Data360 MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives LLM agents direct access to the World Bank's Data360 Platform. Agents can search, validate, and retrieve development indicators—covering topics from GDP and poverty to gender equality and climate—without hallucinating data values.

Audience: Developers building AI agents and chatbots that need reliable, structured access to World Bank development data.

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Key Features

• Smart indicator discovery — search across hundreds of indicators with enriched metadata and country coverage checks
• Rich metadata retrieval — fetch methodology, definitions, limitations, and statistical concepts on demand
• Reliable time-series data — query historical data points with filters for country, time period, sex, age, and urbanization
• LLM-optimized resources — built-in system prompts, codelists, and chain-of-thought guidance for chatbot integration
• Agent-friendly design — significant "glue" logic makes the raw Data360 API composable and safe for LLM tool use

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• uv (recommended) — or pip

Installation

With uv (recommended):

git clone https://github.com/worldbank/data360-mcp.git
cd data360-mcp
uv sync

With pip:

git clone https://github.com/worldbank/data360-mcp.git
cd data360-mcp
pip install -e .

Configuration

Copy the example environment file and adjust as needed:

cp .env.example .env

Variable	Description	Default
DATA360_API_BASE_URL	Base URL for the World Bank Data360 API	https://data360api.worldbank.org
MCP_PORT	Port for the MCP server	8000
MCP_TRANSPORT	Transport protocol (http or sse)	http
MCP_CHARTS_API_URL	Optional URL for an external chart rendering API	(none)

Run the Server

uv run poe serve
# Server starts at http://localhost:8000/mcp

Or with custom port/transport:

uv run poe serve --port 8021 --transport sse
# SSE endpoint: http://localhost:8021/sse

Connect Your Agent

Setting	Value
Transport	http (default) or sse
URL (http)	http://localhost:8000/mcp
URL (sse)	http://localhost:8021/sse
Docker / external	Replace localhost with host.docker.internal

Try the Demo

uv run scripts/llm_mcp_demo.py
# DEBUG mode:
DEBUG=true uv run scripts/llm_mcp_demo.py

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MCP Tools

Tool	Description
data360_search_indicators	Search indicators with enriched metadata. Pass required_country for server-side coverage check. Returns covers_country, latest_data, dimensions.
data360_get_data	Fetch data points with filters (country, time period, SEX, AGE, etc.).
data360_get_metadata	Get indicator metadata. Use select_fields for specific fields.
data360_get_disaggregation	Check available filter values (countries, years, dimensions) for an indicator.
data360_find_codelist_value	Resolve human-readable names to codes (e.g., "Kenya" → KEN, "female" → F).
data360_list_indicators	List all indicators for a given database.

Recommended Agent Workflow

1. Search    → data360_search_indicators(query, required_country="Kenya")
               Returns: covers_country, latest_data, dimensions per indicator

2. Get Data  → data360_get_data(database_id, indicator_id, filters)
               Use REF_AREA code from search; add time period filters

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MCP Resources

Resource	Description
data360://system-prompt	Chain-of-thought guidance for chatbot integration
data360://databases	Available databases (WB_WDI, WB_SSGD, etc.)
data360://codelists	Codelist reference (REF_AREA, SEX, AGE, etc.)
data360://metadata-fields	Field mapping for smart question routing
data360://data-filters	Available filters and usage guidance
data360://search-usage	Search examples and best practices

For chatbot integration, copy data360://system-prompt into your system prompt. It includes chain-of-thought reasoning templates and filter guidance.

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Documentation

Project site: worldbank.github.io/data360-mcp — landing page with features, tools, and connection details.

A markdown overview lives in docs/overview.md. The site is deployed with GitHub Actions on pushes to main or dev. In the repository Settings → Pages, set Build and deployment source to GitHub Actions (first-time setup).

Preview locally: from the repository root, run python -m http.server --directory docs and open http://127.0.0.1:8000/.

For developer setup, testing, and contribution instructions, see DEVELOPMENT.md.

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Contact

AI for Data - Data for AI Team (ai4data@worldbank.org) Development Data Group / Office of the World Bank Group Chief Statistician World Bank Group

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License together with the World Bank IGO Rider. The Rider is purely procedural: it reserves all privileges and immunities enjoyed by the World Bank, without adding restrictions to the MIT permissions. Please review both files before using, distributing or contributing.

See LICENSE and WB-IGO-RIDER.md for the full license texts.

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_{Built with FastMCP and the Model Context Protocol.}