CensusChat Documentation

Natural language queries over US Census demographics, for healthcare strategy teams.

Pick the path that matches what you came for.

I want to run it

Step Document
1. Get it running locally Quick Start
2. Configure API keys (Anthropic + Census) API Key Setup
3. Load the full dataset (states → block groups) Quick Start: Expanded Data
4. Load ACS data directly from the Census API ACS Data Loading
Docker will not start Docker Troubleshooting
Deploy to Railway Railway Deployment
Deploy to production generally Deployment Guide

The Census API key is optional but raises the rate limit. Its own setup notes: Census API Key Setup.

I want to understand the architecture

Question Document
What is the system, end to end? Architecture Overview
How do the services fit together? System Architecture
What is the data model? Data Architecture
How is SQL kept safe? Security Architecture
What runs where? Infrastructure Architecture
How is the backend laid out? Backend Structure
How is the frontend laid out? Frontend Architecture
What variables and geographies exist? Marketing Analytics Expansion
What do the block-group columns mean? Block Group Variables

Deeper reference material: DuckDB and MCP references.

I want the API

Topic Document
Endpoint reference API Overview
MCP tools and protocol MCP API Documentation
Current MCP schema MCP Schema Update
Run the MCP server over stdio MCP stdio Setup
Build against the FDB MCP layer FDB MCP Developer Guide
Request/response flow and validation API Integration Guide
How MCP is implemented MCP Implementation Summary

I want to contribute

Topic Document
Contribution process and standards CONTRIBUTING.md
Branching strategy Git Branching Strategy
Commit conventions Commit Sequence Examples
Running the test suite Testing Guide
How the tests are built Testing Infrastructure
Repo conventions for AI agents CLAUDE.md
Reporting a vulnerability SECURITY.md
Release history CHANGELOG.md

Data-pipeline internals, if you are changing the loaders: Data Loading System and Implementation Summary.

Not part of the published docs

These stay in the repository for history. They are excluded from the published site and are not maintained as current documentation.

  • internal/ — session notes, epic planning, documentation-status snapshots
  • plans/ — in-flight implementation plans
  • archive/ — superseded documents, kept for the record
  • project-management/ — roadmap, personas, PRD, MVP status. Some of it is dated; read it as project history, not as a description of the current build.