Arlet

Connect USAspending to Codex

Query USAspending directly from Codex. 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 Codex

  1. 1

    In the Arlet dashboard, open Data tools, find USAspending and switch it on. No API key setup is needed.

  2. 2

    In your terminal, run codex mcp add arlet --url https://mcp.arlet.dev/mcp/ to add Arlet as an MCP server.

  3. 3

    Codex detects OAuth support and opens your browser. Sign in with Google and click Allow on the consent screen.

  4. 4

    Once connected, both the CLI and the IDE extension can call Arlet tools (the configuration is shared).

If the browser does not open, run codex mcp login arlet to redo the authentication.

Use USAspending with other AI clients