NetFile Campaign Finance MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides access to California local campaign finance data via the NetFile Connect2 API. No authentication required — all data is public.

Covers ~220 agencies across California, including cities, counties, and special districts that use NetFile for campaign finance e-filing.

Installation

Claude Desktop / Claude Chat

Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "netfile": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["netfile-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or install from source:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "netfile": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/mcp/netfile", "netfile-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add a .mcp.json to your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "netfile": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["netfile-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

pip install

pip install netfile-mcp

Available Tools

search_contributions

Search campaign finance contributions for any NetFile agency.

Search contributions in Richmond CA from 2024 onward

Parameters:

• city — City or agency name (e.g. "Richmond", "San Francisco")
• agency_id — NetFile agency ID (alternative to city name)
• date_start / date_end — Date range filter (YYYY-MM-DD)
• amount_min / amount_max — Amount range filter
• query — Free-text search (names, employers, etc.)
• transaction_type — FPPC type code (0=monetary, 1=non-monetary, etc.)
• include_expenditures — Also fetch expenditure records
• limit — Max results to return (default 100; summary stats always reflect full dataset)

lookup_city

Find a city's NetFile agency ID by name or shortcut code.

Look up San Francisco in NetFile

list_agencies

List all ~220 agencies that use NetFile.

get_committee_info

Get campaign committees registered with an agency (names, FPPC IDs).

list_transaction_types

Reference for FPPC transaction type codes.

Examples

"Who are the top donors to Richmond, CA city council candidates?" → Uses search_contributions with city="Richmond", then analyzes by contributor name.

"What California cities use NetFile for campaign finance?" → Uses list_agencies to see all available agencies.

"Show me contributions over $1,000 to Oakland committees since 2023" → Uses search_contributions with city="Oakland", amount_min=1000, date_start="2023-01-01".

Data Source

All data comes from the NetFile Connect2 public API. NetFile is the e-filing platform used by many California local agencies for campaign finance disclosure under the Political Reform Act (FPPC).

• No authentication required — the API is fully public
• No rate limit keys — built-in 0.5s delay between requests
• Retry logic — handles NetFile's intermittent HTTP 500 errors with exponential backoff
• Deduplication — automatically handles amended filing duplicates

Development

cd mcp/netfile
pip install -e .
pytest tests/ -v

License

MIT

Built by Richmond Common — local government accountability infrastructure.