aviveldan/datagov-mcp

An MCP server for exploring Israeli government open data (data.gov.il) — with built-in interactive visualizations powered by MCP Apps.
Search thousands of public datasets, profile their structure, generate charts, and plot geographic data on maps — all from your AI assistant.
## What Can You Do With This?
### 🏠 Explore the Housing Market
Profile public housing datasets to understand unit sizes, locations, and availability:
See which cities have the most demand in government housing lotteries:
Understand the distribution of apartment sizes across the country:
Track housing unit availability over time:
### 🗺️ Map Public Infrastructure
Visualize education institutions across Israel:
Plot public transport stations:
## Quick Start
### Installation
bash
git clone https://github.com/aviveldan/datagov-mcp.git
cd datagov-mcp
# Create virtual environment and install (requires uv)
uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
### Using with Claude Desktop
bash
fastmcp install claude-desktop server.py
Restart Claude Desktop — you'll see the DataGovIL tools available immediately.
### Try It with the MCP Inspector
bash
fastmcp dev inspector server.py
This opens a web UI where you can browse tools, test them interactively, and preview MCP App visualizations in the Apps tab.
### Using with fastmcp dev apps
Preview the interactive visualization apps locally:
bash
fastmcp dev apps server.py
## Example: Finding Real Estate Opportunities
Here's a real workflow for someone exploring the Israeli housing market:
You: "Search for discounted housing lottery datasets"
→ packagesearch(q="דירה בהנחה")
Found: "נתונים תקופתיים - תכנית דירה בהנחה" (Discounted Housing Program)
Resource ID: 7c8255d0-49ef-49db-8904-4cf917586031
You: "Profile this dataset so I can understand what fields are available"
→ datasetprofile(resourceid="7c8255d0-49ef-49db-8904-4cf917586031")
Shows: LamasName (city), Subscribers, Winners, PriceForMeter,
LotteryHousingUnits, ProjectName, Neighborhood...
You: "Show me which cities have the most subscribers competing for units"
→ chartgenerator(
resourceid="7c8255d0-49ef-49db-8904-4cf917586031",
charttype="bar",
xfield="LamasName",
yfield="Subscribers",
title="Housing Lottery Subscribers by City"
→ Interactive bar chart rendered in MCP Apps UI
You: "Now show the public housing units — map them and show me sizes"
→ datasetprofile(resourceid="c3a68837-9b7a-4ee7-bd92-130678dc8ae3")
Shows: CityLmsName, NumOfRooms (avg 2.4), Floor, TotalArea (21-110 m²)...
→ chartgenerator(
resourceid="c3a68837-9b7a-4ee7-bd92-130678dc8ae3",
charttype="histogram",
xfield="TotalArea",
title="Distribution of Housing Unit Sizes (m²)"
→ Most units are 48-57 m², with a long tail up to 110 m²
Insight: Cities like Ashkelon and Sderot show 25,000-35,000 subscribers per lottery — that's intense competition. Smaller cities in the periphery (Umm al-Fahm, Nazareth) have far fewer. If you're flexible on location, your odds improve dramatically.
## Available Tools
### Core Data Tools
| Tool | Description |
| statusshow | Get CKAN version and site info |
| licenselist | List available dataset licenses |
| packagelist | Get all dataset IDs |