MCP Client

A client implementation for MCP with Anthropic integration.

Requirements

• Python 3.13 or higher
• uv package manager

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone [email protected]:WinterTechForum/CongressGov.git
   cd CongressGov

2. Create and activate a virtual environment:

   uv venv  # Recommended
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Unix-like systems
   # Or on Windows:
   # .venv\Scripts\activate
   
   # Alternatively with Python's venv module:
   # python -m venv .venv
   # source .venv/bin/activate  # On Unix-like systems
   # .venv\Scripts\activate  # On Windows

3. Install dependencies:

   uv sync  

4. Configure environment variables:

   • Create a .env file in the project root with the following content:

     ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
     

   • Replace your_api_key_here with your actual Anthropic API key
   • Add the following to ~/.zshrc:

   CONGRESS_GOV_KEY=congress_gov_api_key
   

   • Replace congress_gov_api_key with your Congress.gov API key
   • Run source ~/.zshrc from all open terminals

5. (Optional) Set up Google If you want to see environmental data removed from Federal websites:

   • Set up Google Sheets API access: https://developers.google.com/sheets/api/quickstart/python

6. Running: uv run python client.py congress/congress.py

   If you have a separate tools server, replace congress/congress.py with the location of your server

Environment Variables

The following environment variables are required:

• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: Your Anthropic API key for authentication
• CONGRESS_API_KEY: API key for congress.gov: https://api.congress.gov/sign-up/
• FRED_API_KEY: API key for FRED, register at https://fredaccount.stlouisfed.org/apikeys

Note

Make sure to keep your .env file secure and never commit it to version control. The repository includes a .gitignore file that should already exclude the .env file.