CivicLens Cook County

Public civic transparency database + MCP server. Enter any Cook County address → see every layer of local government you live under, who represents you, where the money goes, and what's on the next agenda.

Setup

python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env   # fill in DATABASE_URL (Supabase → Settings → Database)

Enable PostGIS in Supabase: Dashboard → Database → Extensions → postgis.

Related MCP server: MCP Data Cook County

Load data

Fixture mode (no downloads needed — approximate boundaries, fake finances):

cd ingest
python tiger_loader.py --fixtures
python comptroller_loader.py --fixtures

Real data (see Build Spec §6 for sources):

python tiger_loader.py --cousub data/tl_2024_17_cousub.zip --place data/tl_2024_17_place.zip
python comptroller_loader.py --csv data/afr_export.csv

Run API

uvicorn api.main:app --reload

Every response carries a provenance block: {source_url, as_of, certainty, note?}.

Data certainty levels

• verified — from official filing, human-checked

• extracted — parsed from PDF, may contain errors

• stale_risk — older than its expected update cycle