Entry Points by Goal

Use this page when multiple tools can answer a similar need and you want to know which one should be the default front door.

Getting set up

Default entry point

• politiclaw_configure

Why

It bundles the highest-friction setup work into one flow instead of making users manually discover address saving, rep bootstrap, issue stances, monitoring, and API key persistence in separate steps. Re-running it with just apiDataGov (or optionalApiKeys) after onboarding is the canonical way to update keys.

Use the lower-level tools when

• you are editing, listing, or removing a single declared stance later with politiclaw_issue_stances (action set / list / delete)

Ballot and election prep

Default entry point

• politiclaw_election_brief

Why

It is the highest-value answer for most users because it checks prerequisites, pulls ballot context, and combines per-contest framing with representative context in one output.

Use the lower-level tools when

• you need the raw ballot snapshot and logistics for debugging or plumbing, use politiclaw_get_my_ballot

Monitoring

Default entry point

• politiclaw_configure

Why

It is the cleanest user-facing control. Most users want one place to save setup and choose how loud monitoring should be, not reason about job installation details.

Use the lower-level tools when

• you want a one-off snapshot instead of ongoing monitoring, use politiclaw_check_upcoming_votes
• you want to suppress a specific topic without changing cadence, use politiclaw_mutes with action='add', 'remove', or 'list'

See also

• Recurring Monitoring for what the cadence actually produces over time.
• Examples of Good Alerts for the shape of each job's output.

Candidate and race research

Default entry point

• politiclaw_research_finance

Why

Most user intent starts with a person, not a whole race. Use mode='candidate' for a single FEC candidate (with name to disambiguate or candidateId for full per-cycle totals).

Use the lower-level modes when

• you want side-by-side incumbent versus challenger finance context for a stored race, call the same tool with mode='challengers'

Reps and bills

Default entry points

• politiclaw_get_my_reps
• politiclaw_score_representative
• politiclaw_search_bills
• politiclaw_score_bill

Why

These pair clean discovery questions with alignment questions. They are the strongest core public surface for ongoing civic use.

Use the lower-level tools when

• you need a single bill's exact source-backed details, use politiclaw_get_bill_details
• you want a combined report across stored reps, use politiclaw_rep_report

See also

• How PolitiClaw Holds Representatives Accountable for how scoring, digests, and draft outreach fit into one loop.