What is the data.gouv.fr MCP server?

It is the official MCP server of data.gouv.fr, built by the platform's team. It lets AI assistants and agents search, explore and analyse datasets from the French national open data platform through conversation, using read-only tools.

Is the data.gouv.fr MCP server official?

Yes. It is developed by the data.gouv.fr team at DINUM and published in the datagouv organisation on GitHub. The team describes it as an experiment, so tools and behaviour may still change.

Do I need an API key for the data.gouv.fr MCP?

No. The public instance at https://mcp.data.gouv.fr/mcp has no access restrictions, and its tools are read-only. You only need a client that supports Streamable HTTP, such as an inference.eu agent, and nothing has to be stored in a vault.

Which tools does the data.gouv.fr MCP server offer?

Dataset tools such as search_datasets, get_dataset_info and list_dataset_resources, query_resource_data for tabular files, tools for the public API catalogue including OpenAPI summaries, search_organizations to browse publishers, and get_metrics for monthly visits and downloads.

Can the agent read whole CSV files?

It reads rows through the Tabular API, up to 200 per page, for CSV files up to 100 MB and Excel files up to 12.5 MB. For larger files, get_resource_info returns the raw file URL so the data can be fetched another way.

Can I run my own instance?

Yes. The repository includes a Dockerfile and docker-compose setup. You can choose the port and switch between the production and demo platforms. Point the inference.eu connector at your own URL instead of the public one.

Does it support stdio?

No. The server uses Streamable HTTP only; stdio and SSE are not supported. Clients that only speak stdio can use a bridge such as mcp-remote, but agents on inference.eu connect over HTTP directly.

Can the agent publish data on data.gouv.fr?

Not today. The server only reads public data. The team has said it may test editing and publishing later, carefully and with sovereign models, but for now every tool is read-only and nothing on the platform can be changed.

data.gouv.fr MCP server · Connect AI agents to French open data

What agents can do with it

1
Search and inspect datasets
`search_datasets`, `get_dataset_info`, `list_dataset_resources` and `search_organizations` find datasets by keyword and return metadata, licence, publisher and the files each dataset contains.
2
Query tabular data
`query_resource_data` reads rows from CSV and Excel resources through the Tabular API, page by page, and `get_resource_info` returns format, size and the raw file URL for larger files.
3
Explore public APIs and usage
`search_dataservices`, `get_dataservice_info` and `get_dataservice_openapi_spec` describe third-party public APIs such as the address or Sirene APIs, and `get_metrics` returns monthly visits and downloads.

What data.gouv.fr and its MCP server are

data.gouv.fr is France's national open data platform, run by the interministerial digital directorate (DINUM). It hosts tens of thousands of datasets from ministries, local authorities, public bodies and companies, plus a catalogue of public APIs.

Its MCP server, datagouv-mcp, is an experiment by the data.gouv.fr team and is published under the MIT licence on GitHub. A public instance runs at https://mcp.data.gouv.fr/mcp over Streamable HTTP, with read-only tools and no access restrictions. You can also run it yourself with Docker.

What agents can do with data.gouv.fr

A policy analyst can ask which air quality datasets were updated this week, let the agent find them, preview the files and compare two regions. A journalist can ask for the latest public data on electric vehicle charging points and get a table with sources.

Agents also help developers: they search the API catalogue, read an OpenAPI description and explain how to call, for example, the national address API. Combined with other connectors, an agent can enrich a list of companies with public data before a market study.

Setup and authentication

No account or key is needed. On inference.eu, add the data.gouv.fr connector to an agent, and it connects to the public endpoint https://mcp.data.gouv.fr/mcp. The tools appear straight away, and you can choose which agents and people may use them.

If your organisation prefers its own instance, deploy the server from the GitHub repository with Docker and point the connector at your URL instead. The DATAGOUV_API_ENV setting switches between the production platform and the demo platform for testing.

Data protection and where the data goes

The tools only read open data published under open licences, so there is no personal account data involved. Your agent's search queries go to the data.gouv.fr server, which is operated by the French administration.

On inference.eu, the model that reads the results runs in EU data centres. Keep in mind that questions themselves are sent to the server as search terms, so avoid putting confidential details into queries. Reuse of the data follows each dataset's licence, usually the Licence Ouverte 2.0.

Approvals and safe use

All tools are read-only, so the main risk is a wrong answer, not a wrong action. The data.gouv.fr team itself warns that language models can return incomplete or inaccurate answers from public data.

Ask agents to cite the dataset, file and date for every figure, and check important numbers in the source file. On inference.eu you can still require approval for calls in other connectors that publish or send results, so a person reviews a report before it leaves your team.

data.gouv.fr MCP server: connect AI agents to French open data from the EU

What agents can do with it

Search and inspect datasets

Query tabular data

Explore public APIs and usage

What data.gouv.fr and its MCP server are

What agents can do with data.gouv.fr

Setup and authentication

Data protection and where the data goes

Approvals and safe use

data.gouv.fr: common questions

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