USER GUIDE
User Guide
Written for everyone — not just policy wonks. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a daily user, this guide explains what you're looking at, where the data comes from, and how to get the most out of the platform.
Getting Started
Feature Guides
Deep Dive Tours
Interactive guided tours that walk you through Capitol Trace's most powerful features. Each tour navigates across multiple pages and explains what you're looking at along the way.
Follow the Money
7 steps
Trace campaign finance from the Money Map through member dossiers, PAC funding breakdowns, and the Stock Watch. Learn how money flows through Congress.
Congressional Accountability
7 steps
Follow stock trades, lobbying disclosures, voting records, and conflict detection. See how Capitol Trace holds representatives accountable.
NatSec Dashboard
7 steps
Explore 7 live intelligence feeds — cyber threats, travel advisories, armed conflict, satellite tracking, and more. Learn to read the national security landscape.
Data Freshness
| Source | Data | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| Congress.gov API | Bills, votes, committees, members | Real-time |
| FEC API | Campaign finance, PAC data, donors | Cached 6h |
| Senate LDA API | Lobbying disclosures, LD-203 | Quarterly |
| QuiverQuant | Congressional stock trades (100K+) | Cached 6h |
| USAspending.gov | Federal contracts & spending | Real-time |
| DOJ FARA | Foreign agent registrations | Daily sync |
| USGS | Earthquake/seismic events | 5-min cache |
| NASA FIRMS | Fire/thermal anomalies | 15-min cache |
| OpenSky | Military & civilian flights | 30-sec cache |
| ACLED | Armed conflict events (187 countries) | Weekly |
| GDELT | Global news event monitoring | 6h sync |
| WikiLeaks Cablegate | Curated cable sample (~20, one per country) | Static seed, hand-loaded |
| OFAC SDN | Sanctions screening | Real-time |
| ICIJ | Offshore leaks (Panama/Paradise Papers) | Static archive |
| SEC Enforcement Releases | Enforcement actions (AAER + litigation) | Daily |
| Voteview (UCLA) | DW-NOMINATE ideology scores | Per-Congress |
| Census Bureau ACS | Demographics, income, education | Annual |
| Federal Register | Executive orders | Real-time |
| BLS LAUS | Unemployment rates | Monthly |
| CBO | Bill cost estimates | Per-bill |
| GAO/GovInfo | Oversight reports & audits | Weekly |
| CelesTrak/NORAD | Satellite tracking | Real-time |
| CISA KEV | Exploited vulnerabilities | Real-time |
| NVD (NIST) | CVE scoring & analysis | Real-time |
| Finnhub | Company profiles & stock quotes | Real-time |
| CFPB | Consumer complaints | Real-time |
| Google Gemini | AI analysis & summaries | On-demand |
Frequently Asked Questions
Privacy & Data Policy
What we collect
- Basic anonymous analytics (page views, feature usage) to improve the platform
- If you create an account: email address and home state preference
- Your SCIF votes — these are yours and tied to your account
- Feedback messages (if you choose to submit one)
What we don't do
- We don't use third-party tracking cookies
- We don't sell, share, or monetize your data — ever
- We don't run ads or accept sponsored content
- We don't store browsing history or build user profiles for targeting
- We don't require an account to browse any data on the platform
Data sources are public
Every data point on Capitol Trace comes from official, publicly available government sources. We don't scrape private data or use proprietary databases. All APIs we use are open to the public — we just make them easier to understand. See the Data Freshness table above for the full list.
Capitol Trace is an independent civic tech project. We are not affiliated with any political party, campaign, PAC, lobbying firm, or government entity. Our mission is transparency — and that starts with being transparent about how we handle your data.
Learn More
Civics Glossary
100+ terms defined in plain English
How a Bill Becomes Law
Interactive step-by-step
Follow the Money 101
Campaign finance explained
Convergence Engine
Cross-reference all intelligence
Geofence Alerts
Location-based intelligence
World Book
28 country intelligence profiles
Developer Portal
API, MCP server, webhooks
NatSec Dashboard
7 live intelligence feeds
FARA Registry
Foreign agent tracking