# TownBrief MCP Server

**Structured access to Massachusetts local government intelligence for AI assistants.**

351 towns and cities. 14 counties. Meeting articles, transcripts, news roundups, bylaws, calendars, and 10+ years of historical archives — all from an automated journalism pipeline powered by [The Wayland Post](https://www.waylandpost.org).

## Quick Start

### Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add to your MCP config (`claude_desktop_config.json`):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "townbrief": {
      "url": "https://api.townbrief.com/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

### Cursor / Windsurf / any MCP client

```
Endpoint: https://api.townbrief.com/sse
Transport: SSE
Auth: Bearer token
```

### ChatGPT

Use the [TownBrief GPT](https://chatgpt.com/g/g-6a4a9a9f09588191bf8b263145fa1d93-townbrief-ma-local-government-intelligence) — no setup required, OAuth handles auth.

## Get an API Key

1. Go to [api.townbrief.com/authorize](https://api.townbrief.com/authorize)
2. Enter your email
3. Your key is returned via the OAuth flow

Free tier includes discovery tools (list meetings, search, browse counties). Full content access (articles, transcripts, bylaws, archives) requires a [paid subscription](https://wayland.ma.townbrief.com/#/portal/signup).

## Tools (22)

### Free Tier — Discovery & Browse

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `list_recent_meetings` | Newest meetings across all committees for a town |
| `search_meetings` | Full-text search over article text |
| `list_counties` | All 14 MA counties with their towns |
| `list_county_meetings` | Recent meetings across a county |
| `search_county_meetings` | Search across all towns in a county |
| `list_recent_roundups` | Recent daily news roundup dates |
| `list_bylaw_towns` | Towns with bylaws indexed |
| `list_bylaw_chapters` | Table of contents for a town's bylaws |

### Paid Tier — Full Content

| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `get_article` | AI-generated article + brief for a meeting |
| `get_transcript` | Full Whisper-generated meeting transcript |
| `get_roundup` | Daily news roundup (article + sources) |
| `get_committee_summary` | Multi-meeting overview for a committee |
| `get_town_calendar` | Upcoming town/arts/library events |
| `search_bylaws` | Full-text search of town bylaws |
| `get_bylaw_chapter` | Full chapter text |
| `search_waylandarchive` | 6,000+ historical town documents (1985–present) |
| `get_archive_page` | Full text of an archive document |
| `search_wells` | Wayland private-well PFAS monitoring hub |
| `search_waylandpost` | 1,000+ published Wayland Post articles |
| `get_waylandpost_post` | Full text of a Wayland Post story |
| `search_waylandenews` | 5,500+ historical eNews posts (2013–2024) |
| `search_wvn` | Wayland Voters Network archive |

## Parameters

### `meeting_id` format
```
{Committee}/{YYYY-MM-DD}
```
Example: `Select Board/2026-06-29`

### `town` parameter
Lowercase slug: `wayland`, `sudbury`, `cambridge`, `somerville`, etc.

### `get_article` — `fields` parameter
Comma-separated: `article`, `article_plus`, `brief`, `headlines`, `review`. Default: `article,brief`. Use `all` for everything.

### `get_transcript` — `max_chars` parameter
Truncate transcript to N characters. Default: `20000` (~5000 words). Pass `0` for full text.

## Pricing

- **Free tier**: Discovery tools (list, search, browse) — unlimited
- **Paid tier**: $8/month or $80/year — full content access
- **Usage billing**: $0.02 per content API call (metered via Stripe, billed monthly)

Subscribe at [wayland.ma.townbrief.com](https://wayland.ma.townbrief.com/#/portal/signup)

## Coverage

All 351 Massachusetts municipalities across all 14 counties:
- Select Boards, Finance Committees, Planning Boards, Conservation Commissions, School Committees, ZBAs, and dozens of other boards
- AI-generated articles and deep-read analyses from Whisper transcripts
- Daily news roundups aggregating press releases, school news, public safety
- Town bylaws (full-text search and chapter retrieval)
- Town, arts, and library event calendars
- County-level aggregation

## REST API

OpenAPI spec: [api.townbrief.com/actions/openapi.json](https://api.townbrief.com/actions/openapi.json)

All tools are also available as REST endpoints at `https://api.townbrief.com/api/{tool_name}` with query parameters.

## About

Built by [The Wayland Post](https://www.waylandpost.org) — an independent, AI-assisted local news organization covering Wayland, MA and expanding statewide.

The pipeline downloads government meeting videos, transcribes them locally with Whisper on GPU, generates AP-style articles via Claude, fetches agenda/packet/minutes PDFs, and produces daily news roundups — all automated, all available through this API.

## License

API access is a paid service. The content is copyrighted by The Wayland Post. See [Terms of Service](https://wayland.ma.townbrief.com/terms/).