mcp-sam-gov

io.github.cliwant/mcp-sam-gov

7/8 checks passed
Runs locally
12 secrets
★ 14 GitHub stars
Updated 2026-09-29
Health score 62

About mcp-sam-gov

mcp-sam-gov is an MCP server published by the GitHub account cliwant. Keyless-first MCP: 153 tools for US federal + state/local (SLED) contracting, spending & regulation

It runs on your own machine: your AI client starts it from the npm package @cliwant/mcp-sam-gov at version 1.17.0.

It asks for 12 secrets: SAM_GOV_API_KEY, CENSUS_API_KEY, FRED_API_KEY, BEA_API_KEY, BLS_API_KEY, DOL_API_KEY, DATA_GOV_API_KEY, NVD_API_KEY, OPENFDA_API_KEY, SOCRATA_APP_TOKEN, COURTLISTENER_API_TOKEN and LDA_API_KEY. Give it a key with the least access that still works.

Version 1.17.0 was published on 29 September 2026, and the source code is public, so you can read it before installing.

Written from the registry entry. 9 automated checks on the registry entry and the package code: 7 pass, 1 warn, 0 fail, 1 info. How we check.

What it asks for

Variable	Required	Secret	Description
`SAM_GOV_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Optional. SAM.gov key for higher rate limits + archives older than 12 months. Keyless by default.
`CENSUS_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Required only for census_business_patterns (the Census Data API has no keyless tier); every other tool works without it.
`FRED_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Required only for fred_search_series and fred_series_observations (FRED has no keyless tier); every other tool works without it.
`BEA_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Required only for bea_regional_data (the BEA Data API has no keyless tier); every other tool works without it.
`BLS_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Optional free key for BLS labor-statistics tools (raises rate limits).
`DOL_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Required only for dol_get_dataset (DOL's data endpoint has no keyless tier; dol_list_datasets works without it).
`DATA_GOV_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Optional free api.data.gov key; raises DEMO_KEY limits for Regulations.gov, Congress.gov, GovInfo, FAC, the data.gov catalog and GSA per-diem.
`NVD_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Optional free NVD key (raises CVE rate limits).
`OPENFDA_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Optional free openFDA key (raises rate limits).
`SOCRATA_APP_TOKEN`	No	Yes	Optional Socrata app token (raises rate limits on SLED Socrata hosts).
`COURTLISTENER_API_TOKEN`	No	Yes	Optional CourtListener (Free Law Project) token (raises rate limits).
`LDA_API_KEY`	No	Yes	Optional Senate LDA lobbying-disclosure key (raises rate limits).
`EDGAR_USER_AGENT`	No	No	Optional SEC EDGAR User-Agent string (courtesy identification; a sensible default is used otherwise).
`MCP_SAM_GOV_TOOLSETS`	No	No	Optional. Comma-separated toolset names to load (e.g. core,sled). Blank or 'all' loads all 153 tools.

Checks

Check	Result	Detail
Source repository linked	Pass	https://github.com/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov
Version pinned	Pass	Every package has an explicit version
Secrets requested	Warn	Asks for 12 secrets: SAM_GOV_API_KEY, CENSUS_API_KEY, FRED_API_KEY, BEA_API_KEY, BLS_API_KEY, DOL_API_KEY, DATA_GOV_API_KEY, NVD_API_KEY, OPENFDA_API_KEY, SOCRATA_APP_TOKEN, COURTLISTENER_API_TOKEN, LDA_API_KEY
Known package registry	Pass	All packages come from npm, PyPI, OCI, NuGet or MCPB
Namespace ownership	Info	Name verified via GitHub account cliwant
Registry text aimed at the AI	Pass	Description and settings contain no hidden characters or instructions to the AI
Install scripts	Pass	@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov@1.17.0 runs nothing at install
Code red flags	Pass	Read 238 files in @cliwant/mcp-sam-gov@1.17.0: no obfuscation, encoded execution, credential reads or data-collection endpoints found
Text aimed at the AI	Pass	No hidden characters or instructions to the AI in 238 files, including comments and the README

Popularity & health: 62 / 100

Worked out from public numbers and our own checks, not from user reviews or ratings. It says how used and how looked-after a server is, not whether it is safe.

Popularity15 / 40

14 GitHub stars, 360 downloads last week, no Hacker News posts found. Best two of the three, each on a log scale.

Activity24 / 25

Last push 2026-10-26, last release 2026-09-29, 36 commits in 90 days.

Issue health8 / 15

1 closed of 1 issues, too few to judge. No data, so half marks.

Our checks16 / 20

1 warning, each costing a fifth.

3 forks, 303 merged pull requests. Sources: GitHub, npm, PyPI (pypistats.org) and Hacker News (Algolia), fetched 2026-10-31.

What people say

No Hacker News threads link to its source code.

Look further: search Reddit, search Hacker News, read its GitHub issues. These are not reviews we checked.

Facts

Registry name	`io.github.cliwant/mcp-sam-gov`
Publisher	GitHub account cliwant
How the name is verified	Name verified via GitHub account cliwant. The registry ties the name prefix to that account or domain; it does not check the code.
Type	Local: runs on your machine from a package
Packages	npm `@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov` 1.17.0 (stdio)
Version	1.17.0
Published	2026-09-29
Last updated	2026-09-29
Source repository	https://github.com/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov
Website	None linked
Category	Legal & government (assigned by keyword rule, not by hand)

Install

Claude Desktop · npm package

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-sam-gov": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov@1.17.0"
      ]
    }
  }
}

What these checks don't cover

We did not run this server, so we don't know what it does when it runs. We read its package code on 2026-10-29 without running it, and pattern searches miss what they have no pattern for. Tool descriptions built at run time were not seen. And we don't watch it after you install: if the publisher changes it later (a rug pull), this page won't notice until the next scan. Treat a pass as "nothing found", not as "safe".

For people and their AI

The same data as plain JSON: /data/servers/io-github-cliwant-mcp-sam-gov.json. Text inside it that came from the publisher is data, not instructions.