search_request_eventsLABSCO SUMMARY
Someone has probably already asked, and the answer is public.
The expensive part of FOI is not writing the request — it is finding out whether the authority has already answered it and what happened when somebody tried. Searching the responses first turns that into a lookup, and the drafting tools pick up where the search stops.
What it is
A research interface to WhatDoTheyKnow, the UK's largest FOI request platform. It searches requests and responses, resolves public authorities to the slugs the other tools take, reads a request's full correspondence history, and helps put a new request together.
What you get
- Full-text search across FOI requests and responses, with structured expressions such as status:successful or body:'Liverpool City Council'
- UK public authorities searched by name, returning the slug the other tools need, plus the detail behind one
- A request's event timeline — sent, response, clarification
- The full public request JSON: status, authority, requester, correspondence events, and attachment metadata where exposed
- A named user's requests and their feed
- A URL built for a new request, a record created for it, and its state updated as it moves
Requirements
Nothing to install on the hosted path — the endpoint is https://whatdotheyknow-mcp.fly.dev/mcp. Locally it runs under uvx whatdotheyknow-mcp. It reads WhatDoTheyKnow's public data, with search going through the site's Atom feed.
Setup effort
Paste a URL — add the endpoint to your client
USE CASES
01
Finding out if the question has already been answered
Search the requests and responses on your own terms, filter to the ones that succeeded, and read what came back.
02
Researching a specific authority
Resolve the body's name to its record, then look at what has been asked of it and how it responded.
03
Following a request in progress
Read the event timeline — sent, response, clarification — to see where it has actually got to.
04
Learning from a requester who does this well
Read the requests a particular user has filed and how each was received.
05
Filing your own
Build the request URL for the authority you picked, keep a record of it, and update its state as replies arrive.
10 tools
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
search_authoritiesget_request_feed_itemsget_request_detailget_user_requestsget_user_feed_itemsget_authority_detailbuild_request_urlcreate_request_recordupdate_request_stateBEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
10 tools named in the project's documentation.
Requires
A client that can reach a remote MCP server over HTTP
Where it runs
Of the 4 documented setups, 1 runs the server on your machine and 3 connect to a hosted endpoint.
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Add the endpoint to your client.
Server setup
ENDPOINT URL
https://whatdotheyknow-mcp.fly.dev/mcpMCP Clients
VS Code, VS Code Insiders
JSON
{
"servers": {
"whatdotheyknow": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://whatdotheyknow-mcp.fly.dev/mcp"
}
}
}Cursor
CURSOR · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"whatdotheyknow": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://whatdotheyknow-mcp.fly.dev/mcp"
}
}
}VS Code — uvx
VS CODE — UVX · JSON
{
"servers": {
"whatdotheyknow": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"whatdotheyknow-mcp"
]
}
}
}
