Search defense budget programs MCP tool

Searches DoD budget programs (RDT&E program elements, procurement lines, O&M sub-activity groups, military personnel budget sub-activities, construction projects) across President's Budget books, and returns each program's funding by book, fiscal year and kind (request, enacted, actuals) in thousands of dollars, with funding totals by service, account and code type.

MCP tool name: Search_Defense_Budget_Programs
Data type: Defense budget program data type
Returns: Defense budget program MCP response
Search modes: Keyword
Annotations: Read only, not destructive, idempotent, closed world
Available in: GovTribe AI, GovTribe MCP

Examples

Use this tool when the question is about how much money a DoD program gets and how that changed from one President's Budget book to the next. Each result is one program across every book that carried it: an RDT&E program element, a procurement line item, an O&M or revolving-fund sub-activity group, a military personnel budget sub-activity, or a military construction project. For what a program is for, who performs it, or where a project is, use the Search defense budget justifications MCP tool. This tool has keyword search only.

Read these rules before building a call. Defense budget data explains them in more detail.

All money is in thousands of US dollars. 100000 means $100 million. This applies to funding_thousands, funding_trend, request_by_cycle, and every funding aggregation.
Funding leaves out line items the books mark Non-Add or not in total obligation authority (TOA). These memo lines repeat money already counted elsewhere, so funding_trend, request_by_cycle, the funding_thousands filter, its sort, and every funding sum skip them.
publication_fiscal_year is the President's Budget book, such as 2027 for the FY2027 budget. fiscal_year is the year a funding amount is for. Each book prints several years, such as prior-year actuals, the current year's enacted level, and the budget-year request.
funding_trend has one row per book, fiscal year, and disposition kind. Never add rows of different kinds together: a year's Total already includes its other kinds.
A request is a Request row, or for a military construction project (code type CP, from the C-1, which prints no request column) its Appropriation row. request_by_cycle is each book's own budget-year request under that rule, the quickest way to compare requests across books.
funding_thousands selects one funding row: one book (publication_fiscal_year, required), one year (fiscal_year, default the book's own year), and one kind (disposition_kind, default Request), optionally between min and max. The default Request follows the same rule as request_by_cycle, so it includes construction projects through their Appropriation rows; an explicit disposition_kind: "Appropriation" selects only appropriation rows. The funding_thousands sort and the funding_thousands_by_* aggregations read that same row, so they need the filter with at least publication_fiscal_year, and an unknown disposition_kind is rejected.
program_codes takes the code exactly as the books print it: a program element such as 0603176C, a procurement composite {account}-{budget sub-activity}-{line item} such as 2031A-01-9670A00005, an O&M or revolving-fund composite {account}-{budget activity}-{budget sub-activity}-{sub-activity group}, a military personnel composite {account}-{budget activity}-{budget sub-activity}, or a construction project number. A keyword query also matches any hyphen-separated part of a composite code.
govtribe_url is always null because these records have no GovTribe page yet.

What is the FY2027 request for PE 0603176C, compared with FY2026 and FY2025?

Compare request_by_cycle across books, and read funding_trend for the other years and kinds each book prints. A book can carry a program without printing a request for it: if request_by_cycle has no row for a book, check that book's funding_trend rows before reporting a zero.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "program_codes": [
      "0603176C"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "name",
      "request_by_cycle",
      "funding_trend"
    ]
  }
}

Which programs request at least $100 million for FY2027?

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "funding_thousands": {
      "publication_fiscal_year": 2027,
      "min": 100000
    },
    "sort": {
      "key": "funding_thousands",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "code_type",
      "name",
      "service",
      "account_title",
      "request_by_cycle"
    ]
  }
}

What did Congress enact for FY2026 for Navy aircraft procurement lines?

Pick the enacted level from the FY2027 book, which prints the FY2026 enacted amounts.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "accounts": [
      "1506N"
    ],
    "funding_thousands": {
      "publication_fiscal_year": 2027,
      "fiscal_year": 2026,
      "disposition_kind": "Enacted"
    },
    "sort": {
      "key": "funding_thousands",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "name",
      "account_title",
      "funding_trend"
    ]
  }
}

Which Army procurement line items are in the FY2027 book?

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "code_types": [
      "BLI"
    ],
    "services": [
      "Army"
    ],
    "publication_fiscal_years": [
      2027
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "name",
      "account",
      "account_title",
      "request_by_cycle"
    ]
  }
}

Which military construction projects are appropriated in the FY2025 book, largest first?

Construction projects print authorization and appropriation stages rather than a request. Their Appropriation row is also what the default Request reads for them.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "code_types": [
      "CP"
    ],
    "funding_thousands": {
      "publication_fiscal_year": 2025,
      "disposition_kind": "Appropriation"
    },
    "sort": {
      "key": "funding_thousands",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "name",
      "service",
      "request_by_cycle"
    ]
  }
}

Which budget programs fund a major defense acquisition program?

Resolve the program with Search major defense programs, then pass its govtribe_id. Use has_major_defense_program to find every program GovTribe links to any major defense acquisition program.

{
  "tool": "Search_Major_Defense_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "Missile Defense System",
    "search_mode": "keyword",
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "name",
      "code"
    ]
  }
}

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "major_defense_program_ids": [
      "<major_defense_program_govtribe_id>"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "code_type",
      "name",
      "request_by_cycle",
      "major_defense_programs"
    ]
  }
}

Which hypersonic programs had funding in FY2023 or FY2024?

fiscal_year_range keeps programs whose funded years, across every book, overlap the range; min must not be greater than max. For "programs in the FY2027 request", use funding_thousands instead.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "hypersonic",
    "fiscal_year_range": {
      "min": 2023,
      "max": 2024
    },
    "sort": {
      "key": "last_fiscal_year",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "name",
      "first_fiscal_year",
      "last_fiscal_year",
      "publication_fiscal_years"
    ]
  }
}

Which narratives explain a program's funding?

Request defense_budget_justifications for compact references to each narrative, then read them with Search defense budget justifications.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "program_codes": [
      "2031A-01-9670A00005"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "name",
      "defense_budget_justifications"
    ]
  }
}

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "defense_budget_justification_ids": [
      "<defense_budget_justification_govtribe_id>"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "name",
      "narrative_sections",
      "funding",
      "source"
    ]
  }
}

Aggregation examples

Use aggregation examples when the answer needs rollups instead of individual rows. Set per_page to 0 when row results are not needed. Funding sums are in thousands of dollars and read the one row funding_thousands selects, so every funding aggregation needs the filter.

How much does each service request for FY2027?

The default Request kind includes military construction projects through their Appropriation rows, so the totals cover the whole request.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "funding_thousands": {
      "publication_fiscal_year": 2027
    },
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "funding_thousands_by_service"
    ]
  }
}

How is the Navy's FY2027 request split across appropriation accounts and program kinds?

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "services": [
      "Navy"
    ],
    "funding_thousands": {
      "publication_fiscal_year": 2027
    },
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "funding_thousands_by_account",
      "funding_thousands_by_code_type"
    ]
  }
}

How many programs are there per book, per service, per code type, and per account?

Each aggregation is a separate total over the same programs, not a breakdown of one by another.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "publication_fiscal_years_by_doc_count",
      "top_services_by_doc_count",
      "top_code_types_by_doc_count",
      "top_accounts_by_doc_count"
    ]
  }
}

Defense budget program MCP response: Review the response shape returned by this tool.
Defense budget program data type: Understand the shared record fields and relationships used by this tool.
Choose a search mode and write queries: Choose keyword or semantic search behavior and shape query values.
Source identifiers and record matching: Use GovTribe IDs and source identifiers when passing records between tools.

Search defense budget programs MCP tool

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