Grant Tools

A community-built grant research assistant adapted from DaedalMap's Research MCP. It runs from this repository as its own MCP server; the Research MCP and DaedalMap source checkout are not required. Describe a project in an MCP client and Grant Tools works through the pre-submission phases: finding programs that fit, checking eligibility and blockers, pulling precedent from past awards, shortlisting, and helping with memos, budgets, and submission checklists. It never estimates odds of winning and does not handle post-award reporting.

Coverage: US is full (discovery, precedent, readiness scoring, writing templates, live opportunities). Canada has discovery and precedent only, and says so rather than returning empty results.

Place handling uses DaedalMap loc_ids (stable identifiers for counties, states, provinces, and other places). Grant Tools calls DaedalMap's hosted geometry MCP to turn place text into loc_ids by default. You can supply a loc_id directly, or point GEOMETRY_MCP_URL at a local geometry server.

Quickstart

1. Get the code and install. Python 3.11 or newer. From the repository folder:

   py -m venv .venv
   .\.venv\Scripts\python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Get the data for your country. Download the USA bundle (749 MB) or the Canada bundle (2.4 MB). Unzip either into this repository's data/ folder so the result contains data/countries/. You may unzip both into the same data/ folder. Each ZIP includes source details and checksums in grant_data_manifest.json. You can also build tables from upstream sources with the pipeline below.

3. Configure only if needed. data/ is the default. If you unzipped the bundle elsewhere, copy .env.example to .env and set GRANT_DATA_ROOT to the folder containing countries/.

4. Start the server.

   .\.venv\Scripts\python server.py

5. Connect your MCP client to http://127.0.0.1:7020/mcp. For Claude Code:

   claude mcp add --transport http grants http://127.0.0.1:7020/mcp

   Then describe your project. The first tool, grant_intake_or_update_project, takes it from there.

Related MCP server: US Federal Procurement MCP

Configuration

Settings come from environment variables or a .env file next to the code.

Place lookups

The grant tools need one thing from DaedalMap: turning place text (a county, state, ZIP code, or province) into a loc_id. They call the geometry tool convert_reference at GEOMETRY_MCP_URL, DaedalMap's hosted MCP by default. No setup or account is needed; a grant session makes only a few lookups, well inside the free anonymous allowance. You can also pass a loc_id directly in place of place text.

Data

The tools read processed tables from GRANT_DATA_ROOT. Downloaded ZIPs provide ready-to-use snapshots. The included pipeline can build your own tables under data/ from official upstream sources. Collector output goes to state/ and adds recent announcement leads; it does not replace historical award tables.

For example, build California opportunities and awards yourself:

.\.venv\Scripts\python pipeline\downloaders\download_california_grants_portal.py
.\.venv\Scripts\python pipeline\converters\convert_california_grants_portal.py

Each source has its own downloader and converter. Some upstream files are large and take time to fetch. Run only the sources you need; their outputs use the same data/countries/ layout as the downloadable bundles.

Announcement collectors

The included ARC, California, and Canada collectors can run independently of the historical pipeline. List them, probe feeds without writing, and then run the ones you want:

.\.venv\Scripts\python collectors\run_all.py --list
.\.venv\Scripts\python collectors\run_all.py --only arc,california --probe
.\.venv\Scripts\python collectors\run_all.py --only arc,california

To keep that selection, set GRANT_COLLECTORS=arc,california in .env and run collectors/run_all.py without --only. The command runs once. Schedule it daily with Task Scheduler or cron for ongoing checks. Use GRANT_COLLECTORS=none to disable scheduled polls. Each collector also runs on its own (python collectors\arc_grant_announcements.py) and supports --probe. The collectors need no API keys. Their snapshots go to GRANT_STATE_DIR.

Sources

Cite the original sources when you use their data.

The code is available under the MIT License. Country bundles and upstream source records retain their respective source terms; see each bundle's grant_data_manifest.json for provenance.

Tools

Layout

Docs

• docs/grant_mcp_quickstart.md - the tool workflow once connected

• docs/grant_mcp_mode.md - product shape and method

• docs/program_import_pipeline.md - how to add a program so the tools use it correctly; validate_program.py checks it

• docs/proposal_section_model.md - the proposal section vocabulary and how per-funder requirements resolve

• docs/grant_collectors.md - how to add sources and collectors

• docs/grant_source_matrix.md - source inventory by evidence layer