GitHub Copilot in VS Code + Cadastre

Copilot's agent in Visual Studio Code. Connect it to Cadastre, the data source for real-estate data except listings, and it can screen and rank all 393 U.S. metro areas, read metro profiles and compare them, with every figure's source attached.

Works with Cadastre through: the MCP server, the API with a key, and the Cadastre CLI.

Quick start

1. Set up Copilot in VS Code

Follow VS Code's Copilot setup (opens in a new tab).

2. Add the Cadastre MCP server

Run this in a terminal to add the server to your VS Code user profile:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"cadastre","type":"http","url":"https://getcadastre.com/mcp"}'

Or, for one workspace, add it to .mcp.json at the workspace root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cadastre": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://getcadastre.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or run MCP: Add Server from the Command Palette, choose HTTP, enter the URL and name it cadastre.

That is all: no account or sign-in is needed for Cadastre's public datasets, at 30 requests a minute. For higher limits, see Sign in for higher limits.

3. Ask

Open Chat, choose the agent, and ask, for example:

Use Cadastre to find metros with population over 500K, manufacturing share of GDP over 8% and unemployment under 5.5%. Rank them on manufacturing share and cite the sources.

Sign in for higher limits

Optional. To sign in, connect through the server's sign-in address in place of https://getcadastre.com/mcp (MCP clients sign in only when the server asks them to):

https://getcadastre.com/mcp?auth=required

On first use VS Code opens a browser window to sign in.

Your browser opens Cadastre's Connect an app page. Sign in to Cadastre (or join first), choose the account GitHub Copilot in VS Code should work in, and select Approve. GitHub Copilot in VS Code keeps its own access and renews it: there is no API key to copy.

The higher limits need API access turned on for the account: the page marks any account without it, and it cannot be chosen. Write to support@getcadastre.com to ask for it.

MCP configuration

If you sign in, the sign-in is for one account, which needs API access turned on for the higher limits: if you belong to several, you choose which one GitHub Copilot in VS Code works in. It can read data and run screens and rankings; it cannot open your projects or change anything in your account. It stops working if you leave that account, and until you accept updated Terms of Service. Disconnect it any time in Settings under Authorized apps. The tools the server offers are described on the MCP server page.

Use the CLI or the API instead

GitHub Copilot in VS Code can also run the Cadastre CLI, cadastre, in a terminal: it screens, ranks and compares metros and prints every answer's attribution, and --json gives the API's own answer. Install it; it works without signing in, and cadastre login (in the browser) gives higher limits:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/waratuman/cadastre-cli/main/install.sh | sh
cadastre metros --state TX

cadastre mcp add vscode prints a setup for GitHub Copilot in VS Code, and with --write makes it for you. See the CLI docs.

Or call the API directly from a script or the shell, with no credential at all:

curl "https://getcadastre.com/api/v1/metros/compare?ids=26620,48620,46140"

For higher limits, make an API key in Settings under API keys, keep it in an environment variable rather than in a file the agent might share, and send it as a bearer token:

export CADASTRE_API_KEY=cad_key_...
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $CADASTRE_API_KEY" "https://getcadastre.com/api/v1/metros/compare?ids=26620,48620,46140"

The API reference lists every endpoint. The higher limits need API access turned on for the account, as for the MCP server.

Example prompts

Shortlist metros for a plant

Shortlist US metros for an aerospace assembly plant: at least 500K people, manufacturing at least 8% of GDP, unemployment under 5.5% and industrial power under 10 cents per kWh. Rank the survivors on manufacturing share and unemployment, and list the sources with their retrieval dates.

Compare three metros on labor

Compare Huntsville, AL, Wichita, KS and Tulsa, OK on labor: unemployment rate, manufacturing employment growth, labor force growth and population. Make a table with each figure's vintage and source, and say which figures Cadastre computed.

Cheap power, growing manufacturing

Which metros have the lowest industrial electricity price and growing manufacturing employment? Show the ten best with the price, the employment growth and the years it covers.

Profile one metro

Give me Cadastre's profile of the Wichita, KS metro: population, GDP, manufacturing share, unemployment, power price and natural hazard risk, each with its source.

Common workflows

• Shortlist, then rank. Screen the metros on hard requirements first (the funnel says how many each one removes), then rank the survivors on weighted criteria. Ask the agent to show the funnel so you can see which requirement bites.
• Compare a shortlist. Give the agent three to five metros by name or CBSA code and the measures you care about; it reads them side by side and can put them in a table for a client.
• Look up before you ask. When a measure is ambiguous (growth over which years? which unemployment rate?), ask the agent to search the measures first and tell you which one it will use.
• Draft a client note. Have the agent write up a shortlist with every figure's source, vintage and retrieval date, and Cadastre's computed values labelled as such, then check the figures against the answers before you send it.

Tips

• Carry the attribution. Every answer lists the credit, licence and notices its sources require, and retrieved_at, when Cadastre last retrieved the data. Ask GitHub Copilot in VS Code to keep them with the figures in anything it writes for you; the Terms of Service make it a condition, and Rights and attribution explains each source.
• Label Cadastre's computed values. A value marked computed_by_cadastre (such as a metro figure built from county figures) is Cadastre's, credited as "Source: Cadastre, computed from" the publisher's data.
• Check before you rely on it. An assistant can misread or misstate a figure or a credit. Compare what it tells you with the tool's own answer before you pass it on.
• Mind the rate limits. Without a sign-in, 30 requests a minute and 2,000 a day for each network address. Signed in, 60 requests a minute and 10,000 a day for each app you connect, and 50,000 a day for the account. Ask for a comparison or a screen in one go rather than metro by metro.
• Name metros precisely. "Wichita, KS" or its CBSA code (48620) avoids a wrong match.

FAQ

What data does Cadastre have?

Public market, labor, demographic, infrastructure, hazard and health datasets from U.S. federal agencies, for the 393 U.S. metro areas, many also for counties and states. Datasets lists each one with its publisher, licence, period and measures. Only datasets whose terms allow it are served to agents.

Does it have listings or parcels?

No listings: Cadastre does not carry them. Parcel data is not available yet; the launch is metro-level.

Can it return boundaries or maps?

No. Answers carry names and codes (CBSA codes, FIPS), never boundaries, points or lines.

What does it cost?

The API and the MCP server are in beta and free while they are. The public datasets need no account; for higher limits, join now, then write to support@getcadastre.com to ask for API access, which may become part of a paid plan later.

What may I do with the answers?

Use them in your own work and for your clients, with the attribution carried, and not to rebuild Cadastre's data as a product of your own. See the Terms of Service.

Troubleshooting

Still stuck? Write to support@getcadastre.com.

Related agents

• Claude Code: Anthropic's agentic coding tool, in the terminal.
• Codex: OpenAI's coding agent: the Codex CLI, the IDE extension and the ChatGPT desktop app share one MCP configuration.
• Cursor: An AI code editor with an agent that can call MCP tools.
• Claude: Anthropic's assistant on claude.ai and in the Claude desktop app, through a custom connector.
• ChatGPT: OpenAI's assistant, through a custom MCP server added as a plugin on the web.
• Gemini CLI: Google's open-source AI agent for the terminal.
• OpenCode: An open-source AI coding agent for the terminal.

Sources

This guide's setup steps follow GitHub Copilot in VS Code's own documentation. If a step no longer matches, theirs is current:

• VS Code: Add and manage MCP servers (opens in a new tab)
• VS Code: MCP configuration reference (opens in a new tab)