usaspending-mcp-server

Spending Over Time

usaspending_spending_over_time

Read-onlyIdempotent

Fetch aggregated federal obligation amounts grouped by fiscal year, fiscal quarter, or fiscal month. All grouping is relative to the US government fiscal year (Oct–Sep), so fiscal month 1 is October, not January. Filter by award type, agency, recipient, keyword, or NAICS code to trace spending trends in a specific area. Returns per-period totals and optional breakdowns by award category (contracts, grants, direct payments, IDVs, loans, other).

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`group`	Yes	Time grouping: fiscal_year (annual US govt FY: Oct–Sep), quarter (fiscal quarter), or month (fiscal month — an ordinal within the fiscal year, where 1 = October)
`filters`	No	Filters to scope the time-series aggregation. Defaults to contract awards when omitted.
`subawards`	No	Aggregate subaward data instead of prime award data

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`error`	No	Present when the call failed. Absent on success.
`group`	No	Time grouping used
`notice`	No	Names a time-window bound that was filled in because only the other was supplied, and suggests broadening filters when no periods are returned. Absent when neither applies.
`results`	No	Time-series of obligation totals
`time_group`	No	Time grouping applied: fiscal_year, quarter, or month
`period_count`	No	Number of time periods returned
`total_periods`	No	Number of time periods returned
`applied_keywords`	No	Keyword filters applied (comma-separated)
`applied_agency_name`	No	Awarding agency name filter applied
`applied_naics_codes`	No	NAICS code filters applied (comma-separated)
`applied_time_period_end`	No	End of the time window sent (YYYY-MM-DD), including a filled-in end
`applied_time_period_start`	No	Start of the time window sent (YYYY-MM-DD), including a filled-in start

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed11 schema fields changedSep 25, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / filters / properties / time_period_end / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "const": "",
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  {
+    "description": "Date as YYYY-MM-DD; month and day may be unpadded",
+    "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{1,2}-\\d{1,2}$",
+    "type": "string"
+  }
+]

changedInput schema / properties / filters / properties / time_period_end / description

Previous value: -"End of the time window (YYYY-MM-DD)"New value: +"End of the time window (YYYY-MM-DD). Given alone, the window starts at 2007-10-01, the earliest searchable date."

removedInput schema / properties / filters / properties / time_period_end / type
```
Removed value: -"string"
```

addedInput schema / properties / filters / properties / time_period_start / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "const": "",
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  {
+    "description": "Date as YYYY-MM-DD; month and day may be unpadded",
+    "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{1,2}-\\d{1,2}$",
+    "type": "string"
+  }
+]

changedInput schema / properties / filters / properties / time_period_start / description

Previous value: -"Start of the time window (YYYY-MM-DD)"New value: +"Start of the time window (YYYY-MM-DD), 2007-10-01 or later. Given alone, the window runs through today (UTC)."

removedInput schema / properties / filters / properties / time_period_start / type
```
Removed value: -"string"
```

changedOutput schema / properties / applied_time_period_end / description

Previous value: -"End date filter applied (YYYY-MM-DD)"New value: +"End of the time window sent (YYYY-MM-DD), including a filled-in end"

changedOutput schema / properties / applied_time_period_start / description

Previous value: -"Start date filter applied (YYYY-MM-DD)"New value: +"Start of the time window sent (YYYY-MM-DD), including a filled-in start"

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description

Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `api_unavailable`: USAspending.gov API is unreachable or returns an error. `api_timeout`: USAspending.gov did not respond before the request deadline elapsed. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `api_unavailable`: USAspending.gov API is unreachable or returns an error. `api_timeout`: USAspending.gov did not respond before the request deadline elapsed. `date_range_inverted`: Both filters.time_period_start and filters.time_period_end were supplied and the start falls after the end. `date_before_earliest`: The resolved start date precedes the 2007-10-01 earliest date this endpoint can search. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples

Previous value: -[
-  "api_unavailable",
-  "api_timeout"
-]New value: +[
+  "api_unavailable",
+  "api_timeout",
+  "date_range_inverted",
+  "date_before_earliest"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / notice / description

Previous value: -"Recovery hint when no periods are returned — suggests broadening filters. Absent when results are present."New value: +"Names a time-window bound that was filled in because only the other was supplied, and suggests broadening filters when no periods are returned. Absent when neither applies."

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": [
+      "group",
+      "results",
+      "total_periods",
+      "time_group",
+      "period_count"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "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. Declared by this tool: `api_unavailable`: USAspending.gov API is unreachable or returns an error. `api_timeout`: USAspending.gov did not respond before the request deadline elapsed. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "api_unavailable",
+            "api_timeout"
+          ],
+          "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: -[
-  "group",
-  "results",
-  "total_periods",
-  "time_group",
-  "period_count"
-]

Changed1 schema field changedJul 27, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / idvs

Added value: +{
+  "description": "IDV (Indefinite Delivery Vehicle) obligation amount in USD for this period",
+  "type": "number"
+}

Changed4 schema fields changedJul 17, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / group / description

Previous value: -"Time grouping: fiscal_year (annual US govt FY: Oct–Sep), quarter (fiscal quarter), or month (calendar month)"New value: +"Time grouping: fiscal_year (annual US govt FY: Oct–Sep), quarter (fiscal quarter), or month (fiscal month — an ordinal within the fiscal year, where 1 = October)"

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / time_period / description

Previous value: -"Time period for this row"New value: +"Time period for this row. Populated per the requested grouping: fiscal_year alone, fiscal_year + quarter, or fiscal_year + month."

removedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / time_period / properties / calendar_year
```
Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Calendar year",
-  "type": "string"
-}
```

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / time_period / properties / month / description

Previous value: -"Calendar month (1–12)"New value: +"Fiscal month: an ordinal within fiscal_year, 1–12, where 1 = October and 12 = September. Fiscal month 1 of FY2025 is October 2024 — not January."

Changed5 schema fields changedJun 9, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / applied_agency_name

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Awarding agency name filter applied",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / applied_keywords

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Keyword filters applied (comma-separated)",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / applied_naics_codes

Added value: +{
+  "description": "NAICS code filters applied (comma-separated)",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / applied_time_period_end

Added value: +{
+  "description": "End date filter applied (YYYY-MM-DD)",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / applied_time_period_start

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Start date filter applied (YYYY-MM-DD)",
+  "type": "string"
+}

Changed1 schema field changedJun 4, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / notice

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Recovery hint when no periods are returned — suggests broadening filters. Absent when results are present.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

Changed3 schema fields changedMay 30, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / period_count

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Number of time periods returned",
+  "type": "number"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / time_group

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Time grouping applied: fiscal_year, quarter, or month",
+  "type": "string"
+}

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "group",
-  "results",
-  "total_periods"
-]New value: +[
+  "group",
+  "results",
+  "total_periods",
+  "time_group",
+  "period_count"
+]

First observedMay 29, 2026

TDQS

A4.2/5.0

Behavior4/5

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

Annotations already establish read-only, idempotent, and open-world behavior, so the bar is lower. The description adds valuable behavioral context by explaining the US government fiscal-year calendar, that fiscal month 1 is October, and that results include per-period totals and optional award-category breakdowns. It does not introduce contradictions with 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 cover purpose, the critical fiscal-year nuance, filtering capabilities, and return shape without redundancy. The most important clarification (fiscal month 1 = October) is front-loaded near the primary purpose.

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

Completeness4/5

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

Given the complexity of a nested `filters` object and a rich output schema, the description adequately orients the agent on what the tool returns and how to scope it. The remaining details like award-type defaults, time window behavior, and subawards are fully described in the schema, so no essential decision-making context is missing.

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

Parameters3/5

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

The input schema has 100% description coverage, including detailed explanations for `group`, `filters`, and subfields. The description reinforces the fiscal-year calendar and lists filter dimensions, but it does not add substantive parameter meaning beyond what the schema already provides, so the baseline score of 3 is appropriate.

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 names a specific verb ('Fetch aggregated federal obligation amounts'), a precise resource (time-series spending data), and distinct grouping dimensions (fiscal year/quarter/month). It clearly differentiates from siblings by emphasizing time-based aggregation rather than category or geography breakdowns.

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

Usage Guidelines4/5

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

The description gives a clear use case: 'trace spending trends in a specific area' using temporal aggregation and filters. It does not explicitly name alternatives or state when not to use this tool, so it stops short of a 5, but the context is unambiguous enough for an agent to select it appropriately.

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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