What FOIAMCP is
FOIAMCP turns Claude — the AI assistant — into your personal FOIA desk editor for Virginia public records. Tell it what story you're working on, and it figures out which government records exist, writes the request emails, watches every legal deadline, and, if an agency stonewalls you, writes the letters and court paperwork to fight back under Virginia law.
Everything runs privately on your own computer. There are no servers, no accounts, and no fees, and nothing is ever sent anywhere unless you personally hit send. FOIAMCP writes; you review and send from your own email.
About the name: the "MCP" is a souvenir from the AI world — Model Context Protocol, the open standard that lets assistants like Claude safely work with the files on your computer. That's the plumbing this tool is built on. You never need to think about it; it just makes "FOIAMCP" fun to say.
Installing (once, about ten minutes)
FOIAMCP needs the desktop app — the version of Claude that can work with folders on your computer. (The claude.ai website and the phone app can't.) Go to claude.ai/download, install it for Windows or Mac, and sign in — the free tier works; a paid plan is better for daily use.
Create an empty folder called FOIAMCP inside your Documents folder. This becomes your filing cabinet — every request, letter, and deadline will live there, on your machine.
Windows: open File Explorer → click Documents on the left → right-click empty space → New → Folder → type FOIAMCP → Enter.
Mac: open Finder → click Documents in the sidebar → File → New Folder → type FOIAMCP → Return.
In the Claude app, start a new conversation in Cowork — the mode where Claude can work with files on your computer. When it asks which folder to work with, choose your new Documents\FOIAMCP folder.
Copy the message below (the gold button does it in one click) and paste it into the chat, then send. Your Claude first checks it's in the right place — if anything from steps 1–3 was missed, it stops and walks you through it. Then it fetches the whole toolkit from this website (25 files: legal references, letter templates, the dashboard), assembles it in your folder, verifies everything, and configures itself — including remembering its FOIA job in all your future chats.
Hi Claude — I want to install FOIAMCP, a free, open-source Virginia FOIA
toolkit for journalists from the Center for Petty Justice (foiamcp.com).
IMPORTANT — HOW TO TREAT ME: assume I am not technical at all. Be my guide.
Go ONE step at a time, explain where to click in plain English, wait for me
to say I've done each thing before moving on, and never use jargon, file
paths, or technical terms. If anything goes wrong, tell me calmly what to
do next — never leave me stuck.
STEP 0 — CHECK THIS CHAT BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.
FOIAMCP must be installed into a folder on my computer, which means you
need to be able to create files there. Check honestly which situation
we're in:
(a) You CANNOT create files on my computer in this chat — for example,
this is a regular claude.ai chat, or the mobile app. Then STOP.
Do not pretend to install, and do not improvise a workaround.
Say: "This chat can't reach your files — let's get you to the right
place. It takes about five minutes." Then walk me through the
following, one step at a time, waiting for my confirmation each time:
1. Install the Claude desktop app from claude.ai/download and sign
in with this same account. (Ask first — I may already have it.)
2. Create an empty folder called FOIAMCP inside my Documents
folder. Explain exactly how, for Windows and for Mac, and ask
which one I'm on.
3. In the Claude desktop app, start a NEW conversation in Cowork —
the mode where Claude can work with folders on my computer —
and when it asks, connect my new FOIAMCP folder.
4. Paste this same message into that new conversation. If I've
lost the message, tell me to get it again at foiamcp.com.
Then wish me luck and end — the install will continue in the new
conversation. Do NOT attempt any of the later steps from this chat.
(b) You CAN create files here, but no folder of mine is connected yet.
Then ask me to connect one before continuing: suggest I first create
an empty folder called FOIAMCP in Documents, then explain exactly
where to click in this app to connect it. Wait until you can
actually see the folder. Do not continue without it.
(c) A folder of mine IS connected. Confirm it with me in one line —
"I'll set up FOIAMCP inside your folder called <name>, okay?" —
and once I agree, continue below. If the folder already contains a
FOIAMCP install, offer to update it instead (refresh the toolkit
files but never touch anything in its data folder).
STEP 1 — FETCH THE PARTS LIST. Fetch https://foiamcp.com/pkg/manifest.txt
— it lists every file in the toolkit, one relative path per line. Tell me
in one friendly line what you're about to do ("Now I'll fetch the toolkit
— about 25 small files, takes a minute or two").
STEP 2 — FETCH AND SAVE EVERY FILE. For each path in the manifest, fetch
https://foiamcp.com/pkg/<path> and save it into my folder at exactly that
relative path, creating subfolders as needed. Save the contents VERBATIM —
do not summarize, reformat, or "improve" anything; these files contain
legal language that must stay exact. No need to narrate every file.
STEP 3 — VERIFY. Confirm every file in the manifest was saved and none are
empty. Quietly retry anything that failed. If fetching doesn't work at all,
stop and tell me to use the zip download at foiamcp.com instead — and
explain how: download it, right-click → Extract All (Windows) or
double-click (Mac) into Documents, then come back and tell you.
STEP 4 — CONFIGURE. Read CLAUDE.md in the folder — that's your job
description when working with me. Then:
a. Save the skill defined in cowork/foia-skill.md (keep the name
"foiamcp" and its content exactly as written) so you remember this
role in all my future chats.
b. Run the first-time setup described in CLAUDE.md: ask me for my
details one question at a time, create my profile and an empty
request list, and generate my dashboard file.
STEP 5 — SHOW ME MY DASHBOARD. Tell me exactly how to open it by clicking
(open my FOIAMCP folder, open the folder inside called "data", double-click
"dashboard.html") and suggest I bookmark it in my browser. Ask me to
confirm I can see it before finishing.
STEP 6 — HAND OFF. Finish with one short, non-technical paragraph: how to
use you day to day (I just talk to you — "I want to look into...", "they
denied it", "what's on my plate?"), how you'll brief me each time I open a
chat with this folder, and what I should say to start my first story.
Claude will ask your name, your outlet, and the city or county where you live — these go on your request letters and matter legally (Virginia FOIA serves Virginia citizens and Virginia media). Then it creates dashboard.html in your folder's data subfolder. Double-click it, and bookmark it (Ctrl-D). Done.
Using it day to day
Open the Claude app, start a Cowork chat with your FOIAMCP folder (it appears in recent folders after the first time), and just talk. Claude greets you with a briefing — what's overdue, what's due soon, what it has already drafted. There are no commands to learn. Some things you might say:
| You say… | It does… |
|---|---|
| I want to look into why the city bought tsunami cameras | Maps every record the government would have — purchase orders, grant applications, emails, council minutes — who holds each one, and what to ask for first. |
| Draft the requests for the money records | Writes the legal request emails, addressed to the right FOIA officers. You copy, paste, and send from your own email. |
| I sent them this morning | Starts the 5-working-day legal clock and tracks it. |
| They denied it — they say it's all "critical infrastructure" | Explains whether that's legally plausible (usually: no, not for invoices), and writes the rebuttal letter. |
| They just ignored me | That's illegal after 5 working days. It flags the violation and drafts the overdue notice — and, if needed, real court paperwork. |
| A bill came — $400 for "search time" | Checks it against the law's actual-cost limit and writes the fee-challenge letter. |
| What's on my plate? | A rundown: what's overdue, what's due soon, what to do next. |
The dashboard
Open your bookmark (or double-click dashboard.html in the data folder) any time. Every request shows its status, its legal deadline counted in working days the way the statute counts them, and — for anything needing action — a blue sentence you can click to copy, then paste to Claude. The dashboard always tells you what to say next, so you never have to remember what the tool can do. It updates itself whenever anything changes; just refresh the page (F5).
When an agency fights you
Agencies deny because denial usually works — most reporters stop at the first "no." FOIAMCP escalates one honest step at a time and writes every document:
- Rung 1 — Rebuttal letter. Dismantles their legal excuse, citation by citation: what the exemption actually covers, the procedural rules they broke, and the parts of the records they must release regardless. Sets a deadline to fix it.
- Rung 2 — FOIA Council opinion. A free advisory opinion from a Virginia state body. No lawyer needed, costs nothing, and agencies rarely defy the Council. This rung ends most fights.
- Rung 3 — Court petition. A fill-in-the-blanks Petition for Mandamus for your local General District Court, with the supporting affidavit, exhibit list, filing checklist, and a hearing prep sheet. Virginia built this process for regular people: modest filing fee, a hearing within 7 days, and the agency must prove it was right — not you. If you substantially win, they pay your costs.
Three rules
- You send everything yourself. FOIAMCP writes; you review, copy, and send from your own email. It never contacts anyone on your behalf.
- Tell it things as they happen. "They acknowledged," "a bill came," "records arrived," "still nothing." Ten seconds of typing keeps every deadline accurate.
- Never share the
datafolder. It's your notebook — requests, notes, deadlines, and by extension your sources. Keep it private; details are in the SECURITY file inside your folder.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Claude doesn't seem to know about FOIA in a new chat | Make sure the FOIAMCP folder is connected to the chat, then say: Read the CLAUDE.md file in my FOIAMCP folder and follow it. |
| Claude can't see the folder | The chat needs the folder connected. Start a Cowork chat and select Documents\FOIAMCP when it asks, or add it from the chat's folder controls. |
| The install message failed partway | Just say: Some files are missing — re-check the manifest and fetch whatever failed. Claude can verify and repair its own install. If fetching won't work at all, use the zip instead. |
| Dashboard looks out of date | Refresh (F5). Still stale? Tell Claude: update the dashboard. |
| Claude seems confused about a request | Re-state it plainly: "The OEM grant request — they denied it yesterday." It re-syncs from its records. |
| Anything else | Ask Claude itself: something's broken, can you check? It can inspect and fix its own files. |