congressgov 2.1.2

Python SDK for the Congress.gov API — services, models, and generated HTTP client

congressgov

A Python SDK for the Congress.gov API: Pydantic models for bills, members, committees, and the rest of the API surface, plus higher-level services and query helpers on top of the generated HTTP client.

This is a community client for the official Congress.gov API specification and isn't affiliated with the Library of Congress. PyPI package: congressgov. This repo: congressgov-python.

Features

• Typed models: Pydantic validation for bills, members, committees, and more
• High-level services: Bill, Member, Committee, and 15+ other resource classes
• Query extensions: get_actions(), filter(), group_by(), and chainable queries on collections
• Async support: parallel AsyncBill, AsyncMember, … under congressgov.async_api

Requirements

• Python 3.13+
• A free Congress.gov API key

Installation

Requires 2.0.0 or newer for the current src/ layout without legacy shims. Use 1.5.x if you still need import middleware / import models; 1.0.0 did not ship a congressgov module at all.

pip install "congressgov>=2.0.0"

Full install (all optional runtime features):

pip install congressgov[all]

From source (development):

git clone https://github.com/CMD0112/congressgov-python.git
cd congressgov-python
poetry install --with dev,cache,export,batch,codegen
# Or: pip install -e ".[dev,all,codegen]"

First-time maintainers wiring a new GitHub remote: docs/maintainers/GITHUB_SETUP.md.

API key

cp .env.example .env
# Set CONGRESS_API_KEY=your-key-here

Or export CONGRESS_API_KEY in your shell. The library reads it via get_client_from_env().

API responses are persisted locally by default (.congressgov/api/request_store.db) so repeat fetches are served from storage. Set CONGRESS_WORKSPACE to relocate the project workspace, CONGRESS_REQUEST_STORE to change the blob backend, or pass request_store=False to disable. Inspect the cache with congressgov-store stats.

Quick start

from congressgov import Bill, get_client_from_env

client = get_client_from_env()  # persists API responses locally by default
bill = Bill(client=client).get(congress=118, bill_type="hr", bill_number=1)

print(bill.title)
print(len(bill.get_actions() or []), "actions")

Run the sample scripts (with CONGRESS_API_KEY set):

poetry run python examples/quickstart.py
poetry run python examples/quickstart_async.py
poetry run python examples/network_graph_live.py
poetry run python examples/congress_roster_graph_live.py

The network graph example fetches a bill batch and writes examples/output/network_graph/live_network_explorer.html. The congress roster graph example seeds the full member roster, persists bills over time, and writes examples/output/congress_roster_graph/roster_graph_explorer.html.

Two notebooks are also included: examples/network_graph_exploration.ipynb (graph construction and offline replay) and examples/visualization_export.ipynb (export + plotting, needs pip install congressgov[export,viz]). See examples/README.md for the full list of scripts and prerequisites.

Async

from congressgov.async_api import AsyncBill

bill = await AsyncBill(client=client).get(
    congress=118, bill_type="hr", bill_number=1
)

Architecture

flowchart TB
  subgraph app [Your application]
    UserCode[Your code]
  end
  subgraph sdk [congressgov SDK]
    Facade[congressgov facade]
    SVC[services]
    MD[models]
    CL[congressgov._client]
  end
  API[Congress.gov API v3]
  UserCode --> Facade
  Facade --> SVC
  SVC --> MD
  SVC --> CL
  CL --> API

Layer	Import	Role
Facade	congressgov	Canonical public API (Bill, Member, …)
Services	congressgov.services	High-level API services
Models	congressgov.models	Parsed, validated data
Client	congressgov.client or congressgov._client	Generated HTTP calls

Optional features

Caching, batch jobs, export, and rate limiting require optional extras (lazy-imported from congressgov):

Extra	Install	Enables
cache	pip install congressgov[cache]	Request store Redis backend, RateLimiter, TTL caches
export	pip install congressgov[export]	DataExporter, PandasIntegration, …
graph	pip install congressgov[graph]	Network graph builder, CongressGraphStore, Sigma HTML export
batch	pip install congressgov[batch]	BatchProcessor, …
viz	pip install congressgov[viz]	Matplotlib helpers in export visualization
all	pip install congressgov[all]	All optional runtime extras above
codegen	pip install congressgov[codegen]	Maintainer deps only; run python -m codegen from a git clone

Storage: docs/guide/STORAGE.md (workspace layout, lanes, congressgov-store CLI) and docs/guide/REQUEST_STORE.md (HTTP deduplication, offline replay). Network graphs: docs/guide/NETWORK_GRAPH.md · construction methods: docs/guide/GRAPH_CONSTRUCTION.md.

Other optional features: docs/guide/ADVANCED.md.

Regenerating from OpenAPI

The committed client and models are generated from codegen/config/openapi_spec.yaml. To regenerate after spec changes:

poetry install --with codegen
poetry run python -m codegen validate-spec
poetry run python -m codegen generate-all

Stepwise: python -m codegen generate-client, generate-models, generate-middleware.

• Spec: codegen/config/openapi_spec.yaml
• Config: codegen/config/generator_config.yaml
• Incremental mode preserves # CUSTOM: blocks in generated files
• Do not overwrite hand-maintained congressgov/services/async_api/bill.py

Full workflow: docs/maintainers/CODEGEN.md (see docs/README.md for the full index).

Documentation

Hosted docs (with auto-generated API reference): https://cmd0112.github.io/congressgov-python/

Guide	Contents
docs/README.md	Documentation index (start here)
docs/guide/USAGE.md	Getting started, async, errors, congressional record types
docs/guide/REFERENCE.md	Services, client, models, extensions
docs/guide/MEMBERS_QUERY.md	Members collection query/filter helpers
docs/guide/ADVANCED.md	Caching, batch, export, rate limits
docs/guide/REQUEST_STORE.md	HTTP request store, offline mode, policies
docs/guide/STORAGE.md	Unified workspace, storage lanes, congressgov-store
docs/guide/NETWORK_GRAPH.md	Sponsor/cosponsor graphs and interactive export
docs/guide/GRAPH_CONSTRUCTION.md	Graph construction methods and live script reference
docs/guide/ARCHITECTURE.md	Core vs extras, generated vs hand-maintained
docs/guide/PACKAGE_LAYOUT.md	Directory layout, wheel policy, 2.0 src/ plan
docs/guide/MIGRATION.md	Import path changes (1.1 → 2.0)
docs/guide/VERSIONING.md	SemVer, deprecations, stability scope
docs/guide/URL_FETCH.md	Fetch typed models from API url fields

Maintaining this repository (releases, CI, codegen) rather than using the SDK? Start at docs/maintainers/README.md:

Maintainer doc	Contents
docs/maintainers/CODEGEN.md	OpenAPI code generation
docs/maintainers/API_COVERAGE.md	OpenAPI path coverage matrix
docs/maintainers/PUBLISHING.md	PyPI trusted publishing
docs/maintainers/GITHUB_SETUP.md	GitHub remote and CI setup

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md and our Code of Conduct. Security: SECURITY.md. Releases: CHANGELOG.md. Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue.

License

Apache-2.0