Atlas
A public, source-linked directory of civic actors and the work they do in the
United States.
Atlas helps users search by place, issue, organization, person, initiative, or
civic concern to find who is working on public problems throughout the country.
It connects each record to public sources, so researchers, journalists,
organizers, developers, and residents can inspect the evidence before using the
information.
Visit Atlas at atlas.rebuildingus.org.
Why Atlas Exists
Public-interest work is everywhere, but it is hard to find. Useful information
is split across local news, organization websites, public meetings, nonprofit
directories, government records, research reports, podcasts, campaign pages, and
other public sources.
Atlas turns that scattered information into records that can be searched,
filtered, reviewed, corrected, exported, and used through an API. A profile is
useful only when it shows the actor, the place, the issue context, and the
source evidence clearly enough for a human to decide what to do next.
What Atlas Includes
- Public discovery: Search and browse for people, organizations,
initiatives, campaigns, events, places, and issue areas.
- Trust and provenance: Source titles, URLs, dates, excerpts, freshness,
confidence, corrections, and clear public/private boundaries.
- Developer access: REST API, OpenAPI, MCP, Scout, and self-hosting paths
for building on the same source-linked data.
- Workspace tools: Lists, briefs, watches, exports, and coverage workflows
for teams that need to turn discovery into reusable work.
The public map is the center of the project. Hosted and workspace features
should strengthen that public civic discovery experience, not replace it.
Using Atlas
The usage docs are published at
atlas.rebuildingus.org/docs. Start there
if you want to browse Atlas, understand the data model, use the API, connect an
AI assistant, run Scout, or self-host an instance.
Working On This Repo
Use the repo docs when you are setting up a development environment, changing
code, reviewing architecture, or checking project standards.
If you edit the public docs site, validate it from the repo root:
pnpm docs:validate
Run Locally
Prerequisites: Python 3.12+, Node.js 24.18+ in the Node 24 release line,
Corepack/pnpm, Git, and Make. See
full prerequisites.
git clone https://github.com/RebuildingAmerica/atlas.git
cd atlas
make setup
pnpm dev
The local stack uses Portless for stable HTTPS URLs. The development docs
include app-only and API-only commands for environments where running the full
stack is not the right first step.
Repository Map
| Path | Purpose |
|---|
app/ | TanStack Start + React app for public discovery and workspace surfaces |
api/ | FastAPI service, catalog domains, discovery jobs, and public API |
scout/ | Local discovery CLI and review/sync workflow |
libs/ | Shared Python models, taxonomy, and discovery engine primitives |
mintlify/ | Source for the public docs site |
docs/ | Contributor, architecture, product, deployment, and standards docs |
Contributing
Contributors are welcome. Atlas is developed like civic infrastructure: changes
should be source-conscious, easy to verify, respectful of the people represented
in the directory, and useful to someone trying to understand public work.
Start with CONTRIBUTORS.md for contribution guidance.
License
Atlas is released under the MIT License. You may use, copy, modify, merge,
publish, distribute, sublicense, and sell copies of the software, subject to the
terms in LICENSE.
