BidSonar, in your AI of choice.

Clients

Set it up where you work

One endpoint, the same everywhere. Your client signs in to BidSonar the first time it connects.

• Claude (web & desktop)

  Add to Claude

  The Free plan allows one custom connector; Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise allow several.

• Claude Code

  Run it in a terminal. Drop --scope user to add BidSonar to the current project only.

  claude mcp add --transport http bidsonar --scope user https://bidsonar.com/api/mcp

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• Cursor

  Settings → MCP → Add server, or drop it straight into .cursor/mcp.json.

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "bidsonar": {
        "url": "https://bidsonar.com/api/mcp"
      }
    }
  }

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• VS Code Copilot Chat

  Goes in .vscode/mcp.json. The tools appear in Agent Mode.

  {
    "servers": {
      "bidsonar": {
        "type": "http",
        "url": "https://bidsonar.com/api/mcp"
      }
    }
  }

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• ChatGPT

  1. 01Turn on Developer mode in ChatGPT's settings — it needs a paid plan, and a workspace admin can switch it off.
  2. 02Add a custom connector pointing at https://bidsonar.com/api/mcp
  3. 03Sign in to BidSonar when ChatGPT asks for authorisation.

• Zed

  Settings → AI → MCP Servers → Add Remote Server, or edit settings.json.

  {
    "context_servers": {
      "bidsonar": {
        "url": "https://bidsonar.com/api/mcp"
      }
    }
  }

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• Windsurf

  Goes in ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json.

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "bidsonar": {
        "serverUrl": "https://bidsonar.com/api/mcp"
      }
    }
  }

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In practice

Things to ask it

Plain questions. The assistant picks the tools — named under each one — and the answers carry links back to the contract, grant or organisation they came from.

• Show me open healthcare contracts over £500k closing in the next 30 days

  search · search_opportunities

• What has NHS Property Services awarded recently, and to whom?

  get_organisation · list_organisation_suppliers

• Find Innovate UK grants for climate tech

  search · get_opportunity · get_funding_programme

• Who are the most active IT buyers in the North West?

  list_organisations · get_sector

Reference

The tools

Rendered from the server’s own registry, so this list cannot drift from what your client sees. Every one is read-only: the connector cannot change anything in BidSonar, and you can remove it from your client’s connector settings whenever you like.

search

Search BidSonar

Free-text search across BidSonar's UK & EU public-sector directory. Accepts natural language — it parses type, value, region, and deadline constraints from the query, resolves organisation names, and blends semantic and keyword matching. Returns opportunity and organisation summaries with links. Use get_opportunity or get_organisation for full detail; use search_opportunities for precise structured filters.

search_opportunities

Search contracts & grants

Search BidSonar's directory of UK & EU public-sector contracts and grants (Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, TED, eTenders Ireland, Innovate UK, UKRI) with structured filters: type, status, country, region, value range, deadline window. Returns up to 50 summaries per call, newest first; paginate with page. For free-text or entity questions use search instead.

get_opportunity

Get contract or grant detail

Fetch the full record for one contract or grant by id: description, buyer or funding body, sector, value (faithful currency, never converted), deadline, awarded suppliers where awarded, funding programme for grants, and the source notice link.

list_organisations

Browse organisations

Browse the organisations directory: public-sector buyers, winning suppliers, and funding bodies across the UK & EU. Filter by name, type, or region; sort by recent activity or total value. Use get_organisation for a full profile.

get_organisation

Get organisation detail

Fetch one organisation's profile by slug: role (buyer/supplier/funding body), contract counts, awarded and issued values by currency (never converted or summed across currencies), and open/closed/awarded opportunity counts. Use list_organisation_suppliers for who a buyer awards to.

list_organisation_suppliers

List a buyer's suppliers

List the suppliers a public-sector buyer has awarded contracts to, with award counts, values, share of the buyer's disclosed spend, and each supplier's top sectors at that buyer. Values are award amounts summed as published, without currency conversion; for a buyer that awards in more than one currency, summed totals are not comparable across suppliers. Summary flags whether values were disclosed at all.

list_sectors

List sectors

List every sector in the directory with its opportunity count, ordered by activity. Sector slugs feed get_sector.

get_sector

Get sector detail

Fetch one sector by slug: recent opportunities (optionally filtered by status), top buyers, and totals. Sector slugs come from list_sectors or search results.

get_funding_programme

Get funding programme detail

Fetch one grant funding programme by slug: funding body, status, budget and typical grant size where published, and recent grants under the programme.

list_sources

List data sources & freshness

List the official procurement and grant feeds BidSonar ingests — publisher, licence, coverage, refresh cadence, and the newest published notice per source.