Connect USAspending to Claude
Query USAspending directly from Claude. Arlet links the two through one MCP connection and takes care of API keys.
This server connects your AI client to USAspending.gov, the US Treasury's official source for federal spending data. Every federal contract, grant, loan and direct payment above the reporting threshold is here, which makes it the practical starting point for US public-sector market research and counterparty due diligence.
Key features:
- search_awards: search awards by recipient company name, awarding agency, keyword and date range, choosing the award category (contracts, grants, direct payments, loans, other financial assistance, IDVs). Results come back sorted by award amount, largest first.
- summarize_spending: aggregate spending along a category axis - top recipients, awarding agencies, NAICS industry, product/service code, state, federal account, CFDA program - to answer 'who are the biggest vendors to this agency' or 'how is this company's federal revenue split by agency'.
- get_award: pull one award's full record: obligated and outlayed amounts, period of performance, recipient details and UEI, awarding and funding agencies, place of performance, competition and set-aside status, NAICS/PSC classification and subaward totals.
The recipient UEI returned by these tools is the same identifier SAM.gov uses, so results join cleanly with entity registration data.
No API key is needed. Note that the search endpoints only cover action dates from 2007-10-01 onward; older data is available through USAspending's bulk download features.
How to connect USAspending to Claude
- 1
In the Arlet dashboard, open Data tools, find USAspending and switch it on. No API key setup is needed.
- 2
In Claude, open Organization settings β Connectors from the account menu at the bottom left, then click + Add.
- 3
Choose Custom β Web, enter "Arlet" as the Name and https://mcp.arlet.dev/mcp/ as the Remote MCP server URL, then click Add. Authentication settings are auto-detected, so keep the defaults.
- 4
The first time you use it, sign in with Google. After that, every service you switched on in Arlet is available from Claude.
Adding a connector is done by an organization admin on Team / Enterprise plans. On Pro / Max you can add it for yourself from Settings β Connectors with the same steps.
