wtf is tarkagrid-mcp-examples?

This repository provides setup examples for connecting AI assistants to TarkaGrid, a service that gives AI tools access to real civic and government data. The data includes FEMA flood zone maps, 311 call density trends, and census demographics, all looked up by street address. The service works across supported cities using a consistent interface, so users do not need to hunt for different data endpoints or deal with varying data formats for each city. The tools available let an AI agent search for addresses, check flood risk levels, compare recent 311 call volume to the previous month, pull foot traffic scores, and retrieve census demographic information. Right now the service covers Montgomery, Alabama and Baltimore, Maryland, with more cities added through configuration rather than code changes. The server only returns raw facts. Grant matching and scoring features live in a separate web app called RISE, because those answers need conversational framing that a simple data response cannot provide. Getting started involves requesting a free trial key with no signup required. The trial lasts about 48 hours, allows 100 total requests, and supports 20 requests per minute. The repository includes ready-to-paste configuration files for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, and Windsurf. Claude Desktop users can connect with just a URL containing their key, with no additional software installation needed. The project exists because public government data, while free, is rarely easy to use directly. Each city publishes its data on different endpoints with different formats and quirks. TarkaGrid does the work of standardizing that data behind one consistent interface so AI agents can query it without repeating that integration effort. The project is designed to sit alongside other government data tools rather than compete with them. The example configs and README are MIT licensed, while the server itself is a hosted service.