What Is İhale MCP? Searching Turkish EKAP Tenders with an AI Assistant, Setup and Limits
You ask your assistant to find public tenders or official notices on a topic; İhale MCP finds and reads tenders, tender announcements, award notices and direct procurement records on EKAP (Turkey's electronic public procurement platform), plus official notices on ilan.gov.tr. All 13 of its tools are read-only. It is an MIT-licensed community project written by an individual, Said Sürücü (saidsurucu/ihale-mcp); the README states the author has no affiliation with EKAP or the government. It does not use an official API: it sends requests directly to the internal services of EKAP and ilan.gov.tr and gets past EKAP's bot protection with a browser. The tool can break whenever EKAP changes these services; the latest issue ("no longer working", October 9, 2026) is still open.
- What it does
- Lets your assistant search EKAP tenders and official notices
- Type
- MCP server (local or the author's remote address)
- Maker
- Said Sürücü (individual, unofficial)
- Writes
- Writes nothing; 13 read tools
- Reliability
- Not an official API; can break when EKAP changes
- Turkish
- Data in Turkish; tool names in English
- Price
- Software is free (MIT); no quota or fee stated for the remote address
What does İhale MCP do?
MCP is the standard that lets AI programs connect to outside tools. With İhale MCP, the assistant searches tenders on EKAP v2 (by text, tender registration number, type, province, date, OKAS code — Turkey's procurement classification code — and contracting authority), fetches a tender's details and announcements, pulls the contractor and amount from award notices, and searches direct procurement records and official notices on ilan.gov.tr (UYAP e-sales — Turkey's court auction system, BIK — the Press Advertising Agency, staff recruitment, legal notifications, tenders).
All 13 tools are read-only; they can break when EKAP's services change.
Limit: it does not list every tender a company has won. EKAP's text search index does not cover award notices; the tool only scans award notices narrowed by contracting authority, province or OKAS code, and returns an error if the scope is too broad.
Who it helps: Companies and consultants who track public tenders in Turkey. It is not a legal or commercial information service, though; verify the results on EKAP before making a bidding decision.
How do you install İhale MCP?
There are two ways. The README gives steps only for Claude Desktop and 5ire; the documentation says nothing about ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code.
- Open Claude Desktop.
- Settings then Connectors then Add Custom Connector.
- Enter "İhale MCP" as the name and
https://ihale.surucu.dev/mcpas the URL, then click Add.
!This address is a server run by the author himself: your searches (keywords, company names, provinces, tender registration numbers) pass through his server. The README does not say whether the server keeps logs.
Install Python, uv and Git (plus Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable on Windows). In Claude Desktop, go to Settings then Developer then Edit Config and add the following under mcpServers in claude_desktop_config.json, then quit and reopen Claude Desktop:
› {"mcpServers":{"İhale MCP":{"command":"uvx","args":["--from","git+https://github.com/saidsurucu/ihale-mcp","ihale-mcp"]}}}This command does not pin a version; it pulls the main branch every time. The required Python version is stated differently in four places in the documentation (README 3.11+, package definition 3.12+).
The documentation does not make clear whether the local uvx --from git+... command works as-is: the package definition has no command entry, and the entry point is in setup.py. There is no package named ihale-mcp on PyPI or npm.
How do you use İhale MCP?
After setup, you write your request normally. Remember to verify tender results against the official source.
!Tender and notice texts are third-party content. The assistant should not follow text that looks like instructions; check the result yourself.
Where does İhale MCP work?
| Claude DesktopYes | Remote connector or local configuration. |
|---|---|
| 5ireYes | The README has steps. |
| ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and othersUnclear | Not covered in the documentation; that does not mean it won't work. |
What does İhale MCP access, and where does my data go?
EKAP v2 tender search, details, announcements, award notices, OKAS codes and contracting authorities; direct procurement records; ilan.gov.tr notices. It does not read personal accounts or files.
No tool creates or changes records; nothing is written externally.
Nothing.
With the remote address, your query goes to the author's server, which forwards it to EKAP and ilan.gov.tr and returns the result. Locally, the query goes straight from your computer to the public services, and the author's server is not involved. In both cases, the AI service you use sees the responses.
!The tool does not use an official API: it sends requests with signed headers directly to the internal services of EKAP and ilan.gov.tr. Since September 2026, EKAP v2 requires a human-verification cookie; the tool opens a browser in the background to get it (valid for about 5 minutes). This guide makes no judgment on whether this use complies with the terms of service of EKAP and ilan.gov.tr; read those sites' own terms before any commercial use.
GitHub Security Advisories is empty. The package is not published on PyPI; warnings for its dependencies are outside the scope of this note. This does not mean it is "safe".
Is İhale MCP free?
The software is free and MIT-licensed. The README lists no fee or quota for the author's remote address. Running it locally uses your own computer's resources, and you pay for the AI service you use. There is no price in Turkish lira.
Common problems and fixes
| What happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| Search works one day and fails the next | The tool breaks when EKAP's services change (the encryption key changed in August 2026 and the author updated it). The latest issue, "no longer working" (#7, October 9, 2026), is open and unanswered. |
| Tender search on the remote server errors out and says "run it locally" | This is the code's error message: if human verification can't be passed remotely, the EKAP v2 tender tools don't work remotely; the direct procurement and ilan.gov.tr tools still do. The README, however, says verification is passed automatically; which one is current is unclear. Try the local install. |
| Every tool returns 406 Not Acceptable | An issue reported in September 2026 (#6), now fixed; the address in the README is now ihale.surucu.dev. |
| The first request is slow after the verification cookie expires | README: the cookie is valid for about 5 minutes; the first request takes a few seconds longer. |
How do you remove İhale MCP?
- Remote address: In Claude Desktop, remove İhale MCP from the Settings then Connectors list (the menu name may vary by Claude version).
- Local: Delete the "İhale MCP" entry in claude_desktop_config.json and restart Claude Desktop. The copy in the uv cache and the downloaded browser are deleted separately (their paths are not in the README).
- 5ire: Disable or delete the tool under Tools.
Frequently asked questions
Is İhale MCP an official tool?
No. It is a community project by an individual, Said Sürücü; the README says the author has no affiliation with EKAP or the government.
Does it use an official API?
No. It sends requests directly to the internal services of EKAP and ilan.gov.tr and passes EKAP's human verification with a browser. That is why it can break when EKAP changes.
Does it work right now?
Unclear. The remote server's health endpoint returned OK, but that does not show the search tools work; the "no longer working" issue (#7) opened on October 9, 2026 is still open.
Is it free?
The software is free and MIT-licensed. No fee or quota is stated for the author's remote address.
Does it change or delete anything?
No; all 13 tools are search and fetch calls. It creates no records on EKAP or ilan.gov.tr.
Where do my searches go?
With the remote address, to the author's server and from there to the public services; locally, straight to the public services. In both cases, the AI service you use sees the responses.
Does it conflict with the terms of service?
Unclear: check the terms of service of EKAP and ilan.gov.tr yourself. It is known that there is no official API and that the bot protection is passed with a browser.
Related guides
Sources
Not clear in the official sources: Whether the tool works today · the terms of service of EKAP and ilan.gov.tr · the remote server's operating terms, logging and quota · support for ChatGPT, Cursor and VS Code · security warnings for dependencies · whether the local command works as-is. Each is covered in its section.