PatchOps

Available tools

8 tools

Tool	Description
`searchExports`	US exports by HS or NAICS code, country, month. Auto-routes to /exports/hs vs /exports/naics. Default COMM_LVL=HS4.
`searchImports`	US imports by HS or NAICS code, country, month. Auto-routes to /imports/hs vs /imports/naics. Default COMM_LVL=HS4.
`searchTradeByPort`	HS commodity × US port × country (porths). Filter by 4-digit port code (5301=Houston, 4601=NY/NJ).
`searchTradeByState`	HS commodity × US state × country (statehs). Filter by 2-letter state postal (TX, CA, LA).
`getTradeBalance`	Fetches both directions in parallel, returns {exportsValue, importsValue, balance} for an HS code + time slice.
`getCountryCodes`	Built-in CTY_CODE↔ISO lookup. Top 30 US trading partners + USMCA / OECD / NATO / APEC rollups. No upstream call.
`lookupHsCode`	Built-in HS chapter index for petroleum (27), petrochem (28/29/39), iron/steel (72/73), machinery (84/85), ores (26).
`getServiceInfo`	Endpoints, common variables, country-code system, asymmetric value-field warning, and time-format options.

About

U.S. Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division international trade time series. Eight endpoints cover the full feed: hs, porths, statehs, and naics, each for imports and exports. Filter by HS-2/HS-4/HS-6/HS-10 chapters, NAICS-4/NAICS-6, country (Census Schedule C/D codes), district, port, or US state, and slice by month, year, or an arbitrary date range (`time=2024-01`, `time=2024`, `time=from 2024-01 to 2024-12`). The connector ships a built-in CTY_CODE-to-ISO mapping table for the top 30 US trading partners (Canada 1220, Mexico 2010, China 5700, Japan 5880, Germany 4280, UK 4120, Saudi Arabia 5170, and more) plus USMCA, OECD, NATO, and APEC trade-group rollups, and a built-in HS chapter index covering petroleum (27: 2709 crude, 2710 refined, 2711 LNG/LPG, 2716 electrical energy), petrochem (28, 29, 39), iron and steel (72, 73: line pipe and OCTG), machinery (84, 85), and ores (26). getTradeBalance fetches both directions and returns {exportsValue, importsValue, balance}. Value and commodity columns are asymmetric: exports use ALL_VAL_MO and E_COMMODITY, imports use GEN_VAL_MO and I_COMMODITY, and the search methods dispatch on direction so callers don't have to. Country codes are Census Schedule C (imports) and Schedule D (exports), not ISO. The optional CENSUS_API_KEY platform env var raises the rate limit above 500 calls/day per IP. Toggle on and use, no setup needed.

Requirements

Toggle on
Toggle on and use, no setup needed.
Optional API key (BYOK)
Optionally connect your own free Census API key to raise the 500/day per-IP cap and bill the requests to your own key. Field: apiKey (CENSUS_API_KEY).

Setup

A few steps to connect your AI agents to US Foreign Trade.

Get started

1
Toggle Connector On
Open /mcp and enable US Foreign Trade with the toggle, no credentials needed.
2
Start Querying
Call searchImports with hsCode: '2709' (crude petroleum) and time: '2024-01' to surface the top US suppliers and dollar values for the month. getTradeBalance with hsCode: '2710' and countryCode: '2010' (Mexico) returns net trade for the year. searchTradeByState with state: 'TX' and hsCode: '2711' surfaces LNG exports out of Texas.
3
Optional: Raise Tier Limits
Register at https://api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html for a free access key and set CENSUS_API_KEY in your Vercel environment to raise the rate limit from 500 calls/day per IP.

Connect to your AI assistant

Pick the tool your team uses for the exact setup steps.

1
Open Claude settings
Launch Claude, click the profile button (bottom left), and go to Settings.
2
Access connectors
Open the Connectors tab, scroll to the bottom, and click “Add custom connector”.
3
Name your connector
Enter any name you’d like for this connector.
4
Get the connector URL
Log in to PatchOps, open the /mcp page, and copy the connector URL you want to use.
5
Add the connector
Paste the URL into the “Remote MCP server URL” box and click Add.
6
Start using
Your US Foreign Trade connector is ready to use in Claude.