Use CIV.IQ in Claude & ChatGPT

Ask your AI assistant about representatives, votes, bills, and money in politics — and get answers from cited government records instead of training data.

CIV.IQ runs a free public Model Context Protocol server. Once connected, your assistant can pull live data from Congress.gov, the FEC, Senate lobbying records, and a dozen other federal sources. No API key, no account.

Server URL

https://civdotiq.org/api/mcp

Streamable HTTP transport · 47 tools · no authentication required

Claude (web and desktop)

Open Settings › Connectors (on claude.ai or in the Claude Desktop app)
Choose Add custom connector
Name it CIV.IQ and paste the server URL above
Start a new chat and ask a civic question — Claude will pick the right tools

Custom connectors are available on Claude’s paid plans. In a chat, you can confirm the connection from the tools menu below the message box.

Claude Code

One command in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http civiq https://civdotiq.org/api/mcp

ChatGPT

Enable developer mode: Settings › Apps & Connectors › Advanced › Developer mode
Choose Create under Connectors
Name it CIV.IQ, paste the server URL, and set authentication to No authentication
In a new chat, enable the connector from the plus menu

Connector creation requires a paid ChatGPT plan. OpenAI’s connector UI changes frequently — if the menus have moved, search ChatGPT settings for “connectors”.

Cursor and other MCP clients

Any client that speaks streamable HTTP can connect with this configuration (for Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "civiq": {
      "url": "https://civdotiq.org/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What you can ask

“Who represents 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and how did they vote this month?”
“Which industries fund my representative, and do their committee assignments overlap?”
“What federal grants went to Michigan’s 10th district this year?”
“Compare the two senators from Michigan on votes, funding, and stock trades.”
“What EPA violations exist in my district, and who lobbied on air quality?”

What’s inside

Domain	Coverage
Representatives & votes	Address lookup, profiles, voting history, side-by-side comparison
Legislation	Bill search and detail, roll-call votes, committee information
Money	Campaign finance by industry, lobbying filings, federal spending by district
District profiles	Environment, health, safety, housing, education, banking, research funding
Cross-domain analysis	Influence chains, vote prediction, industry regulatory landscapes

Every answer carries its government source. Analysis tools report confidence levels and never claim causation. Full tool reference, resources, and prompt templates are on the developers page.

Troubleshooting

Connector won’t validate: make sure the URL is exactly https://civdotiq.org/api/mcp — no trailing slash, https only.
Assistant doesn’t use the tools:mention CIV.IQ or ask a concrete civic question (“use CIV.IQ to look up…” works reliably).
Slow first response:some tools aggregate several government APIs; district-wide analyses can take 10–30 seconds.
Something looks wrong:every page on civdotiq.org has a “report an error” link, or use the corrections page.

Loading CIV.IQ

Preparing your civic information dashboard