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gdelt-mcp-server

by io.github.cyanheads
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Get GDELT Coverage Breakdown

gdelt_get_coverage_breakdown
Read-only

Break down news coverage volume over time by source language or source country, returning a multi-series time series (one series per language or country). Shows which countries or languages drove early vs. late coverage — useful for tracing how a story propagated geographically or across language communities. Returns up to 10 series by total volume and aggregates the rest into an "Other" bucket, naming every series it folded in there under otherSeriesLabels — pass any of those labels back as the series input to get that series complete, ranked or not. Values are normalized: each point is the topic's share of media output, not an absolute article count. Small media markets with concentrated coverage therefore rank above large markets with diverse output — a high value means the topic dominated that source's coverage, not that it published the most articles. Use breakdownBy "country" with the signal-detection chain to map geographic attention, or "language" to detect non-English media surges.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
queryYesSearch query using GDELT syntax. Same operators as gdelt_search_articles: phrases, boolean OR, sourcecountry:, sourcelang:, domain:, theme: (GKG theme identifiers come from gdelt_search_themes).
seriesNoExact series labels to additionally return in full, e.g. ["Portuguese", "Vietnamese"]. Take them verbatim from otherSeriesLabels (the series folded into "Other") or topSeries[].label in a response, or from the label list an unknown_series error prints. Each one comes back complete under selectedSeries, on top of the usual top-10 overview; a label that matches nothing is rejected rather than silently skipped. Omit to get the overview alone.
timespanNoTime window relative to now, minimum "15min"; other examples: "24h", "7d", "1m". Ignored when startDatetime/endDatetime are set. Maximum 3 months.
breakdownByYesBreakdown dimension: "language" for source language time series, "country" for source country time series.
endDatetimeNoEnd datetime in GDELT format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS — exactly 14 digits, no separators (e.g. 20240131235959). Must pair with startDatetime; supplying only one of the two is rejected.
startDatetimeNoStart datetime in GDELT format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS — exactly 14 digits, no separators (e.g. 20240101000000). Must pair with endDatetime; supplying only one of the two is rejected.

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
errorNoPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
noticeNoGuidance when the query matched no coverage in the window — how to broaden the query or extend the window. Absent when breakdown data was returned.
topSeriesNoTop 10 series by total coverage volume.
totalCountNoTotal number of series returned before truncation to top 10.
breakdownByNoBreakdown dimension used for this response.
endDatetimeNoEchoed end datetime when provided (YYYYMMDDHHMMSS).
startDatetimeNoEchoed start datetime when provided (YYYYMMDDHHMMSS).
dateResolutionNoTemporal resolution of data points — 15min, hour, or day — inferred from the spacing of the returned timesteps. Omitted when fewer than two distinct timesteps came back.
effectiveQueryNoEchoed query string for use in follow-up calls.
selectedSeriesNoComplete, untruncated time series for each label requested via the series input, in the order requested. Omitted when series was not supplied.
otherAggregatedNoCombined time series for all series beyond the top 10. Omitted when all series fit.
otherSeriesLabelsNoLabel of every series folded into otherAggregated, ranked by total volume — the identities the "Other" bucket would otherwise dissolve. Pass any of them to the series input to retrieve that series' complete data. Omitted when all series fit in the top 10.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

  1. Changed1 schema field changed
    • changedInput schema / properties / query / description
      Previous value: -"Search query using GDELT syntax. Same operators as gdelt_search_articles: phrases, boolean OR, sourcecountry:, sourcelang:, domain:, theme:."New value: +"Search query using GDELT syntax. Same operators as gdelt_search_articles: phrases, boolean OR, sourcecountry:, sourcelang:, domain:, theme: (GKG theme identifiers come from gdelt_search_themes)."
  2. Changed5 schema fields changed
    • changedOutput schema / anyOf
      Previous value: -[
-  {
-    "not": {
-      "required": [
-        "error"
-      ]
-    },
-    "required": [
-      "dateResolution",
-      "topSeries",
-      "effectiveQuery",
-      "breakdownBy",
-      "totalCount"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "required": [
-      "error"
-    ]
-  }
-]New value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "topSeries",
+      "effectiveQuery",
+      "breakdownBy",
+      "totalCount"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]
    • changedOutput schema / properties / dateResolution / description
      Previous value: -"Temporal resolution of data points — 15min, hour, or day."New value: +"Temporal resolution of data points — 15min, hour, or day — inferred from the spacing of the returned timesteps. Omitted when fewer than two distinct timesteps came back."
    • changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description
      Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `no_breakdown_data`: No breakdown data returned for the query. `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in this breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Only one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied, one of them is not a real UTC calendar timestamp, or startDatetime is not earlier than endDatetime. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_rate_limited`: GDELT rejected the request for its one-request-per-five-seconds limit, or too many requests were already queued for this one to start in time. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or temporarily returned no usable data. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in a non-empty breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Only one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied, one of them is not a real UTC calendar timestamp, or startDatetime is not earlier than endDatetime. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_rate_limited`: GDELT rejected the request for its one-request-per-five-seconds limit, or too many requests were already queued for this one to start in time. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or temporarily returned no usable data. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."
    • changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples
      Previous value: -[
-  "no_breakdown_data",
-  "unknown_series",
-  "invalid_date_range",
-  "invalid_query",
-  "gdelt_rate_limited",
-  "gdelt_unavailable"
-]New value: +[
+  "unknown_series",
+  "invalid_date_range",
+  "invalid_query",
+  "gdelt_rate_limited",
+  "gdelt_unavailable"
+]
    • changedOutput schema / properties / notice / description
      Previous value: -"Recovery hint when no breakdown data was returned. Absent on successful responses."New value: +"Guidance when the query matched no coverage in the window — how to broaden the query or extend the window. Absent when breakdown data was returned."
  3. Changed1 schema field changed
    • changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description
      Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `no_breakdown_data`: No breakdown data returned for the query. `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in this breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Exactly one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_rate_limited`: GDELT rejected the request for its one-request-per-five-seconds limit, or too many requests were already queued for this one to start in time. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or temporarily returned no usable data. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `no_breakdown_data`: No breakdown data returned for the query. `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in this breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Only one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied, one of them is not a real UTC calendar timestamp, or startDatetime is not earlier than endDatetime. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_rate_limited`: GDELT rejected the request for its one-request-per-five-seconds limit, or too many requests were already queued for this one to start in time. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or temporarily returned no usable data. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."
  4. Changed1 schema field changed
    • changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description
      Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `no_breakdown_data`: No breakdown data returned for the query. `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in this breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Exactly one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_rate_limited`: GDELT rejected the request because its one-request-per-five-seconds limit was reached. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or temporarily returned no usable data. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `no_breakdown_data`: No breakdown data returned for the query. `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in this breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Exactly one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_rate_limited`: GDELT rejected the request for its one-request-per-five-seconds limit, or too many requests were already queued for this one to start in time. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or temporarily returned no usable data. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."
  5. Changed2 schema fields changed
    • changedOutput schema / properties / dateResolution / description
      Previous value: -"Temporal resolution of data points."New value: +"Temporal resolution of data points — 15min, hour, or day."
    • changedOutput schema / properties / dateResolution / enum
      Previous value: -[
-  "hour",
-  "day"
-]New value: +[
+  "15min",
+  "hour",
+  "day"
+]
  6. Changed3 schema fields changed
    • changedInput schema / properties / timespan / description
      Previous value: -"Time window relative to now, e.g. \"24h\", \"7d\", \"1m\". Ignored when startDatetime/endDatetime are set. Maximum 3 months."New value: +"Time window relative to now, minimum \"15min\"; other examples: \"24h\", \"7d\", \"1m\". Ignored when startDatetime/endDatetime are set. Maximum 3 months."
    • changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description
      Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `no_breakdown_data`: No breakdown data returned for the query. `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in this breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Exactly one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or rate-limited. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `no_breakdown_data`: No breakdown data returned for the query. `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in this breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Exactly one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_rate_limited`: GDELT rejected the request because its one-request-per-five-seconds limit was reached. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or temporarily returned no usable data. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."
    • changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples
      Previous value: -[
-  "no_breakdown_data",
-  "unknown_series",
-  "invalid_date_range",
-  "invalid_query",
-  "gdelt_unavailable"
-]New value: +[
+  "no_breakdown_data",
+  "unknown_series",
+  "invalid_date_range",
+  "invalid_query",
+  "gdelt_rate_limited",
+  "gdelt_unavailable"
+]
  7. Changed6 schema fields changed
    • changedInput schema / $schema
      Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"
    • addedInput schema / additionalProperties
      Added value: +false
    • changedOutput schema / $schema
      Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"
    • addedOutput schema / anyOf
      Added value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "dateResolution",
+      "topSeries",
+      "effectiveQuery",
+      "breakdownBy",
+      "totalCount"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]
    • addedOutput schema / properties / error
      Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Present when the call failed. Absent on success.",
+  "properties": {
+    "code": {
+      "description": "JSON-RPC error code for this failure.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "additionalProperties": {},
+      "properties": {
+        "reason": {
+          "description": "Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `no_breakdown_data`: No breakdown data returned for the query. `unknown_series`: A label passed in the series input matches no series in this breakdown. `invalid_date_range`: Exactly one of startDatetime / endDatetime was supplied. `invalid_query`: GDELT rejected the query string as malformed — bad keyword length, unbalanced parentheses, or an illegal character. `gdelt_unavailable`: GDELT DOC API is unreachable or rate-limited. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "no_breakdown_data",
+            "unknown_series",
+            "invalid_date_range",
+            "invalid_query",
+            "gdelt_unavailable"
+          ],
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "recovery": {
+          "additionalProperties": {},
+          "description": "Actionable next step for the caller.",
+          "properties": {
+            "hint": {
+              "type": "string"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "hint"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "retryable": {
+          "description": "Whether retrying may succeed.",
+          "type": "boolean"
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "message": {
+      "description": "Human-readable description of what went wrong.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "code",
+    "message"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}
    • removedOutput schema / required
      Removed value: -[
-  "dateResolution",
-  "topSeries",
-  "effectiveQuery",
-  "breakdownBy",
-  "totalCount"
-]
  8. Changed3 schema fields changed
    • addedInput schema / properties / series
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Exact series labels to additionally return in full, e.g. [\"Portuguese\", \"Vietnamese\"]. Take them verbatim from otherSeriesLabels (the series folded into \"Other\") or topSeries[].label in a response, or from the label list an unknown_series error prints. Each one comes back complete under selectedSeries, on top of the usual top-10 overview; a label that matches nothing is rejected rather than silently skipped. Omit to get the overview alone.",
+  "items": {
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / otherSeriesLabels
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Label of every series folded into otherAggregated, ranked by total volume — the identities the \"Other\" bucket would otherwise dissolve. Pass any of them to the series input to retrieve that series' complete data. Omitted when all series fit in the top 10.",
+  "items": {
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / selectedSeries
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Complete, untruncated time series for each label requested via the series input, in the order requested. Omitted when series was not supplied.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "A single language or country coverage series.",
+    "properties": {
+      "data": {
+        "description": "Time-ordered data points for this series.",
+        "items": {
+          "additionalProperties": false,
+          "description": "A single data point for this series.",
+          "properties": {
+            "date": {
+              "description": "Timestep in ISO 8601 format.",
+              "type": "string"
+            },
+            "value": {
+              "description": "Normalized coverage volume at this timestep — the topic's share of this source's media output, not an absolute article count.",
+              "type": "number"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "date",
+            "value"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "type": "array"
+      },
+      "label": {
+        "description": "Series label (language name or country name).",
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "label",
+      "data"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}
  9. Changed2 schema fields changed
    • changedOutput schema / properties / otherAggregated / items / properties / value / description
      Previous value: -"Aggregated coverage volume for all remaining series."New value: +"Aggregated normalized coverage volume for all remaining series — a share of media output, not an absolute article count."
    • changedOutput schema / properties / topSeries / items / properties / data / items / properties / value / description
      Previous value: -"Normalized coverage volume at this timestep."New value: +"Normalized coverage volume at this timestep — the topic's share of this source's media output, not an absolute article count."
  10. Changed4 schema fields changed
    • changedInput schema / properties / endDatetime / description
      Previous value: -"End datetime in GDELT format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. Must pair with startDatetime."New value: +"End datetime in GDELT format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS — exactly 14 digits, no separators (e.g. 20240131235959). Must pair with startDatetime; supplying only one of the two is rejected."
    • addedInput schema / properties / endDatetime / pattern
      Added value: +"^\\d{14}$"
    • changedInput schema / properties / startDatetime / description
      Previous value: -"Start datetime in GDELT format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. Must pair with endDatetime."New value: +"Start datetime in GDELT format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS — exactly 14 digits, no separators (e.g. 20240101000000). Must pair with endDatetime; supplying only one of the two is rejected."
    • addedInput schema / properties / startDatetime / pattern
      Added value: +"^\\d{14}$"
  11. Changed2 schema fields changed
    • addedOutput schema / properties / endDatetime
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Echoed end datetime when provided (YYYYMMDDHHMMSS).",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / startDatetime
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Echoed start datetime when provided (YYYYMMDDHHMMSS).",
+  "type": "string"
+}
  12. Changed7 schema fields changed
    • changedOutput schema / properties / breakdownBy / description
      Previous value: -"Breakdown dimension used."New value: +"Breakdown dimension used for this response."
    • addedOutput schema / properties / effectiveQuery
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Echoed query string for use in follow-up calls.",
+  "type": "string"
+}
    • changedOutput schema / properties / notice / description
      Previous value: -"Recovery hint when no data was returned. Absent on successful responses."New value: +"Recovery hint when no breakdown data was returned. Absent on successful responses."
    • removedOutput schema / properties / query
      Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Echoed query string.",
-  "type": "string"
-}
    • removedOutput schema / properties / seriesCount
      Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Total number of series before truncation to top 10.",
-  "type": "number"
-}
    • addedOutput schema / properties / totalCount
      Added value: +{
+  "description": "Total number of series returned before truncation to top 10.",
+  "type": "number"
+}
    • changedOutput schema / required
      Previous value: -[
-  "query",
-  "breakdownBy",
-  "dateResolution",
-  "topSeries",
-  "seriesCount"
-]New value: +[
+  "dateResolution",
+  "topSeries",
+  "effectiveQuery",
+  "breakdownBy",
+  "totalCount"
+]
  13. First observed

TDQS

A4.8/5.0
Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Beyond the readOnlyHint and openWorldHint annotations, the description discloses critical behavioral traits: the top-10 series limit, the 'Other' aggregation bucket, the otherSeriesLabels mechanism, and the normalization of values as share-of-media-output rather than absolute counts. It also explains the counterintuitive ranking consequence for small media markets, which is essential for correct interpretation.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The description is long but every sentence carries unique information: purpose, use case, series behavior, normalization semantics, and dimension-specific guidance. It is front-loaded with the core purpose and then layers behavioral details logically, with no filler or repetition of schema content.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

Given the tool's complexity, the presence of an output schema, and rich annotations, the description covers everything an agent needs: what the tool does, how to interpret results, how to handle series labels, and which breakdown dimension to choose. Nothing critical is missing for correct invocation and result interpretation.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters5/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Although schema coverage is 100%, the description adds substantial meaning beyond the schema: it explains how 'series' labels should be sourced verbatim from otherSeriesLabels, that unmatched labels are rejected rather than skipped, and that values are normalized shares. This goes well beyond the baseline and materially improves correct parameter usage.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description states a specific verb ('break down'), a clear resource ('news coverage volume over time'), and the two dimensions ('source language or source country'). It also distinguishes itself from the sibling gdelt_get_coverage_timeline by emphasizing multi-series breakdown and geographic/language propagation analysis.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

The description gives explicit guidance on when to use 'country' vs 'language' breakdowns ('map geographic attention' vs 'detect non-English media surges') and explains how to use otherSeriesLabels for deeper series retrieval. It doesn't explicitly name sibling tools as alternatives, but the context is clear enough for an agent to select this tool appropriately.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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