MapleStats MCP

MapleStats MCP

One MCP server for Canadian open data.

MapleStats MCP gives AI agents (Claude, Cursor and any MCP client) typed access to Canadian open data through one server: Statistics Canada (tables, Census, public use microdata), the Bank of Canada, CMHC, federal agencies, and federal, provincial, territorial and municipal open-data portals, in English and French. Every result carries its source.

*MapleStats MCP donne aux agents IA un accès structuré aux données ouvertes canadiennes par un seul serveur, en français et en anglais.*

Why MapleStats

Built by a statistician, for anyone who works with the numbers: economists, demographers, policy analysts, researchers, journalists, students, anyone who needs a Canadian figure they can trust and cite. MapleStats is designed around the mistakes people actually make with official data, and we test it against other tools on public benchmarks: see how it does.

• It knows the traps. Constant vs current dollars, family vs individual income, annual average vs December over December, survey rent vs listing rent: it warns in plain language, and each fitness-for-use caution rests on the publisher's own documentation.
• Every number names its source: every StatCan series carries a citation (table, vector, release date, with the period, unit, geography and a link to the official table); every other result names its source and licence.
• It says when data do not exist. A series that is not published, a period not released yet or a date with no data gets a plain no, and the nearest figure that does exist.
• The answer can be checked. Before replying, the assistant can send the StatCan and Bank of Canada figures it cites to check_answer, which re-reads them from the source.
• Your work stays reproducible. It writes the R, Python, Stata or Julia script, or the Excel query, that pulls the same data from the source.
• Quality flags and revisions, shown: "use with caution", "too unreliable to be published", preliminary and revised are spelled out on every StatCan value.
• It only reads, in English and French. The server only reads from public sources. The scripts it writes run only if you run them (the full-table ones then save the download under data/raw/), and saving a workbook to disk is opt-in (MAPLE_EXPORT_DIR, on a local server).

Project vision: docs/PROJECT_GUIDE.md. Source coverage: docs/ROADMAP.md. Website: https://maplestats.danielstats.io/.

The easiest way: ask your agent

1. Copy this prompt.
2. Paste it into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any agent that can run commands on your computer.
3. Restart the agent when it says so, then ask for data.

Connect the MapleStats MCP server to this agent. Follow the setup steps in https://github.com/dsanchezp18/maplestats-mcp

Instructions for the agent doing the setup

The default is the hosted server: nothing to install, no account, no key.

1. Register this remote (HTTP) MCP server under the name maplestats:

• Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http --scope user maplestats https://mcp.maplestats.danielstats.io/mcp
• Codex CLI: codex mcp add maplestats --url https://mcp.maplestats.danielstats.io/mcp
• Cursor, Claude Desktop and other `mcpServers` clients: add the entry below to the client's config file (Cursor: ~/.cursor/mcp.json; Claude Desktop: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows), keeping any servers already there.
• claude.ai and the Claude phone app: on the web, open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, name it MapleStats, and enter https://mcp.maplestats.danielstats.io/mcp. Then switch it on from the tools menu in a chat, on the web or in the phone app. Claude asks for approval before each call by default; every tool is read-only, so set them to always allow in the connector's tool permissions.
• ChatGPT (web): turn on Settings → Security and login → Developer mode, then create a developer-mode app for a remote MCP server with the same address and No Authentication. Every tool is read-only, so ChatGPT should not ask to confirm calls. OpenAI documents this feature for the web.
• A whole organization: on Claude Team or Enterprise, an Owner adds it once under Organization settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, and each member then connects it. On ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu, an admin turns on Developer mode (Workspace Settings → Permissions & Roles → Connected Data), creates the app, and publishes it (Workspace settings → Apps → Drafts → Publish). The hosted server is shared and limits each client to 60 requests a minute, so a large organization should run its own copy.
• VS Code: the same entry under a servers key, with "type": "http", in .vscode/mcp.json.

   {

"mcpServers": { "maplestats": { "url": "https://mcp.maplestats.danielstats.io/mcp" } } }

2. Tell the user to restart or reload the client, then check that the

search_tools tool is listed.

1. Only if the client cannot use remote servers, or the user wants the microdata tabulation tool or everything kept on their own machine, run it locally instead: claude mcp add --scope user maplestats -- uvx maplestats-mcp (needs uv), or the equivalent uvx maplestats-mcp entry for other clients (see Install).

Each client gets 60 requests a minute, and the microdata tabulation tool is switched off there. Your agent's tool calls (a search phrase, a table number) reach the server and its host, Microsoft Azure (Canada Central). The code keeps no log of them, but its in-memory cache can hold a search phrase or filter in a key or a response until the entry expires or the server restarts. Check Microsoft's terms and privacy statement; for full privacy, run it locally. What it logs: FAQ. Other clients: the Connect page.

Install locally (optional)

Prefer to run it on your machine? It works over stdio with no account or key.

uvx maplestats-mcp                 # run without installing

uv tool install maplestats-mcp # or install the command once (pip works too) uv tool upgrade maplestats-mcp # update

For the development version: uv tool install git+https://github.com/dsanchezp18/maplestats-mcp.git. If you installed the command, use "command": "maplestats-mcp" with no args in the JSON above. On Windows, make sure the directory where uv installs tools is on PATH, and restart the client afterwards.

Using it

Tools are found through search rather than listed flat: call search_tools with a plain-language query (English or French), then call_tool with the name it returns.

{"name": "search_tools", "arguments": {"query": "consumer price index"}}

{"name": "call_tool", "arguments": {"name": "wds_search_cubes", "arguments": {"query": "consumer price index"}}}

plan_query turns a question into an ordered, multi-source plan, and reproduce_code writes the R, Python, Stata or Julia script (or an Excel Power Query) that fetches the same data straight from the source; reproduce_workbook returns the rows as a formatted Excel workbook. Before replying with figures, the assistant can call check_answer with the StatCan and Bank of Canada figures it cites: it re-reads them from the source and returns only the problems (a different value, a missed scale factor, a newer period, another geography, an unadjusted series), each with a fix. Every tool accepts lang: "en"|"fr"; some sources only publish English content (for example Yukon's CKAN portal, the World Bank's indicator definitions and the PMPRB), so there lang