openfec-mcp-server

Openfec Search Coordinated Expenditures

openfec_search_coordinated_expenditures

Read-onlyIdempotent

Search coordinated party expenditures (Schedule F) — spending a party committee makes on behalf of a candidate it supports, in coordination with that campaign. Distinct from independent expenditures (openfec_search_expenditures), which cannot be coordinated with the candidate, and from direct contributions: coordinated expenditures carry their own statutory limits and can run into tens of millions per party in a presidential cycle. Scope with a spending committee_id, a benefiting candidate_id, or a cycle; unscoped queries span all years.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`page`	No	Page number (1-indexed). Read pagination.pages in the response to see how many pages exist.
`sort`	No	Sort field. A "-" prefix sorts descending: use "-expenditure_amount" for the largest coordinated spending first, since the ascending form leads with the most negative rows (corrections and voided entries). OpenFEC sorts by "-expenditure_date" when omitted.
`cycle`	No	Two-year election cycle (e.g., 2024). Even years only. Omitting it searches every cycle on record.
`max_date`	No	Latest expenditure date (YYYY-MM-DD).
`min_date`	No	Earliest expenditure date (YYYY-MM-DD).
`per_page`	No	Results per page.
`max_amount`	No	Maximum expenditure amount in dollars.
`min_amount`	No	Minimum expenditure amount in dollars.
`payee_name`	No	Full-text payee name search (the vendor the party paid).
`candidate_id`	No	Benefiting candidate ID (e.g., P00003392). Get IDs from openfec_search_candidates results.
`committee_id`	No	Spending party committee ID (e.g., C00003418). Get IDs from openfec_search_committees results — party committees carry committee_type X or Y.

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`error`	No	Present when the call failed. Absent on success.
`notice`	No	Guidance when the response carries no coordinated expenditures: how to broaden a search that matched nothing, or which requested position ran out when expenditures did match.
`results`	No	Coordinated expenditure result set; one record per itemized transaction.
`committee`	No	The committee every row in this response belongs to, carried once instead of repeated in each row. Present only when the query was scoped to a single committee_id; otherwise each row keeps its own committee object.
`pagination`	No	Page-based pagination metadata.
`totalCount`	No	Total matching coordinated expenditures before pagination.
`search_criteria`	No	Echo of the search filters this call applied, as the server parsed them, minus paging arguments. Always present — compare it against what you sent to confirm every filter was honoured.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed2 schema fields changedSep 22, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / notice / description

Previous value: -"Guidance when no coordinated expenditures matched — echoes filters and suggests how to broaden."New value: +"Guidance when the response carries no coordinated expenditures: how to broaden a search that matched nothing, or which requested position ran out when expenditures did match."

addedOutput schema / properties / pagination / properties / count_is_approximate

Added value: +{
+  "description": "True when OpenFEC reports this count as an estimate rather than a tally, which it does on its highest-volume datasets. Absent means the count is a tally. An estimated count — and the pages derived from it — can be off by a wide margin; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a figure to quote.",
+  "type": "boolean"
+}

Changed6 schema fields changedAug 25, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +false
```

changedOutput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedOutput schema / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "results",
+      "pagination",
+      "search_criteria",
+      "totalCount"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / error

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Present when the call failed. Absent on success.",
+  "properties": {
+    "code": {
+      "description": "JSON-RPC error code for this failure.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "additionalProperties": {},
+      "properties": {
+        "reason": {
+          "description": "Machine-readable failure mode.",
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "recovery": {
+          "additionalProperties": {},
+          "description": "Actionable next step for the caller.",
+          "properties": {
+            "hint": {
+              "type": "string"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "hint"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "retryable": {
+          "description": "Whether retrying may succeed.",
+          "type": "boolean"
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "message": {
+      "description": "Human-readable description of what went wrong.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "code",
+    "message"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

removedOutput schema / required

Removed value: -[
-  "results",
-  "pagination",
-  "search_criteria",
-  "totalCount"
-]

AddedJul 26, 2026

TDQS

A4.7/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already establish readOnlyHint and idempotentHint, so the safety profile is covered. The description adds useful behavioral context beyond that: unscoped queries search all years, the data can reach tens of millions per party, and these expenditures carry their own statutory limits. This goes beyond a bare repeat of the annotations.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Three dense sentences with no filler: the first states purpose, the second distinguishes from related concepts while naming a sibling, and the third gives scoping behavior. It is front-loaded and every clause earns its place.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For an 11-parameter search tool with a full input schema, an output schema, and read-only/idempotent annotations, the description provides the missing conceptual and scoping context. Nothing critical is left unexplained for an agent to invoke the tool correctly.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so the baseline is 3, but the description adds meaningful semantic grouping by identifying committee_id, candidate_id, and cycle as the primary scoping parameters. It also clarifies that omitting cycle means 'all years,' which supplements the individual parameter descriptions.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description opens with a specific verb and resource ('Search coordinated party expenditures (Schedule F)') and immediately distinguishes the tool from independent expenditures and direct contributions. It names the sibling openfec_search_expenditures, so an agent can tell them apart without inspecting schemas.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

It explicitly says what coordinated expenditures are not — independent expenditures and direct contributions — and names the sibling for independent expenditures. It also provides scoping guidance ('Scope with a spending committee_id, a benefiting candidate_id, or a cycle') and warns that unscoped queries span all years.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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