EIA MCP Server for Microsoft Copilot Studio

A Python FastMCP server that wraps the U.S. Energy Information Administration Open Data API v2 and exposes agent-friendly tools over Streamable HTTP.

Tools

• discover_eia_route: discover routes, frequencies, columns, and facets.

• get_eia_data: query any EIA v2 dataset using a controlled relative route.

• get_electricity_retail_sales: convenience tool for annual state-level retail electricity data.

Related MCP server: emoncms-mcp-server

1. Configure

Request a free EIA API key from https://www.eia.gov/opendata/register.php, then:

cp .env.example .env

Set EIA_API_KEY in .env. Never commit that file.

2. Run locally

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
set -a && source .env && set +a
python server.py

The MCP endpoint is:

http://localhost:8000/mcp

Test it with MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector http://localhost:8000/mcp

3. Run with Docker

docker compose up --build

4. Deploy for Copilot Studio

Deploy the container to a host that provides a publicly reachable HTTPS endpoint, such as Azure Container Apps. Configure EIA_API_KEY as a secret, map it to an environment variable, and expose port 8000. The URL supplied to Copilot Studio should end in /mcp.

Illustrative Azure Container Apps flow:

az group create --name rg-eia-mcp --location eastus
az acr create --resource-group rg-eia-mcp --name <uniqueRegistry> --sku Basic
az acr build --registry <uniqueRegistry> --image eia-mcp:1.0 .

az containerapp up \
  --name eia-mcp \
  --resource-group rg-eia-mcp \
  --location eastus \
  --image <uniqueRegistry>.azurecr.io/eia-mcp:1.0 \
  --target-port 8000 \
  --ingress external

az containerapp secret set \
  --name eia-mcp \
  --resource-group rg-eia-mcp \
  --secrets eia-api-key='<YOUR_EIA_KEY>'

az containerapp update \
  --name eia-mcp \
  --resource-group rg-eia-mcp \
  --set-env-vars EIA_API_KEY=secretref:eia-api-key

For enterprise use, protect the endpoint with an API key gateway or OAuth 2.0, apply an ingress allowlist where possible, enable application logging, and rotate secrets.

5. Connect from Copilot Studio

1. Open the agent and enable generative orchestration.

2. Go to Tools, choose Add a tool, then choose the MCP option/onboarding wizard.

3. Enter https://<your-host>/mcp.

4. Configure the authentication method used by your deployment.

5. Add the discovered MCP tools/resources to the agent and publish it.

Suggested agent instruction:

For U.S. energy statistics, use the EIA Energy Data tools. If you do not know a dataset's exact route, frequency, data columns, or facets, call discover_eia_route first. Cite the returned EIA metadata and state the period and units in the answer.

Example agent requests

• "Show annual residential electricity prices in Texas and California from 2020 through 2025."

• "Discover the available petroleum routes in EIA."

• "Query monthly natural-gas data after first discovering the required route and facets."

Design notes

• The EIA key stays server-side and is never exposed as a tool argument.

• Routes are restricted to relative EIA paths to prevent arbitrary URL access.

• Returned EIA values are preserved because API v2 may represent data points as JSON strings.

• MAX_ROWS limits large agent-triggered responses; use offset for pagination.

• The server itself does not implement inbound authentication. Add API-key or OAuth protection before production use.