude Desktop. The four tools then appear and the agent can call them.
Any MCP client
Run the server over stdio:
APIFY_TOKEN=apify_api_... npx -y whetstone-mcp
Notes & limits
- Heavy queries can be slow. Business search across all 25 states (or filings across all
10) runs synchronously and may approach the 300-second limit. Pass a
statessubset for faster, cheaper runs. - Name-based matching. Watchlist and federal-award results are matched by name and are not identity confirmation — verify a hit against the official source before acting. Nothing here is legal, compliance, or financial advice.
- A free, interactive version of the combined lookup is at whetstonetools.com/company-check, and there's also an n8n community node.
License
MIT © Whetstone Tools · [email protected]
Comments
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