Nat

Stop clicking. Start asking.

Nat is your AI-powered assistant for NationBuilder. Instead of navigating endless menus and filters, just tell Nat what you need in plain English.

The Problem

NationBuilder is powerful, but let's be honest: the control panel is overwhelming. Finding a donor means clicking through People → Filters → Add condition → Amount → Greater than... You get the idea.

Your volunteers shouldn't need a training manual. Your staff shouldn't waste hours on data entry. You have doors to knock and calls to make.

The Solution

Nat understands what you mean.

You: "Who donated over $100 last month?"

Nat: Found 23 people. Here they are...

You: "Tag everyone who attended the rally as 'activist'"

Nat: Done. Tagged 156 people.

You: "Add a note that I called Sarah Chen about volunteering"

Nat: Got it. Logged the contact.

No menus. No filters. No manual. Just results.

What Nat Can Do

Ask Nat to...	Instead of...
"Find John Smith"	People → Search → Type name → Click profile
"Show me this week's donations"	Finances → Donations → Filter by date → Apply
"Tag these people as volunteers"	Select all → Bulk actions → Add tag → Choose tag → Confirm
"Log a phone call with notes"	Click person → Contacts → New contact → Select type → Add notes → Save
"Who RSVPed to the fundraiser?"	Events → Find event → Click → RSVPs → Export

Nat handles 60+ operations across people, donations, events, tags, lists, paths, surveys, petitions, memberships, and more.

Who It's For

• Campaign staff who need answers fast, not click-throughs
• Nonprofit admins juggling members, donors, and events
• Volunteers who want to help but find NationBuilder intimidating
• Anyone who'd rather talk than click

See It In Action

You: Find everyone tagged "volunteer" in Austin

Nat: Found 47 volunteers in Austin:
     - Maria Garcia - Austin, TX
     - James Wilson - Austin, TX
     - Chen Wei - Austin, TX
     ... and 44 more

You: Add them all to the phone bank list

Nat: Added 47 people to "Phone Bank" list.

You: How many donations did we get this week?

Nat: This week: 12 donations totaling $2,340
     Top donor: Sarah Chen ($500)
     Average: $195

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Getting Started

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• A NationBuilder nation with API access
• An Anthropic API key (get one here)

Quick Setup

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/ianpatrickhines/nat.git
cd nat

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Configure your keys
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your credentials

Configuration

Edit .env with:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_api_key
NATIONBUILDER_SLUG=your-nation-slug
NATIONBUILDER_API_TOKEN=your_v2_api_token

Getting your NationBuilder API token:

1. Log into your nation's control panel
2. Go to Settings → Developer → API Token
3. Generate a V2 API token

Run Nat

# Interactive conversation
python main.py

# Single question
python main.py --query "How many people are in my database?"

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Technical Details

For developers: Architecture and API reference

Architecture

nat/
├── main.py              # Entry point
├── requirements.txt     # Dependencies
├── .env.example         # Environment template
└── src/nat/
    ├── agent.py         # Claude Agent SDK configuration
    ├── client.py        # NationBuilder V2 API client (JSON:API)
    └── tools.py         # 60+ tool definitions

Powered By

• Claude Agent SDK - Anthropic's framework for building AI agents
• NationBuilder V2 API - JSON:API format
• Claude Haiku 4.5 - Fast, cost-effective AI model with prompt caching

Cost Optimization

Nat uses prompt caching to reduce API costs by up to 90%. The system prompt and tool schemas (~19,000 tokens) are cached and reused across queries, significantly reducing the cost per request.

See CLAUDE.md for detailed cost analysis and caching architecture.

API Coverage

Full coverage of NationBuilder V2 API resources:

• Signups (people), Tags, Contacts
• Donations, Events, RSVPs
• Paths, Path Journeys, Automations
• Lists, Surveys, Petitions
• Memberships, Mailings, and more

JSON:API Concepts

• Filtering: filter[email][email protected]
• Pagination: page[size]=20&page[number]=1
• Sideloading: include=donations,signup_tags
• Sparse fields: fields[signups]=email,first_name

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Coming Soon

Nat SaaS is in development — a hosted version with:

• Chrome extension that lives right inside your NationBuilder control panel
• No setup required — just install and connect
• Team access — multiple users per nation

Interested? Get notified when we launch.

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License

O'Sassy License — Open source with SaaS rights reserved.

You're free to use, modify, and self-host Nat. You cannot offer it as a competing hosted service.

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Built with care by Hines Digital