Gov Grants

Search Grants.gov for federal funding opportunities by agency, category, and eligibility. 4 tools.

Security Scan

The skill appears to do what it claims (search Grants.gov) but routes queries through a third‑party Apify actor and asks you to add a persistent MCP server entry — this is a privacy/trust mismatch and a minor config inconsistency.

Purpose & Capability

The skill's name/description is a Grants.gov searcher, which is coherent with needing an MCP connector. However the runtime instructions point to a third‑party endpoint (https://grant-finder-mcp.apify.actor/mcp) rather than directly calling Grants.gov. The SKILL.md also claims "All data from free US government APIs," which is misleading because the traffic will go to the Apify actor. The required binary (mcporter) is plausible for adding an MCP server, but the use of an external aggregator deserves scrutiny.

Instruction Scope

The SKILL.md tells the agent/user to add a server URL using mcporter or by editing ~/.openclaw/mcp.json. That will cause the agent to send queries to the specified apify.actor endpoint. The instructions do not request other local files or credentials, but they do instruct writing to the user's OpenClaw MCP config (a persistent, user‑scoped config change) which is not declared in the skill's manifest.

Install Mechanism

This is an instruction-only skill with no install spec or code files (lower file-system risk). The only required binary is mcporter, which is reasonable for MCP connectors. The higher risk here is network: the skill depends on a third‑party hosted service (Apify actor) that will receive queries.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables or credentials (reasonable). However it instructs updating ~/.openclaw/mcp.json, yet the manifest's 'required config paths' lists none — this inconsistency is notable. Also, although no credentials are requested, sending queries to an external server may expose sensitive query content (search terms, identifiers) despite the skill claiming direct government API usage.

Persistence & Privilege

The skill is not marked 'always' and does not request elevated privileges, but its setup explicitly instructs adding a persistent server entry to the agent's MCP config (~/.openclaw/mcp.json). That causes ongoing outbound communications to a third‑party endpoint whenever the connector is used and persists beyond a single invocation. The manifest did not flag this persistence.

What to consider before installing

Before installing: 1) Understand that this skill sends your search queries to a third‑party Apify actor (grant-finder-mcp.apify.actor) rather than directly to Grants.gov — treat it as an external service and consider whether you trust it with your queries. 2) Review the GitHub repo (https://github.com/martc03/gov-mcp-servers) and the Apify actor implementation to verify how data is handled and whether it logs or stores queries. 3) If you want to avoid persisting the server config, run mcporter/add commands in a throwaway or sandboxed profile or manually invoke calls without adding to your global ~/.openclaw/mcp.json. 4) Prefer a connector that calls Grants.gov directly if you need stronger privacy assurances. 5) If you proceed, monitor network traffic to see what is sent, and avoid sending sensitive PII or credentials through this skill.

Federal Grant Finder

Search Grants.gov for federal funding opportunities, detailed grant info, and filter options.

Setup

mcporter add gov-grants --url https://grant-finder-mcp.apify.actor/mcp --transport streamable-http

Or add to your OpenClaw MCP config (~/.openclaw/mcp.json):

{
  "servers": {
    "gov-grants": {
      "url": "https://grant-finder-mcp.apify.actor/mcp",
      "transport": "streamable-http"
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

grants_search_opportunities

Search Grants.gov for federal funding opportunities by keyword, agency, category, and eligibility.

Search for cybersecurity research grants
Find education grants for nonprofits

Parameters: keyword, status ("forecasted", "posted", "closed", or "archived"), agency, fundingCategory, fundingInstrument, eligibility, limit, offset

grants_get_opportunity

Get detailed info for a specific grant opportunity by its opportunity number.

Get details for grant HHS-2024-ACF-001

Parameters: opportunityNumber (required)

grants_search_by_agency

Search grants from a specific federal agency.

Show NIH grants for biomedical research
Find NSF grants for AI and machine learning

Parameters: agency (required), keyword, status ("forecasted", "posted", "closed", or "archived"), limit

grants_get_filter_options

Get available filter options for Grants.gov searches (agencies, categories, instruments, eligibilities).

What grant categories are available?
Show filter options for education grants

Parameters: keyword

Data Sources

• Grants.gov — Federal grant opportunities clearinghouse

Use Cases

• Grant prospecting for nonprofits
• Research funding discovery
• Small business grant search
• Government funding analysis

All data from free US government APIs. Zero cost. No API keys required.