jurisdictional-skill

A Claude Code plugin that connects you to the governments that serve your address.

Tell it where you live. It shows you every layer of government — federal to local — the agencies, the people in office, the services you can access, and what's missing. Then, if you want, it helps you fill the gaps.

Usage

/gather 300 Hemlock Ave, Vacaville, CA

The skill starts by showing you what's there, not asking what to contribute. Exploring is a complete experience — you don't have to add anything.

If you do want to help, the skill researches public sources, structures what it finds, and submits contributions directly to jurisdictional.org via the API.

How it works

flowchart TD
    subgraph inputs["Inputs"]
        user["User: address + local knowledge"]
        api["Jurisdictional API\nset_location, explore,\nsearch, details"]
        gov["Government .gov websites"]
    end

    subgraph explore["Explore"]
        e1["Set location\n→ geocode → juricode"]
        e2["Pick interests\nelections, housing,\neducation, safety..."]
        e3["See what exists\nagencies, services,\nofficials, bodies"]
        e4["Find gaps\nwhat's missing\nor outdated"]
    end

    subgraph contribute["Contribute (optional)"]
        g1["Research gaps\nfrom public sources"]
        g2["Authenticate\nvia jurisdictional.org"]
        g3["Submit\nvia propose_change API"]
    end

    user --> e1
    api --> e1
    api --> e3
    e1 --> e2
    e2 --> e3
    e3 --> e4
    e4 -->|"user wants\nto contribute"| g1
    gov --> g1
    g1 --> g2
    g2 --> g3
    g3 -->|"contributions appear at"| site["jurisdictional.org"]

Loading

The skill uses the Jurisdictional MCP API — 15 tools for searching jurisdictions, agencies, services, bodies, people, and positions by location, topic, or name.

Install

git clone https://github.com/jurisdictional/jurisdictional-skill.git /tmp/jurisdictional-skill
cp -r /tmp/jurisdictional-skill/skills/gather ~/.claude/skills/gather
rm -rf /tmp/jurisdictional-skill

Then add the MCP server in Claude Code:

/mcp add-json jurisdictional '{"type":"url","url":"https://jurisdictional.org/api/mcp/message"}'

Start a new session and run /gather to start.

Authentication

Exploration works without sign-in. The MCP tools are public.

To submit contributions, the skill will prompt you to sign in:

1. Opens https://jurisdictional.org/auth/cli in your browser
2. You authenticate via GitHub
3. Paste the token, or set JURISDICTIONAL_TOKEN in your shell

What you can contribute

Task	Description
Discover agencies	Find departments not yet in the database
Add contacts	Phone, email, address for existing agencies
Discover bodies	City councils, boards, commissions
Add officials	Who holds office and their positions
Add services	What residents can do or request
Meeting schedules	When governing bodies meet
Verify data	Check if existing records are still accurate
Add budget info	Financial and budget data

Civic topics

The skill can focus on what you care about:

Elections & voting, Budget & finance, Planning & zoning, Education, Water & utilities, Housing, Public safety, Transportation, Environment, Public health, Economic development, Civil rights

Or just tell it what you're following — "I've been tracking city council votes on water rates" works too.

Data format

Contributions go directly to jurisdictional.org via the propose_change API. If you also want local files, the skill can write one JSON file per entity:

{
  "_meta": {
    "source": "https://www.cityofvacaville.com/departments/police",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-04-02",
    "contributor": "your-github-username"
  },
  "name": "Vacaville Police Department",
  "agency_type": "department",
  "jurisdiction": "vacaville-ca",
  "url": "https://www.cityofvacaville.com/departments/police",
  "phone": "707-449-5200"
}

See schema.md for field definitions and examples/austin-tx/ for a complete sample.

Contributing

The best way to contribute is to run /gather for your city.

Contributions to the skill itself are welcome — see SKILL.md for the prompt and flow definition.