Grants MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for comprehensive government grants discovery and analysis, powered by the Simpler Grants API.

Overview

The Grants MCP Server is a Python-based MCP implementation using FastMCP that provides intelligent tools for discovering, analyzing, and tracking government grant opportunities. It offers multiple specialized tools for different aspects of grant research, from opportunity discovery to funding trend analysis and agency landscape mapping.

Features

🔍 Core Capabilities

• Grant Opportunity Discovery: Search and filter grants based on keywords, agencies, funding categories, and eligibility criteria
• Funding Trend Analysis: Analyze historical funding patterns and identify emerging opportunities
• Agency Landscape Mapping: Understand the grant ecosystem across different government agencies
• Intelligent Caching: Built-in caching system to optimize API calls and improve response times
• Comprehensive Grant Details: Access detailed information including funding amounts, deadlines, eligibility requirements, and contact information

🛠️ Technical Features

• Built with FastMCP for robust MCP server implementation
• Asynchronous Python architecture for high performance
• Dual Transport Support: stdio (local) and HTTP (containerized)
• Docker Support: Ready-to-deploy containerized version
• Configurable caching with TTL and size limits
• Retry logic and error handling for API resilience
• Environment-based configuration management
• Comprehensive test suite with unit, integration, and live tests

Quick Start with Docker 🐳

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• Simpler Grants API key (see Obtaining API Key)

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/Tar-ive/grants-mcp.git
cd grants-mcp

2. Configure API Key

Important: You must provide your own API key. Never commit API keys to version control.

Option A - Using .env file (Recommended):

# Copy the example file
cp .env.example .env

# Edit .env and add your actual API key
# SIMPLER_GRANTS_API_KEY=your_actual_api_key_here

Option B - Edit docker-compose.yml directly:

environment:
  - SIMPLER_GRANTS_API_KEY=your_actual_api_key_here

3. Build and Run

# Build the Docker image
docker-compose build

# Start the container
docker-compose up -d

# Check if it's running
docker ps | grep grants-mcp

# View logs
docker logs grants-mcp-server

4. Test the Server

# Test with curl
curl -X POST http://localhost:8081/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/list","id":1}'

# Or use the provided test script
python scripts/test_http_local.py

5. Configure Claude Desktop

Copy the Docker configuration to Claude Desktop:

# For macOS