Overton MCP

Model Context Protocol server that connects AI clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, custom agents) to Overton — UK public opinion data drawn from publicly accessible online sources. Once connected, your AI can search the corpus in natural language without anyone logging into a dashboard.

Install

npm install -g @overton/mcp

Or run directly with npx:

OVERTON_API_KEY=ov_xxxxxxxx npx -y @overton/mcp

Configure Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "overton": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@overton/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OVERTON_API_KEY": "ov_xxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configure Cursor / other MCP clients

Most clients accept the same shape. Set the command to npx -y @overton/mcp and the env var OVERTON_API_KEY.

Tools available

• list_topics — discover what corpora your key can access
• search_comments — semantic search; returns relevant verbatims with sentiment / framing / context / similarity
• list_comments — filter / paginate comments without semantic search
• get_comment — fetch a single comment by id

Example prompts (after connecting)

• "What are women in the Hertility corpus saying about AMH testing? Show me the most negative ones."
• "Pull 20 comments where a creator is mentioned by name."
• "Find quotes that frame the NHS as the antagonist."
• "Compare comments about perimenopause vs PCOS — what differs?"

Environment

| Variable | Required | Default | |---|---|---| | OVERTON_API_KEY | Yes | — | | OVERTON_API_URL | No | https://overton.world/api/v1 |