Common Standards

A small, read-only Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets an AI assistant look up U.S. K–12 academic standards on demand, using the free Common Standards Project API. Built with TypeScript, Next.js, and Vercel's mcp-handler.

What it does

Four read-only tools:

Tool	Purpose
list_jurisdictions	List states + organizations (Common Core, NGSS, …) that publish standards
list_standard_sets	For a jurisdiction, list its standard sets (subject × grade)
get_standard_set	Get one set with every standard (text + codes like 4.NF.A.1) + attribution
get_standard	Get a single standard by id, with crosswalk links

Run locally

npm install
cp .env.local.example .env.local   # optional: add a CSP_API_KEY
npm run dev                        # serves the MCP at http://localhost:3000/api/mcp
npm run test:run                   # run the test suite

Inspect it with npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector → Streamable HTTP → http://localhost:3000/api/mcp.

Demo

Ask an assistant connected to this server:

“Look up Arizona’s 4th-grade math standards, and list a few with their codes.”

Claude calls the tools (list_jurisdictions → list_standard_sets → get_standard_set) and answers with the real standards — each carrying its CC-BY attribution:

Under the hood, list_jurisdictions filtered to “Arizona” returns:

{
  "count": 2,
  "jurisdictions": [
    { "id": "0B41FFF6B5114EB0B8A89CE0E70E22D8", "title": "Arizona", "type": "state" },
    { "id": "07130F1D86804B4D9D41E610BA605DA2", "title": "Arizona - Tucson Unified School District - Mansfeld Magnet Middle School", "type": "organization" }
  ]
}

Deploy

Deployed on Vercel. The live MCP endpoint is https://common-standards-project.vercel.app/api/mcp.

Add it to Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http common-standards https://common-standards-project.vercel.app/api/mcp

Configuration

Env var	Required	Notes
CSP_API_KEY	No	A free key from commonstandardsproject.com. The API currently serves data anonymously; if set, it is sent as the Api-Key header. Never set it to a blank/placeholder value — an invalid key causes 401s.

Attribution & licensing

• Code: MIT (see LICENSE).
• Standards data: licensed per standard set (commonly CC BY 3.0 US); each get_standard_set / get_standard result includes an attribution string. Data retrieved via the Common Standards Project.

Notes

Optional hardening for a public deployment: add a Vercel Firewall rate-limit rule, or a shared-secret header check in app/api/mcp/route.ts. Not required for read-only public data.