YouCongress MCP Tools

YouCongress exposes its data and functionality through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that lets AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT interact directly with external services.

New to MCP? Using Claude?

Follow our step-by-step guide to connect YouCongress to Claude in just a few clicks — no technical knowledge needed.

Set up YouCongress in Claude

How to Connect

Option 1: Connect without an API Key

The public YouCongress MCP endpoint works out of the box — no API key required. Just add it to your assistant and you're ready to browse public data.

https://youcongress.org/mcp

Option 2: Use an API Key for personalized access

Log in to YouCongress and go to Settings to create an API key. Choose read-write scope if you want to create or edit data, or read-only for browsing. Then add the server with your key appended:

https://youcongress.org/mcp?key=YOUR_API_KEY

Start Using the Tools

Once connected, your AI assistant will automatically discover all available tools and can use them on your behalf.

Available Tools

Role Legend

public No login required

any user Any logged-in user

own author Your own linked author or opinion

moderator Users with the moderator role

creator Users with the creator role

admin Administrators

Statements

Policy proposals and claims that people vote on.

Admins can trigger automatic quote discovery, but anyone can ask their own Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or other MCP-connected assistant to find sourced quotes and then add them to YouCongress through the opinions and votes tools.

statements_list public: List all statements. Use this to find statement IDs for other tools. Optional: set include_halls to true to include each statement's halls (id and name). Every result also includes the opinions_count so you can see how many sourced opinions exist per statement.
statement_halls public: Fetch a statement's halls with its ID. Returns the statement_id, statement_title, and halls array (each hall's id + name). Requires: statement_id.
statement_authors public: List the authors who already have at least one sourced quote on a statement. Returns the statement_id, statement_title, and an authors array where each entry includes the author_id, name, and opinion_year (the year of the quote, useful for finding authors without a recent opinion). Requires: statement_id.
statements_create admin creator: Create a new statement. Requires: title, nice_slug (used as the last part of https://youcongress.org/p/[nice_slug]).
statement_populate admin: Queue the AI-powered quote discovery job for a statement. Requires statement_id. If you are not an admin, simply use your own Claude, ChatGPT, or other assistant to gather sourced quotes and add them via the opinions and votes tools.
statements_halls_update admin creator: Update the halls attached to a statement. Requires: statement_id and a main_hall name. Optional:
• other_halls — string of comma-separated values.
Returns the updated statement (id, title, main_hall, halls).

Authors

People whose opinions and votes are tracked.

authors_search public: Search authors by name. Requires: query.
authors_create admin moderator creator: Create a new author profile. Fields: name, one_line_bio, twitter_username, wikipedia_url, country.
authors_update moderator admin creator: Update an existing author. Requires: author_id. Optional: same fields as create.

Opinions

Quotes and opinions attributed to authors, linked to statements.

Every "quote" in YouCongress is simply an opinion that includes a source_url (and usually a source_excerpt). User-authored positions without a source URL are still stored as opinions, but they will not appear in the quote verification tools below. Use the opinions tools to create both sourced quotes and unsourced user stances—just include the source fields when you want the opinion treated as a quote.

opinions_create own author moderator creator admin: Create a new opinion. Requires: content, author_id. Optional: source_url, year.
opinions_show public: View an opinion with its statements and votes. Requires: opinion_id.
opinions_edit own opinion moderator admin: Edit an existing opinion. Requires: opinion_id. Optional: content, author_id, source_url, year.
opinions_delete own opinion moderator admin: Delete an opinion. Requires: opinion_id.
opinions_statements_add moderator creator admin: Link an opinion to a statement and set the author's vote for that statement. Requires: opinion_id, statement_id, vote_answer ("For", "Against", or "Abstain"). If a vote already exists, it will be updated with the new answer.
opinions_statements_remove moderator creator admin: Unlink an opinion from a statement. If the opinion is a sourced quote (has a source_url), the author's vote on that statement is also removed. Requires: opinion_id, statement_id.

Quotes & Verification

Search and verify sourced opinions (quotes). These tools return the same opinion IDs as above; they simply filter to entries that include a source_url.

quotes_search public: Search quotes for a statement. Requires: query, statement_id.
quotes_random_unverified public: Get a random unverified quote to review. No parameters needed. Skips quotes from Twitter/X and YouTube since AI cannot access those sources.
quotes_verify any user: Verify a quote. Requires: opinion_id, status, comment, model.

Votes

Record how authors vote on statements (for, against, or abstain).

votes_create own author moderator creator admin: Create a vote. Requires: author_id, statement_id, answer (for / against / abstain). Optional: opinion_id, direct, twin.
votes_edit own author moderator creator admin: Edit an existing vote. Requires: author_id, statement_id. Optional: answer (for / against / abstain).

What Can You Do?

Open a new chat in Claude, ChatGPT or other AI assistant and try pasting one of these prompts:

You are a policy analyst researching AI's impact on jobs. Use YouCongress to search quotes from 2025 onwards, cluster them by argument, create a disagreement map and identify tension points. Return verbatim attributed quotes with links to sources.

You're a journalist writing about the pros and cons of advanced open source AI. Use YouCongress, identify arguments, explain each of them and include alternative policies. Return verbatim quotes with links to the sources.

Your AI assistant will use the YouCongress tools automatically. The first time it tries to use a tool, it may ask for your permission — just click Allow.