Getting started

The atlas works best with Claude, on the web or in the desktop app, on any plan. Seven short steps.

Step 1

Open connectors

In Claude, go to Customize, then Connectors. From Settings, it is Connectors, then Customize.

Step 2

Add a custom connector

Click the plus sign, + Add, and choose Add custom connector.

Step 3

Enter the server details

A window opens. Set the name to:

Boston Energy Atlas

and the remote MCP server URL to:

https://bostonenergyatlas.org/mcp

Then click Add. If Claude asks how people sign in, choose No sign in: the atlas has no accounts and no key.

Step 4

Turn it on in a chat

Start a new chat. Click + at the bottom left, open Connectors and switch on Boston Energy Atlas.

Step 5 — optional, saves clicks

Always allow its tools

Claude asks before it uses a connector. The first time it asks about the atlas, choose Allow always. All seven of the atlas’s tools only read; none of them can change anything.

Step 6 — optional, better answers

Add an instruction for Claude

In Settings, under General, add this to your instructions for Claude:

When I ask about electricity, gas, bills or the grid in Boston or Cambridge, use the Boston Energy Atlas connector and cite the sources it gives.

Then Claude reaches for the atlas without being told each time.

Step 7

Ask away

Name the atlas in your question so Claude calls it. For example:

Ask the Boston Energy Atlas the five questions for 700 Boylston Street, Boston

The five questions are: What am I paying for? Who owns it? Who do I call? Where does it come from? What is changing near me? What will it cost? Who decided?

Example questions

Ask the Boston Energy Atlas what I am paying for at 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Ask the Boston Energy Atlas to explain my Eversource bill line by line, and who sets each charge
Ask the Boston Energy Atlas why my gas bill pays to replace gas pipes, and who decided that
Ask the Boston Energy Atlas what is still being decided in Boston, and how I can take part
Ask the Boston Energy Atlas how Boston’s grid was built up, one generation at a time
Ask the Boston Energy Atlas what it cannot tell me, and why

Another assistant

ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or VS Code

In the ChatGPT desktop app, open Settings → MCP servers.
Click Add server. Name it boston-energy-atlas and choose Streamable HTTP.
Paste https://bostonenergyatlas.org/mcp
Save, then click Restart.

On chatgpt.com, custom MCP apps are only for Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces, where an admin turns on developer mode.

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user boston-energy-atlas https://bostonenergyatlas.org/mcp

Run once in your terminal, then start Claude Code. Type /mcp to check that it is connected.

codex mcp add boston-energy-atlas --url https://bostonenergyatlas.org/mcp

Run once in your terminal. The Codex CLI, its IDE extension and the ChatGPT desktop app share this setting.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "boston-energy-atlas": {
      "url": "https://bostonenergyatlas.org/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add it to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then reload Cursor. Or install it in one click: Add to Cursor →

code --add-mcp '{"name":"boston-energy-atlas","type":"http","url":"https://bostonenergyatlas.org/mcp"}'

Run once in your terminal, or choose MCP: Add Server in the Command Palette. Or install it in one click: Add to VS Code →

Troubleshooting

Claude answers without the atlas.: Check that the connector is switched on in this chat (+ → Connectors), name the atlas in your question, or add the instruction from step 6.
Claude will not let you add a connector.: A Free plan can add one custom connector, so remove another one first. On Team and Enterprise plans an owner adds it, under Organization settings → Connectors; then you click Connect.
An answer looks wrong.: Every figure comes with the statute, order, tariff or dataset it was read from. Look it up in the Data catalogue, or open the Data map at the same address and compare. The atlas is a student project (Harvard GSD, STU 1504, Fall 2026), not an official source.

What the atlas can do: seven read-only tools

answer_address: The five questions for one address, with a link that opens the map there.
explain_bill: The electric and gas bills line by line, with the tariff and page behind each charge.
open_decisions: What is still being decided, when, and how the public can take part.
search_atlas: Datasets, decisions, gaps and historic sites in the catalogue.
get_record: One record in full: sources, locators, limitations, who paid.
history: The nine eras of the grid, or one era with its citations.
list_gaps: What the public record does not contain, and who could publish it.

The server reads only what this site publishes, has no accounts, and caches the U.S. Census geocoder’s answer for an address for a day.