Which US states are covered by this integration?

OpenStates covers all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. You can use the `list_jurisdictions` tool to see the full list of currently active jurisdictions.

Can I search for bills by specific keywords like 'environment' or 'education'?

Yes! Use the `search_bills` tool, provide the state name in the `jurisdiction` parameter, and your keywords in the `q` parameter. Your agent will return all matching legislation.

How do I get the contact information for my state representative?

First, find the legislator using `search_legislators` with their name or district. Then, use the `get_legislator_details` tool with their ID to retrieve their official email, office address, and phone number.

OpenStates MCP Server for LlamaIndex 7 tools — connect in under 2 minutes

Name: OpenStates
Availability: InStock
Author: Vinkius

docs.llamaindex.ai/en/stable/module_guides/tools/mcp

Built by Vinkius GDPR 7 Tools Framework

LlamaIndex specializes in data-aware AI agents that connect LLMs to structured and unstructured sources. Add OpenStates as an MCP tool provider through Vinkius and your agents can query, analyze, and act on live data alongside your existing indexes.

Get MCP Server for AI Agents

ASK AI ABOUT THIS MCP SERVER

Open in ChatGPT Open in Claude Open in Perplexity

Vinkius supports streamable HTTP and SSE.

python

import asyncio
from llama_index.tools.mcp import BasicMCPClient, McpToolSpec
from llama_index.core.agent.workflow import FunctionAgent
from llama_index.llms.openai import OpenAI

async def main():
    # Your Vinkius token. get it at cloud.vinkius.com
    mcp_client = BasicMCPClient("https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp")
    mcp_tool_spec = McpToolSpec(client=mcp_client)
    tools = await mcp_tool_spec.to_tool_list_async()

    agent = FunctionAgent(
        tools=tools,
        llm=OpenAI(model="gpt-4o"),
        system_prompt=(
            "You are an assistant with access to OpenStates. "
            "You have 7 tools available."
        ),
    )

    response = await agent.run(
        "What tools are available in OpenStates?"
    )
    print(response)

asyncio.run(main())

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About OpenStates MCP Server

Equip your AI agent with the most comprehensive US state-level legislative intelligence via OpenStates. This unified server provides your agent with instant access to bills, legislators, and committee metadata across all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. Your agent can instantly search for specific legislation, audit legislator profiles, and retrieve committee memberships without you ever manually checking a government site. Whether you are tracking policy trends or verifying legislative actions, your agent acts as a dedicated political analyst through natural conversation.

LlamaIndex agents combine OpenStates tool responses with indexed documents for comprehensive, grounded answers. Connect 7 tools through Vinkius and query live data alongside vector stores and SQL databases in a single turn. ideal for hybrid search, data enrichment, and analytical workflows.

What you can do

Bill Discovery — Search for thousands of legislative bills by keyword, jurisdiction, and session.
Legislator Auditing — Fetch complete profiles, contact information, and current roles for state legislators.
Committee Intelligence — List all legislative committees in a jurisdiction and retrieve their detailed membership lists.
Jurisdiction Lookup — List and inspect all supported states and jurisdictions to understand current legislative coverage.
Deep Metadata — Retrieve detailed actions and versions for specific bills to analyze the legislative process.

The OpenStates MCP Server exposes 7 tools through the Vinkius. Connect it to LlamaIndex in under two minutes — no API keys to rotate, no infrastructure to provision, no vendor lock-in. Your configuration, your data, your control.

How to Connect OpenStates to LlamaIndex via MCP

Follow these steps to integrate the OpenStates MCP Server with LlamaIndex.

Install dependencies

Run pip install llama-index-tools-mcp llama-index-llms-openai

Replace the token

Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your Vinkius token

Run the agent

Save to agent.py and run: python agent.py

Explore tools

The agent discovers 7 tools from OpenStates

Why Use LlamaIndex with the OpenStates MCP Server

LlamaIndex provides unique advantages when paired with OpenStates through the Model Context Protocol.

Data-first architecture: LlamaIndex agents combine OpenStates tool responses with indexed documents for comprehensive, grounded answers

Query pipeline framework lets you chain OpenStates tool calls with transformations, filters, and re-rankers in a typed pipeline

Multi-source reasoning: agents can query OpenStates, a vector store, and a SQL database in a single turn and synthesize results

Observability integrations show exactly what OpenStates tools were called, what data was returned, and how it influenced the final answer

OpenStates + LlamaIndex Use Cases

Practical scenarios where LlamaIndex combined with the OpenStates MCP Server delivers measurable value.

Hybrid search: combine OpenStates real-time data with embedded document indexes for answers that are both current and comprehensive

Data enrichment: query OpenStates to augment indexed data with live information before generating user-facing responses

Knowledge base agents: build agents that maintain and update knowledge bases by periodically querying OpenStates for fresh data

Analytical workflows: chain OpenStates queries with LlamaIndex's data connectors to build multi-source analytical reports

OpenStates MCP Tools for LlamaIndex (7)

These 7 tools become available when you connect OpenStates to LlamaIndex via MCP:

get_bill_details

Get bill details

get_committee_details

Get committee details

get_legislator_details

Get legislator details

list_committees

List committees in a jurisdiction

list_jurisdictions

List all jurisdictions

search_bills

Search for legislative bills

search_legislators

Search for legislators

Example Prompts for OpenStates in LlamaIndex

Ready-to-use prompts you can give your LlamaIndex agent to start working with OpenStates immediately.

"Search for education bills in California."

"Who are the members of the New York Senate Finance Committee?"

"Get the latest actions for bill TX HB-500."

Troubleshooting OpenStates MCP Server with LlamaIndex

Common issues when connecting OpenStates to LlamaIndex through the Vinkius, and how to resolve them.

BasicMCPClient not found

Install: pip install llama-index-tools-mcp

OpenStates + LlamaIndex FAQ

Common questions about integrating OpenStates MCP Server with LlamaIndex.

How does LlamaIndex connect to MCP servers?

Use the MCP client adapter to create a connection. LlamaIndex discovers all tools and wraps them as query engine tools compatible with any LlamaIndex agent.

Can I combine MCP tools with vector stores?

Yes. LlamaIndex agents can query OpenStates tools and vector store indexes in the same turn, combining real-time and embedded data for grounded responses.