ipeds-connect-mcp

A read-only MCP server for U.S. higher-education data, backed by the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard API (which carries IPEDS data). It bundles the full CIP 2020 taxonomy and the official CIP-to-SOC crosswalk, so you can discover programs and bridge them to occupations without any extra API.

• Search all 2,143 CIP program codes by keyword or partial code (offline).
• Map a program to the occupations it feeds (NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk).
• Profile institutions, enrollment, and the competitive landscape for a program (live Scorecard data).

Install

npm install -g @hackspaces/ipeds-connect-mcp

Run with node (the same way the MCP gateway consumes it):

# SCORECARD_API_KEY is optional (falls back to DEMO_KEY)
SCORECARD_API_KEY=... \
  node "$(npm root -g)/@hackspaces/ipeds-connect-mcp/dist/index.js"

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ipeds-connect": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["<entrypoint>"],
      "env": { "SCORECARD_API_KEY": "..." }
    }
  }
}

Tools

| Tool | Source | Purpose | | --- | --- | --- | | ipeds_search_programs | bundled CIP 2020 | Keyword/partial-code search over all 2,143 programs | | ipeds_program_occupations | bundled CIP-SOC | Occupations (SOC) a CIP program crosswalks to | | ipeds_get_institution | Scorecard | Institution profile (enrollment, tuition, outcomes) | | ipeds_get_enrollment_trend | Scorecard | Student-body composition for one institution | | ipeds_compare_programs | Scorecard | Schools offering a CIP program at a degree level | | ipeds_find_competitors | Scorecard | Largest schools in a program (optionally online-only) |

Data sources

• Live: College Scorecard API (IPEDS). SCORECARD_API_KEY optional.
• Bundled (static reference): CIP 2020 codes + titles and the CIP-to-SOC crosswalk, both generated from NCES's official CIP2020_SOC2018_Crosswalk. CIP is revised ~once a decade, so it ships with the package.

Environment

• SCORECARD_API_KEY (optional; DEMO_KEY fallback).
• IPEDS_MCP_ALLOW_PII=true to disable the defensive PII value-scrub.

Development

npm install && npm run typecheck && npm run build && npm test
npm run dev      # stdio, from source
npm run smoke    # live Scorecard call + bundled CIP checks

License

MIT