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Tools

7 tools for browsing and querying the World Bank Open Data API:

worldbank_list_topics

List all 21 World Bank thematic topic categories.

• No input required — returns the complete fixed taxonomy
• Topics include Agriculture, Economy & Growth, Education, Energy & Mining, Environment, Financial Sector, Health, Infrastructure, Poverty, Private Sector, Public Sector, Science & Technology, Social Development, Social Protection & Labor, Trade, Urban Development, and more
• Returns topic IDs used to filter worldbank_search_indicators

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worldbank_list_sources

List the 70+ World Bank data sources (datasets).

• Paginated with configurable page size (up to 100 per page)
• Each source includes ID, name, short code, last-updated date, and data/metadata availability status
• Source IDs used to filter worldbank_search_indicators by dataset origin (e.g. "2" for World Development Indicators, "6" for IDS)

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worldbank_list_countries

List countries and regional aggregates with metadata.

• Returns ISO codes, World Bank region, income level, capital city, and coordinates
• Filterable by region code (EAS, ECS, LCN, MEA, NAC, SAS, SSF) and income level (LIC, LMC, UMC, HIC)
• By default returns individual countries only; set include_aggregates=true to include regional, income-group, and world aggregate entities
• Paginated with up to 300 entries per page

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worldbank_get_country

Fetch full metadata for a single country or aggregate entity.

• Accepts ISO2 (US), ISO3 (USA), or World Bank aggregate codes (EAS, HIC, WLD)
• Returns region, income level, lending type, capital city, and coordinates
• Structured error with recovery hint when code is not found

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worldbank_search_indicators

Search the 29,500+ World Bank indicator catalog.

• Keyword search, topic filter, source filter — at least one required
• When topic_id or source_id is combined with a keyword query, client-side filtering is applied (the upstream API ignores searchterm when a topic/source filter is active)
• Returns indicator IDs, names, source dataset, and thematic topics
• Indicator IDs (e.g. NY.GDP.PCAP.CD, SP.POP.TOTL) feed directly into worldbank_get_data
• Paginated with up to 100 results per page

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worldbank_get_indicator

Fetch complete metadata for a known indicator ID.

• Returns full description, unit of measurement, source dataset, source organization, and thematic topics
• Structured error with recovery hint when ID is not found

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worldbank_get_data

Query indicator values for countries across time. The primary data-access tool.

• Single country, array of countries, regional codes (EAS, LCN, …), income codes (HIC, LMC, …), world code (WLD), or "all" for all ~266 entries
• Time filtering: date_range for historical analysis (YYYY or YYYY:YYYY format), or mrv for the N most recent available values (1–10). Mutually exclusive.
• Returns observations with null values when data is not available for a country×year cell — common for sparse series
• Includes nullCount per page to surface data sparsity
• Output grouped by country for readability; isAggregate flag distinguishes regional aggregates from individual countries
• Paginated with up to 1000 entries per page

Resources

Features

Built on @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core:

• Declarative tool definitions — single file per tool, framework handles registration and validation
• Unified error handling across all tools
• Pluggable auth (none, jwt, oauth)
• Swappable storage backends: in-memory, filesystem, Supabase, Cloudflare KV/R2/D1
• Structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing
• Runs locally (stdio/HTTP) or on Cloudflare Workers from the same codebase

World Bank-specific:

• Full World Bank Open Data API v2 coverage — topics, sources, countries, indicators, and observations
• 60+ years of development data across 29,500+ indicators for 200+ countries and regional aggregates
• Client-side topic/source + keyword compound filtering (works around upstream API limitation)
• Null-value transparency — null observations and nullCount surfaced rather than silently dropped
• isAggregate flag on every country/data row to distinguish individual countries from aggregate entities

Agent-friendly output:

• Tool cross-references woven into descriptions — e.g. worldbank_search_indicators names worldbank_list_topics for topic IDs, worldbank_get_data names worldbank_search_indicators for indicator discovery
• Structured error contracts with typed reason codes and actionable recovery hints on every tool
• Consistent pagination metadata (page, pages, total) across all list/search/data tools

Getting started

Self-Hosted / Local

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "worldbank-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@cyanheads/worldbank-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with npx (no Bun required):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "worldbank-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/worldbank-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:

MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp

Prerequisites

• Bun v1.3.0 or higher (or Node.js ≥24.0.0).
• No API key required — the World Bank Open Data API is public and unauthenticated.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/worldbank-mcp-server.git

2. Navigate into the directory:

cd worldbank-mcp-server

3. Install dependencies:

bun install

Configuration

All configuration is validated at startup via Zod schemas in src/config/server-config.ts. Environment variables:

Running the server

Local development

• Build and run the production version:

  # One-time build
  bun run rebuild
  
  # Run the built server
  bun run start:http
  # or
  bun run start:stdio
  

• Run checks and tests:

  bun run devcheck  # Lints, formats, type-checks, and more
  bun run test      # Runs the test suite
  

Project structure

Development guide

See CLAUDE.md for development guidelines and architectural rules. The short version:

• Handlers throw, framework catches — no try/catch in tool logic
• Use ctx.log for logging, ctx.state for storage
• Register new tools and resources in the createApp() arrays

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Run checks and tests before submitting:

bun run devcheck
bun run test

License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. See the LICENSE file for details.