Setup and data access

Install the agent. Know the key requirements before you start.

The agents supply tested integrations. Some federal providers require a free key; others use sharply limited fallbacks. Version 1.0.1 checks locally and explains the state before work begins.

Install agents Download PDF ↗

Credential matrix

What works when no keys are configured

No 1102tools account is required; some federal providers require a free account or API key. Every affected agent checks credential presence locally before its menu or routed response. The check never displays, transmits, logs, or validates the value.

Agent	Credential and no-key access	What the agent says at startup
Market Research	`SAM_API_KEY` Required for SAM.gov entity, exclusion, opportunity, award, hierarchy, and subaward operations.	Reports a missing required credential before the menu, makes no SAM.gov data call, and permits an explicitly approved keyless scope.
GovCon Growth	`SAM_API_KEY` Required for SAM.gov opportunity, entity, registration, exclusion, certification, award, hierarchy, and subaward operations.	Reports a missing required credential before the menu, makes no SAM.gov data call, and never labels the missing key as an outage.
Pre-Award	`BLS_API_KEY` `PERDIEM_API_KEY` BLS is limited to 25 requests per day and 10 years per query without its optional key. Per Diem uses a shared DEMO_KEY limited to approximately 10 requests per hour.	Discloses both limited fallbacks before workflow routing and permits bounded work. Scope-only work and GSA CALC+ remain keyless.
Other Transaction	`BLS_API_KEY` `PERDIEM_API_KEY` BLS is limited to 25 requests per day and 10 years per query without its optional key. Per Diem uses a shared DEMO_KEY limited to approximately 10 requests per hour.	Discloses both limited fallbacks before workflow routing and permits bounded work. Project-description-only work and GSA CALC+ remain keyless.
Acquisition Policy	`REGULATIONS_GOV_API_KEY` Regulations.gov uses a shared DEMO_KEY limited to approximately 10 requests per hour without the optional user key.	Discloses the limited fallback before the menu or routed response and permits bounded work.

No user key: USASpending, GSA CALC+, eCFR, Federal Register, Acquisition.gov.

Get a key: SAM.gov Help · BLS registration · api.data.gov signup. Configure it outside chat, fully restart the client, and rerun the workflow.

Install all five

Codex Desktop and CLI

Add the marketplace and agents, then install the complete nine-server host profile. The profile contains credential variable names and exact package pins, never credential values.

codex plugin marketplace add 1102tools-dev/federal-contracting-agents --ref main
codex plugin add market-research-agent@1102tools
codex plugin add pre-award-agent@1102tools
codex plugin add govcon-growth-agent@1102tools
codex plugin add other-transaction-agent@1102tools
codex plugin add acquisition-policy-agent@1102tools

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/1102tools-dev/federal-contracting-agents/main/config/codex/1102tools-host.config.toml -o ~/.codex/1102tools-host.config.toml

Codex CLI

Launch with codex --profile 1102tools-host. The named file layers the complete MCP inventory on top of the shared base configuration.

Codex Desktop

Merge every [mcp_servers...] table from the downloaded profile into ~/.codex/config.toml, replacing older 1102tools tables with the same names. Fully quit and reopen Codex.

Claude Code in Claude Desktop and CLI

claude plugin marketplace add 1102tools-dev/federal-contracting-agents
claude plugin install market-research-agent@1102tools
claude plugin install pre-award-agent@1102tools
claude plugin install govcon-growth-agent@1102tools
claude plugin install other-transaction-agent@1102tools
claude plugin install acquisition-policy-agent@1102tools

Fully restart Claude Code or run /reload-plugins after an update. Shared MCP names are intentionally identical and must resolve to the same pinned launcher bytes regardless of install order.

Configure keys outside chat

Restart is required

Never paste a credential into a conversation. Configure it in the environment that launches the client or its documented credential surface. The readiness check reports configured but not verified until the first approved provider call; 401/403 means the configured credential was rejected, and 429 means rate limited.

Expected startup: missing required credential, limited unauthenticated fallback, configured but not verified, outdated or incomplete MCP installation, configured credential rejected, rate limited, or upstream unavailable. A missing key is never a provider outage.