Bring Legislation
to VS Code Copilot
Create your Vinkius account to connect OpenStates to VS Code Copilot and start using all 7 AI tools in minutes. Fully managed, enterprise secure, and ready to use without writing a single line of code. No hosting, no server setup — just connect and start using.
Compatible with every major AI agent and IDE
What is the 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.
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.
How it works
- Subscribe to this server
- Enter your OpenStates API Key
- Start managing your legislative intelligence from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client
Who is this for?
- Advocacy & Policy Teams — instantly monitor relevant bills and track legislator stances across different states.
- Journalists & Researchers — retrieve historical legislative data and committee memberships for reporting and analysis.
- IT & Civic Tech Developers — integrate clean legislative data into transparency tools and public dashboards.
- Citizens & Constituents — stay updated on local legislative actions and find contact info for their representatives.
- Legal Professionals — verify the current status and versions of state-level legislation.
Built-in capabilities (7)
Get bill details
Get committee details
Get legislator details
List committees in a jurisdiction
List all jurisdictions
Search for legislative bills
Search for legislators
Why VS Code Copilot?
GitHub Copilot Agent mode brings OpenStates data directly into your VS Code workflow. With a project-scoped config, the entire team shares access to 7 tools. Copilot queries live data, generates typed code, and writes tests from actual API responses, all without leaving the editor.
- —
VS Code is used by over 70% of developers. adding MCP tools to Copilot means your team can leverage external data without leaving their primary editor
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Project-scoped MCP configs (
.vscode/mcp.json) let you commit server configurations to your repository, ensuring the entire team shares the same tool access - —
Copilot's Agent mode integrates MCP tools seamlessly with file editing, terminal commands, and workspace search in a single agentic loop
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GitHub's enterprise compliance and audit features extend to MCP tool usage, providing visibility into how AI interacts with external services
OpenStates in VS Code Copilot
Why run OpenStates with Vinkius?
The OpenStates connection runs on our fully managed, secure cloud infrastructure. We handle the hosting, maintenance, and security so you don't have to deal with servers or code. All 7 tools are ready to work instantly without any complex setup.
You stay in complete control of your data. Your AI only accesses the information you approve, keeping your sensitive passwords and private details completely safe. Plus, with automatic optimizations, your AI works faster and more efficiently.

* Every connection is hosted and maintained by Vinkius. We handle the security, updates, and infrastructure so you don't have to write code or manage servers. See our infrastructure
Over 4,000 integrations ready for AI agents
Explore a vast library of pre-built integrations, optimized and ready to deploy.
Connect securely in under 30 seconds
Generate tokens to authenticate and link external services in a single step.
Complete visibility into every agent action
Audit live requests, latency, success rates, and active security compliance policies.
Optimize spending and track token ROI
Analyze real-time token consumption and cost metrics detailed by connection.




Explore our live AI Agents Analytics dashboard to see it all working
This dashboard is included when you connect OpenStates using Vinkius. You will never be left in the dark about what your AI agents are doing with your tools.
OpenStates and 4,000+ other AI tools. No hosting, no code, ready to use.
Professionals who connect OpenStates to VS Code Copilot through Vinkius don't need to write code, manage servers, or worry about security. Everything is pre-configured, secure, and runs automatically in the background.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-to-use MCPs | Find and configure each manually | 4,000+ MCPs ready to use |
| Connection Setup | Manual coding & server setup | 1-click instant connection |
| Server Hosting | You host it yourself (needs 24/7 uptime) | 100% hosted & managed by Vinkius |
| Security & Privacy | Stored in plaintext config files | Bank-grade encrypted vault |
| Activity Visibility | Blind execution (no logs or tracking) | Live dashboard with real-time logs |
| Cost Control | Runaway AI token spend risk | Automatic budget limits |
| Revoking Access | Must delete files or code to stop | 1-click disconnect button |
How Vinkius secures
OpenStates for VS Code Copilot
Every request between VS Code Copilot and OpenStates is protected by our secure gateway. We automatically keep your sensitive data private, prevent unauthorized access, and let you disconnect instantly at any time.
Frequently asked questions
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.
Which VS Code version supports MCP?
MCP support requires VS Code 1.99 or later with the GitHub Copilot extension. Ensure both are updated to the latest version. Older versions of Copilot may not expose the Agent mode toggle.
How do I switch to Agent mode?
Open the Copilot Chat panel and look for two mode options: "Ask" and "Agent". Click "Agent" to enable autonomous tool calling. In Ask mode, Copilot provides conversational answers but cannot invoke MCP tools.
Can I restrict which MCP tools Copilot can access?
Yes. VS Code shows a tool consent dialog before any MCP tool is invoked for the first time. You can also configure tool access policies at the organization level through GitHub Copilot settings.
Does MCP work in VS Code Remote or Codespaces?
Yes. MCP servers configured via .vscode/mcp.json work in Remote SSH, WSL, and GitHub Codespaces environments. The MCP connection is established from the remote host, so ensure the server URL is accessible from that environment.
MCP tools not available
Ensure you are in Agent mode in Copilot Chat. MCP tools only appear in Agent mode.
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