OpenUKPublicDataMCP

OpenUKPublicDataMCP is a no-key-first Model Context Protocol server for useful UK public data.

The goal is to give Claude, Hermes, Cursor, and other MCP clients one reliable endpoint for common UK public-data questions: postcodes, GOV.UK content, bank holidays, carbon intensity, public datasets, flood monitoring, parliamentary/legal/statistical lookups, and optional-key enrichments such as Companies House, EPC, Ordnance Survey, and TfL.

Status

MVP shipped: 23+ MCP tools, FastAPI explorer API, and web/ React map UI. Tier C backlog (EPC, Met Office, Parliament) remains optional.

Related MCP server: floodwise

Principles

• No-key-first: core tools must work without signup.

• Source-cited: every tool returns upstream source metadata and retrieval time.

• Official-first: prefer official UK public sector APIs; label community/non-official sources explicitly.

• Thin adapters: normalize useful fields but keep upstream payloads available.

• Optional enrichments: API-key sources are allowed only as optional modules.

• Read-only by default: no public-sector write operations in the initial project.

Current tools

• health_check — server health and configured source count.

• list_sources — source registry with auth/licence/freshness notes.

• plan_uk_public_data_research / get_research_methodology / save_uk_research_note — agent planning surface.

• lookup_postcode — postcode lookup via postcodes.io.

• get_bank_holidays — GOV.UK bank holidays by UK region.

• get_carbon_intensity — National Grid ESO carbon intensity for Great Britain.

• search_govuk — GOV.UK Search API.

• search_public_datasets — data.gov.uk CKAN package search.

• list_flood_warnings / search_flood_areas — Environment Agency flood monitoring (England).

• search_ons_datasets / get_ons_dataset / get_ons_latest_version / get_ons_observations — ONS Beta API.

• search_planning_applications — planning.data.gov.uk (England).

• get_cpih_inflation_headline — CPIH month-on-month % from ONS observations.

• list_uk_regions — explorer geography metadata (sample postcodes).

• police_street_crime_near — data.police.uk near lat/lng.

• search_mp_by_postcode, search_constituencies — UK Parliament Members API.

• met_office_site_forecast — Met Office DataHub (optional MET_OFFICE_DATAHUB_API_KEY).

• companies_house_company_profile — optional COMPANIES_HOUSE_API_KEY.

• os_places_find_place — optional OS_PLACES_API_KEY.

• tfl_line_status — optional TFL_APP_ID + TFL_APP_KEY.

Implementation plan: docs/plans/2026-07-05-openuk-v1-implementation.md. Test brief: docs/tests/Q2-executive-report.md.

Quick start

cd /home/stephen/projects/OpenUKPublicDataMCP
python3.11 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e '.[dev]'
python -m openukpublicdata_mcp.server

Run validation:

pytest
fastmcp inspect src/openukpublicdata_mcp/server.py:mcp
fastmcp list src/openukpublicdata_mcp/server.py --json
fastmcp call src/openukpublicdata_mcp/server.py lookup_postcode postcode='SW1A 1AA' --json

Hermes MCP config

After the server is stable, register it with Hermes using hermes config set rather than editing config files directly:

hermes config set mcp_servers.openukpublicdata.command "/home/stephen/projects/OpenUKPublicDataMCP/.venv/bin/python"
hermes config set mcp_servers.openukpublicdata.args '["-m", "openukpublicdata_mcp.server"]'
hermes config set mcp_servers.openukpublicdata.timeout 120
hermes config set mcp_servers.openukpublicdata.connect_timeout 60

Restart Hermes after changing MCP config.

Web explorer

./scripts/run-web.sh
# http://127.0.0.1:8765

See web/README.md for dev mode (Vite + API).

Research

See research/LINKS.md and research/github-projects/ for the first competitor/source notes.