@pipeworx/ferc-elibrary

FERC eLibrary MCP — search the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's public docket and document record (elibrary.ferc.gov). Keyless JSON API, no bot wall.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1856+ live data sources. This is an independent, unofficial integration — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the upstream provider.

Tools

• ferc_docket(docket, page?, limit?) — all filings/orders for a docket number. Matches the docket family, so results can include related sub-dockets.

• ferc_search(query?, since?, until?, full_text?, page?, limit?) — full-text search across all dockets, optionally bounded to a filed-date window.

• ferc_class_types(search?) — browse the document class/type/library vocabulary used in category and class_types fields.

Related MCP server: mcp-regulations-gov

Auth

Keyless.

Data sources

• POST https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibraryWebAPI/api/Search/AdvancedSearch — undocumented (FERC publishes no API docs for this endpoint); the request/response shape was reconstructed from the Angular SPA's bundled JS and live-verified (see docs/ferc-elibrary-api.md).

• GET https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibraryWebAPI/api/Search/GetClassTypes — keyless, backs ferc_class_types.

Quirks

• dateType is snake_case (filed_date / created_date / posted_date), not the UI label ("Filed"). Sending the wrong value is a silent failure: HTTP 200, success:true, errorMessage:null, totalHits:0 — indistinguishable from a genuine no-hits query. This pack always sends filed_date in snake_case; ferc_search echoes the applied window back so a caller can tell the filter actually took effect.

• Upstream's own field name for accession number has a typo — acesssionNumber (three s's) — kept as-is on the wire, normalized to accession_number in this pack's output.

• Zero hits (or success:false) returns {found:false, reason, hint} from both ferc_docket and ferc_search rather than a bare empty array — a bare empty list would be indistinguishable from an upstream fault or a dateType mistake.

• FERC's own Cloudflare edge intermittently 522s (transient origin flakiness, not a rate limit or a block — confirmed not reproducible in 13 consecutive attempts after the first). This pack retries once with a short backoff before surfacing an upstream_down: error.

• Document file download (GetDocInfoByAccessionNo, GetDocInfo, GetFileListByAccession) is out of scope — all three 404/400 on the shapes tried during the probe, and AdvancedSearch already returns everything these tools need (accession numbers, dates, categories, docket families).

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ferc-elibrary": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ferc-elibrary/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ferc-elibrary/mcp returns the tools in the table above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth, connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1856+ data sources. The only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx reaches all of them from either one.

No MCP client? Call it over HTTP

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/ferc_docket \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"docket":"ER11-4046","limit":3}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/ferc_docket. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.

Run it from npm

@pipeworx/mcp-ferc-elibrary is a local stdio bridge to the Pipeworx gateway: your MCP client starts it with npx, and it forwards every call to the same https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ferc-elibrary/mcp endpoint shown above. It needs network access; there is no offline mode.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ferc-elibrary": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-ferc-elibrary"]
    }
  }
}

Without a key it calls anonymously, capped at 50 calls a day. A free account raises that to 200 a day: get a key at https://pipeworx.io/signup and add "env": { "PIPEWORX_API_KEY": "<your key>" } to the server entry. The key is sent as a Bearer token, the same way a hosted connection sends it, so calls are metered and billed exactly as they are there.

It lists only this pack's tools by default. Set PIPEWORX_META_TOOLS=1 to also list ask_pipeworx and the other gateway-wide tools.

Behind an HTTPS proxy: Node's built-in fetch does not read HTTPS_PROXY by default. Newer Node releases honour it when NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY=1 is set; check your Node version's documentation.

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Ferc Elibrary data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

• Docs and guides

• pipeworx.io

License

MIT