Borrowing it
Nothing to install: this file belongs to uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp/main/.github/copilot-instructions.mdgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcpWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp/copilot-instructions)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp/copilot-instructions/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp/copilot-instructions.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.02107 | $0.02107 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.00843 | $0.00843 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00421 | $0.00421 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00211 | $0.00211 |
Grade A, and why
us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp copilot-instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2mo ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 204 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Technology Stack:
- Language: TypeScript (Node.js runtime)
- API: U.S. Census Bureau API
- Database: PostgreSQL (for caching dataset metadata)
- Validation: Zod schemas
- Testing: Vitest
- Build: TypeScript compiler (tsc)
- Package Manager: npm
- Containerization: Docker & Docker Compose
Repository Size: Medium-sized TypeScript project with:
- MCP server application (mcp-server/)
- Database ETL service (mcp-db/)
- Multi-profile Docker Compose setup (dev/test/prod)
- Comprehensive test suite with unit and integration tests
Project Purpose: To enable use of official Census Bureau statistics with AI assistants, leveraging the Model Context Protocol to provide token-optimized data that reduces hallucinations.
Local Development Setup:
The project uses Docker Compose with multiple profiles (dev, test, prod).
Start Development Environment:
docker compose --profile dev up
This starts:
- PostgreSQL database on port 5433
- Runs migrations automatically
- Leaves the dev container running for interactive commands
Run Tests in Development:
docker compose --profile dev exec census-mcp-db-dev-init npm run test
Run Linter in Development:
docker compose --profile dev exec census-mcp-db-dev-init npm run lint
Run Tests (Standalone):
docker compose --profile test up census-mcp-db-test-init
Starts test database and runs the test suite, then exits.
Production Deployment:
docker compose --profile prod up
Starts production services with MCP server on standard PostgreSQL port 5432.
Validation: All validation (build, lint, tests) is handled by CI/GitHub Actions on pull requests.
Important Notes:
- The project is containerized - all services run in Docker
- Development uses port 5433, test uses 5434, prod uses 5432
- Database migrations run automatically on container startup
- The MCP server runs as a containerized service, not standalone
- Focus on writing correct code - let CI handle validation
- If modifying database schema, migrations will auto-run on next startup
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 2mo ago First seen · 204 lines · 2,107 tokens per session scan A 8b248f9c4a02
us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository uscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp (106 stars, last pushed 7mo ago), licensed CC0-1.0. It adds 2,107 tokens to every session, about $0.0084 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.
us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp copilot-instructions.md compared with instructions from other repositories
| Mod | Type | Stars | Last push | Licence | Scan | Tokens | Works with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp copilot-instructions.mduscensusbureau/us-census-bureau-data-api-mcp | Instructions file | 106 | 7mo ago | CC0-1.0 | A | 2,107 | GitHub Copilot |
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