ESG Hub
An open-access encyclopedia of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) knowledge by Ascent Partners Foundation — 350+ articles, 240+ curated resources, books, courses, AI search, a public REST API, and an MCP server. Available in English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong).
Live site: esg-hub.ascent.partners
Overview
- Knowledge base — 350+ ESG articles across standards (GRI, IFRS S1/S2, TCFD, TNFD, ESRS), regulations, frameworks, ratings, and regional (HK/APAC) guidance
- AI search — ask questions in natural language; answers grounded in the knowledge base (SurrealDB BM25 + vector search, DeepSeek, Brave Search across authoritative ESG domains)
- Public REST API — open access to all content:
/api/v1 - MCP server — connect AI agents directly:
@esg-hub/mcp-server - Learning resources — free courses, books, and a curated video library
- i18n — English, Simplified Chinese (zh), Traditional Chinese — Hong Kong (hk)
Architecture
flowchart TB
U["User / AI agent"] --> WEB["Next.js 16 App Router · React 19<br/>next-intl (en / zh / hk)"]
WEB --> DB[("SurrealDB Cloud<br/>BM25 + vector search")]
WEB --> AI["DeepSeek + Brave Search<br/>grounded answers"]
WEB --> API["Public REST API · /api/v1"]
API --> MCP["MCP server<br/>@simonmak-ascent/esg-hub-mcp"]
V["APG fleet · ecs-05"] --> WEB
How a query is answered
sequenceDiagram
autonumber
actor U as User
participant W as Next.js app (App Router)
participant API as /api/ai-search · /api/ai-chat
participant S as search.ts
participant DB as SurrealDB (page · section · embedding)
participant AI as DeepSeek
participant X as Brave / OpenAlex
U->>W: ask a question
W->>API: POST query (+ locale)
API->>S: search(query)
S->>DB: BM25 keyword + vector (embedding) hybrid ranking
DB-->>S: ranked pages / sections + citations
API->>AI: synthesize answer from ranked context
API->>X: enrich (web + research)
X-->>API: references
API-->>W: streamed answer + citations
W-->>U: grounded response
Data model
erDiagram
PAGE ||--o{ SECTION : contains
SECTION ||--o{ EMBEDDING : "vectorised as"
FRAMEWORK ||--o{ PAGE : classifies
INDUSTRY ||--o{ PAGE : tags
TERM ||--o{ PAGE : defines
PAGE {
string id
string slug
string title
string lang
}
SECTION {
string id
string heading
text body
}
EMBEDDING {
vector vector
string model
}
FRAMEWORK, INDUSTRY and TERM are the facets exposed by the /api/v1/* REST
resources; page, section and embedding are the core SurrealDB tables.
Deployment
Production runs on the ecs-01/02/03 HA fleet.
Production is served by ecs-05 (:3210) behind Caddy; the former Vercel project was retired. See apg-infra for the fleet deployment.
flowchart LR
DEV["git push / PR"] --> CI["GitHub Actions<br/>lint · test · e2e · health-check"]
CI -->|merge to main| PROD["ecs-05 · Caddy :3210<br/>esg-hub.ascent.partners"]
PROD --> SURF["/api/mcp · /api/v1<br/>MCP + REST surfaces"]
Tech Stack
Next.js 16 (App Router, React 19) · SurrealDB Cloud · Tailwind CSS v4 · next-intl · Vitest + Playwright · APG fleet (ecs-05)
Quick Start (≤ 5 minutes)
Fastest path — nothing to install: use the live site and the open API.
- Site: https://esg-hub.ascent.partners
- API (no auth):
GET https://esg-hub.ascent.partners/api/v1/pages
Run a local copy:
git clone https://github.com/simonmak-ascent/esg-hub.git
cd esg-hub
pnpm install # note: requires sibling repo ../tool_package (private)
cp .env.example .env # fill in your own values
pnpm dev
Useful commands: pnpm lint · npx tsc --noEmit · npx vitest run · pnpm verify:db
Note: the app renders content from a SurrealDB database — you need your own instance and content to run a full copy. The public site and API are freely accessible without running anything.
API & MCP
- REST API: open, no auth —
GET /api/v1/pages,/api/v1/search?q=...,/api/v1/resources,/api/v1/meta(docs) - MCP server: see
mcp-server/— gives AI agents tools to search and read the knowledge base
Contributing
- Content errors (wrong/outdated info, dead links): open a content error issue
- Bugs and code changes: see CONTRIBUTING.md
- Security vulnerabilities: report privately via SECURITY.md
Use with Context7
Up-to-date ESG Hub documentation is indexed on Context7, so coding agents can pull it into context on demand. With the Context7 MCP server or ctx7 CLI installed, name the library in your prompt:
use library /simonmak-ascent/esg-hub for API and docs
License
- Code: MIT
- Encyclopedia content: CC BY-SA 4.0 by Ascent Partners Foundation
An Ascent Partners Foundation project.
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