# Dallas Civic MCP

[![License: Apache 2.0](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Apache%202.0-blue.svg)](LICENSE)
[![Node](https://img.shields.io/badge/node-%3E%3D20-brightgreen)](https://nodejs.org/)
[![MCP](https://img.shields.io/badge/MCP-stdio-purple)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/)

> **Your AI's local guide to Dallas.** A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server giving Claude (and any MCP client) plain-English access to official Dallas-area public data — no API keys, no logins.

**License:** Open source under **[Apache License 2.0](LICENSE)** — free to use, modify, and build on, including commercially. Please keep the [NOTICE](NOTICE) attribution when you redistribute.
**Forked from:** [Local Dallas MCP](https://github.com/mindwear-capitian/local-dallas-mcp) by [Ed Neuhaus](https://edneuhaus.com), used under the Apache License 2.0. This fork adds building permits, public-safety (police incidents), and property/tax-parcel lookup on top of the original weather, schools, and 311 tools.
**Part of a family:** [local-city-mcp-template](https://github.com/mindwear-capitian/local-city-mcp-template) — the spec, the template, and the full list of cities built so far.

> 🚧 **Early-stage.** Six tools live today (weather alerts, school ratings, 311, building permits, police incidents, property/tax parcels). See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).

---

## Install

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

```jsonc
// claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dallas-civic": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github:rosserbusinessarchitecture/https-github.com-mindwear-capitian-local-dallas-mcp-tab-readme-ov-file"]
    }
  }
}
```

Restart Claude Desktop. No API keys required for any tool.

### Claude Code

```bash
claude mcp add dallas-civic npx -y github:rosserbusinessarchitecture/https-github.com-mindwear-capitian-local-dallas-mcp-tab-readme-ov-file
```

---

## Try it

- *"Is there an active weather alert for Dallas right now?"*
- *"What's the TEA rating for Dallas ISD?"*
- *"Show me A-rated elementary schools in Dallas county."*
- *"Any open code compliance 311 requests in council district 10?"*
- *"What building permits were recently issued on Elm St?"*
- *"Any reported police incidents near downtown recently?"*
- *"Who owns the parcel on San Lucas and what's its legal description?"*

---

## Tools (6 live)

| Tool | What it does |
|------|--------------|
| `dallas_nws_alerts` | Active National Weather Service alerts (severe thunderstorm, tornado, flood, heat, freeze, fire weather) for a Dallas location. Defaults to central Dallas when no address given. |
| `dallas_tea_schools` | Texas Education Agency school lookup — A-F accountability ratings + AskTED campus directory (statewide dataset). Search by campus, district, county, or city. Example districts: Dallas ISD, Plano ISD, Highland Park ISD. |
| `dallas_311` | City of Dallas 311 service requests (code compliance, streets, sanitation, etc). Filter by type, department, status, council district, or address. |
| `dallas_permits` | City of Dallas building permits (new construction, remodels, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, etc). Filter by type, status, council district, or address. |
| `dallas_crime` | Dallas Police reported incidents (RMS data, 2014-present). Filter by keyword, council district, or address. |
| `dallas_property` | Dallas-area tax parcel lookup (owner, situs address, legal description, property class, council district) via the City of Dallas GIS parcels layer. Does not include dollar appraised value or tax bill status. |
| `about` | Version + capability summary. |

## Sources of Truth

| Domain | Source |
|--------|--------|
| Weather alerts | National Weather Service (api.weather.gov) |
| School ratings | Texas Education Agency Statewide Accountability Ratings 2022-2023 + AskTED directory (data.texas.gov) — statewide dataset, same source used by [local-austin-mcp](https://github.com/mindwear-capitian/local-austin-mcp) |
| 311 service requests | City of Dallas Open Data (dallasopendata.com), dataset `gc4d-8a49` |
| Building permits | City of Dallas Open Data (dallasopendata.com), dataset `e7gq-4sah` |
| Police incidents | City of Dallas Open Data (dallasopendata.com), dataset `4ea4-q4ui` ("RMS Incidents With GeoLocation") |
| Property / tax parcels | City of Dallas GIS `DallasTaxParcels` FeatureServer, built from certified Dallas/Collin/Denton/Kaufman/Rockwall county appraisal-district data |
| Geocoding | U.S. Census geocoder |

**A note on the newer tools:** `dallas_permits`, `dallas_crime`, and `dallas_property` resolve their upstream field/column names *at runtime* against each source's own metadata endpoint, instead of hardcoding guessed names — this fork's development environment has no outbound network access to the data portals. `npm run test:contract` was subsequently run against live data (via a GitHub Codespace); `dallas_permits` and `dallas_crime` passed as originally written, and `dallas_property` needed a rewrite once the live field list showed the DallasTaxParcels layer splits the situs address across four columns (`ST_NUM`/`ST_DIR`/`ST_NAME`/`ST_TYPE`, no combined address field) and carries no dollar appraised/market value at all (only `APPRAISALYEAR`). See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for the runtime-discovery pattern this relies on.

## Architecture

Node.js (ES modules), `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk` over stdio. Built from [local-city-mcp-template](https://github.com/mindwear-capitian/local-city-mcp-template) — see that repo's `STANDARD.md` for the spec (hard rules, tool contract, testing bar, licensing pattern) this server follows. Every response includes a `source_url`.

## Contact

Forked from [Local Dallas MCP](https://github.com/mindwear-capitian/local-dallas-mcp) by [Ed Neuhaus](https://edneuhaus.com). This fork is maintained by [rosserbusinessarchitecture](https://github.com/rosserbusinessarchitecture). Contributions welcome — see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).