Usitc Edis MCP Server

@pipeworx/usitc-edis — USITC investigation docket (Section 337 / Title VII)

The case docket for US International Trade Commission investigations: Section 337 (unfair import / patent) cases and Title VII (antidumping/countervailing- duty, "Import Injury") cases, via IDS (Investigations Database System, ids.usitc.gov) — search/list across all ~4,400 investigations, full detail for one. Keyless.

Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1684+ live data sources.

What's NOT here: filed documents (EDIS)

This pack does not serve EDIS (Electronic Document Information System, edis.usitc.gov) — the documents filed in an investigation and their attachments. EDIS's WAF returns a 403 (disguised as its generic "under maintenance" HTML page) to any User-Agent that isn't a recognized generic HTTP-client signature, even when a valid API key is sent — verified live 2026-09-24. An earlier version of this pack cleared that block by prefixing its User-Agent with curl/8.7.1 , impersonating a different client. Bruce ruled against that (2026-09-25), reversing an earlier case ruling that had allowed it, so the edis_* tools were removed along with the token/curl plumbing that only existed to serve them.

Filed documents at EDIS await a USITC allowlist of our honest User-Agent (pipeworx-usitc-edis/1.0 (+https://pipeworx.io)). Re-adding an EDIS path here needs either that allowlisting or some other non-impersonating route past the WAF — not a re-add of the curl prefix.

Tools

Auth

Everything in this pack is keyless, verified live 2026-09-24. IDS (advanced-search, investigation/{id}, lookup/investigation-types) all answer real data with no credential at all. The only header requirement is a browser-shaped Origin/Referer (not a credential, just what a same-origin page sends); a plain User-Agent alone was rejected.

Data sources

• https://ids.usitc.gov/idata/api/v1/advanced-search (POST) — investigation search/list, paginated.
• https://ids.usitc.gov/idata/api/v1/investigation/{id} (GET) — full investigation detail.
• https://ids.usitc.gov/idata/api/v1/lookup/investigation-types (GET) — the 4 top-level type categories.

Traps for the next builder

• GET investigation/{id} embeds ITC STAFF identity — case_manager_id carries the case manager's full name, personal work email and phone number. This is Commission personnel, not a docket party, and itc_investigation_detail deletes the field outright rather than redacting it. Apply the same rule to any future case-scoped endpoint added here (participants, IP, HTS numbers, orders, votes) — attempted live 2026-09-24 and none of case/participants, case/hts_numbers, case/unfair_import_orders*, investigation/participants etc. could be reached (they either 503 the maintenance page under every query-param shape tried, or — investigation/intellectual_property — return an unfiltered ~880KB dump regardless of the filter passed). Left unbuilt rather than shipped unreliable; the routing pattern (/case/{case_id}/investigation/{investigation_id}/...) visible in the Angular bundle (ids.usitc.gov/main-*.js) is the next lead.
• IDS's advanced-search criteria filter DSL is unknown. The live Angular app (ids.usitc.gov/case) builds a structured criteria array server-side filters run through, but every shape tried live ({field, value}, {fieldName, operator, value}, a DevExtreme-style [field, "=", value] triple) either silently matched nothing or 302-redirected as if malformed. itc_investigation_search therefore exposes only the parameters proven live (pageNumber, pageSize, sortOrder on institution_start_date) plus a same-PAGE client-side filter on type/active-status. Capturing the real DSL is the fastest path to true server-side filtering: open ids.usitc.gov/case in a browser, use an advanced search filter, read the POST body from devtools.
• Response envelope quirk on advanced-search: the total match count is totalRecords at the top level on some request shapes and hitCount inside each case row on others — never trust hitCount at the top level; it is not there.
• EDIS (edis.usitc.gov) is a separate, credential-gated service with a UA-filtering WAF. It is deliberately not served here — see "What's NOT here" above. Do not re-add it with a spoofed User-Agent.

Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "usitc-edis": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/usitc-edis/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What this endpoint actually serves

tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/usitc-edis/mcp returns the tools in the table above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth, connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1684+ data sources. The only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx reaches all of them from either one.

No MCP client? Call it over HTTP

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/itc_investigation_search \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"page_size":5,"sort_order":"desc"}'

No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/itc_investigation_search. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.

Standalone (no gateway account)

This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "usitc-edis": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-usitc-edis"]
    }
  }
}

Or run it directly to confirm it starts:

npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-usitc-edis

It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.

Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Usitc Edis data" })

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

More

• Docs and guides
• pipeworx.io

License

MIT