socrata-mcp-server

Get Dataset Schema

socrata_get_dataset

Read-onlyIdempotent

Fetch full metadata and column schema for a Socrata dataset by ID. Returns field names, data types, descriptions, row count, and licensing. Always call this before writing a socrata_query_dataset — the column types determine correct WHERE clause syntax: Number columns accept bare literals (year=2023) while Text columns require single-quoted strings (year='2023').

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`domain`	No	Portal the dataset lives on, as a bare hostname (e.g. data.cityofnewyork.us); URL forms like https://data.cityofnewyork.us/ are accepted and reduced to the host. Pass the domain from the same socrata_find_datasets result as dataset_id. Defaults to SOCRATA_DEFAULT_DOMAIN or data.seattle.gov, which is wrong for another portal’s ID.
`dataset_id`	Yes	Four-by-four dataset ID matching pattern like kzjm-xkqj. IDs are portal-scoped: take it from socrata_find_datasets together with that result’s domain.

Output Schema

Name	Required	Description
`name`	No	Dataset display name.
`tags`	No	Associated tags.
`error`	No	Present when the call failed. Absent on success.
`domain`	No	Portal domain hosting this dataset.
`columns`	No	Column schema. Computed region columns (:@computed_region_*) are excluded to reduce noise.
`license`	No	License name when available.
`category`	No	Domain category when available.
`row_count`	No	Approximate row count when available. See row_count_source for provenance.
`asset_type`	No	Catalog asset type, such as dataset, filter (a filtered view), map, chart, calendar, visualization, measure, story, href (an external link), federated_href, file. Only dataset and filter answer socrata_query_dataset with rows. Absent when the catalog lists none.
`dataset_id`	No	Four-by-four dataset ID.
`description`	No	Dataset description when available.
`data_updated_at`	No	ISO 8601 timestamp of last data update when available.
`row_count_source`	No	How row_count was obtained: 'top_level_cached_contents' — reported directly by the portal's views metadata; 'column_cached_contents' — derived as the maximum per-column cached count when the top-level value is absent. Absent when row_count is absent.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed4 schema fields changedNov 4, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / dataset_id / pattern
```
Added value: +"^[A-Za-z0-9]{4}-[A-Za-z0-9]{4}$"
```

addedOutput schema / properties / asset_type

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Catalog asset type, such as dataset, filter (a filtered view), map, chart, calendar, visualization, measure, story, href (an external link), federated_href, file. Only dataset and filter answer socrata_query_dataset with rows. Absent when the catalog lists none.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description

Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `invalid_id`: Dataset ID does not match the four-by-four pattern. `not_found`: Valid ID format but the dataset does not exist on the domain queried — including a gateway HTTP 403 for an ID the portal does not serve. `unknown_domain`: The domain does not serve the Socrata API to this server: its hostname does not resolve (DNS ENOTFOUND), its API answered HTTP 404 without a Socrata error body, it redirected the request to another host that did not answer with Socrata data, or a gateway refused a dataset the Discovery catalog lists there. `invalid_domain`: The domain is not a hostname, even after dropping a URL scheme, path, or query. `rate_limited`: SODA endpoint returned 429. `retry_deadline_exceeded`: The portal did not answer within the 50-second time limit the call shares across its requests, retries included. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `not_found`: Valid ID format but the dataset does not exist on the domain queried — including a gateway HTTP 403 for an ID the portal does not serve. `unknown_domain`: The domain does not serve the Socrata API to this server: its hostname does not resolve (DNS ENOTFOUND), its API answered HTTP 404 without a Socrata error body, it redirected the request to another host that did not answer with Socrata data, or a gateway refused a dataset the Discovery catalog lists there. `invalid_domain`: The domain is not a hostname, even after dropping a URL scheme, path, or query. `rate_limited`: SODA endpoint returned 429. `retry_deadline_exceeded`: The portal did not answer within the 50-second time limit the call shares across its requests, retries included. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples

Previous value: -[
-  "invalid_id",
-  "not_found",
-  "unknown_domain",
-  "invalid_domain",
-  "rate_limited",
-  "retry_deadline_exceeded"
-]New value: +[
+  "not_found",
+  "unknown_domain",
+  "invalid_domain",
+  "rate_limited",
+  "retry_deadline_exceeded"
+]

Changed2 schema fields changedOct 31, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description

Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `invalid_id`: Dataset ID does not match the four-by-four pattern. `not_found`: Valid ID format but the dataset does not exist on the domain queried — including a gateway HTTP 403 for an ID the portal does not serve. `unknown_domain`: The domain does not serve the Socrata API to this server: its hostname does not resolve (DNS ENOTFOUND), its API answered HTTP 404 without a Socrata error body, it redirected the request to another host that did not answer with Socrata data, or a gateway refused a dataset the Discovery catalog lists there. `invalid_domain`: The domain is not a hostname, even after dropping a URL scheme, path, or query. `rate_limited`: SODA endpoint returned 429. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `invalid_id`: Dataset ID does not match the four-by-four pattern. `not_found`: Valid ID format but the dataset does not exist on the domain queried — including a gateway HTTP 403 for an ID the portal does not serve. `unknown_domain`: The domain does not serve the Socrata API to this server: its hostname does not resolve (DNS ENOTFOUND), its API answered HTTP 404 without a Socrata error body, it redirected the request to another host that did not answer with Socrata data, or a gateway refused a dataset the Discovery catalog lists there. `invalid_domain`: The domain is not a hostname, even after dropping a URL scheme, path, or query. `rate_limited`: SODA endpoint returned 429. `retry_deadline_exceeded`: The portal did not answer within the 50-second time limit the call shares across its requests, retries included. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples

Previous value: -[
-  "invalid_id",
-  "not_found",
-  "unknown_domain",
-  "invalid_domain",
-  "rate_limited"
-]New value: +[
+  "invalid_id",
+  "not_found",
+  "unknown_domain",
+  "invalid_domain",
+  "rate_limited",
+  "retry_deadline_exceeded"
+]

Changed4 schema fields changedSep 22, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / dataset_id / description

Previous value: -"Four-by-four dataset ID matching pattern like kzjm-xkqj. Obtain from socrata_find_datasets."New value: +"Four-by-four dataset ID matching pattern like kzjm-xkqj. IDs are portal-scoped: take it from socrata_find_datasets together with that result’s domain."

changedInput schema / properties / domain / description

Previous value: -"Portal domain (e.g. data.seattle.gov). Defaults to SOCRATA_DEFAULT_DOMAIN env var or data.seattle.gov."New value: +"Portal the dataset lives on, as a bare hostname (e.g. data.cityofnewyork.us); URL forms like https://data.cityofnewyork.us/ are accepted and reduced to the host. Pass the domain from the same socrata_find_datasets result as dataset_id. Defaults to SOCRATA_DEFAULT_DOMAIN or data.seattle.gov, which is wrong for another portal’s ID."

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description

Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `invalid_id`: Dataset ID does not match the four-by-four pattern. `not_found`: Valid ID format but dataset does not exist on this domain. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `invalid_id`: Dataset ID does not match the four-by-four pattern. `not_found`: Valid ID format but the dataset does not exist on the domain queried — including a gateway HTTP 403 for an ID the portal does not serve. `unknown_domain`: The domain does not serve the Socrata API to this server: its hostname does not resolve (DNS ENOTFOUND), its API answered HTTP 404 without a Socrata error body, it redirected the request to another host that did not answer with Socrata data, or a gateway refused a dataset the Discovery catalog lists there. `invalid_domain`: The domain is not a hostname, even after dropping a URL scheme, path, or query. `rate_limited`: SODA endpoint returned 429. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples

Previous value: -[
-  "invalid_id",
-  "not_found"
-]New value: +[
+  "invalid_id",
+  "not_found",
+  "unknown_domain",
+  "invalid_domain",
+  "rate_limited"
+]

Changed6 schema fields changedAug 22, 2026

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": [
+      "dataset_id",
+      "domain",
+      "name",
+      "tags",
+      "columns"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "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: `invalid_id`: Dataset ID does not match the four-by-four pattern. `not_found`: Valid ID format but dataset does not exist on this domain. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "invalid_id",
+            "not_found"
+          ],
+          "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: -[
-  "dataset_id",
-  "domain",
-  "name",
-  "tags",
-  "columns"
-]

Changed2 schema fields changedJul 5, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / row_count / description

Previous value: -"Approximate row count when available."New value: +"Approximate row count when available. See row_count_source for provenance."

addedOutput schema / properties / row_count_source

Added value: +{
+  "description": "How row_count was obtained: 'top_level_cached_contents' — reported directly by the portal's views metadata; 'column_cached_contents' — derived as the maximum per-column cached count when the top-level value is absent. Absent when row_count is absent.",
+  "enum": [
+    "top_level_cached_contents",
+    "column_cached_contents"
+  ],
+  "type": "string"
+}

First observedMay 25, 2026

TDQS

A4.4/5.0

Behavior4/5

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

Annotations already cover safety (readOnly, idempotent, openWorld), so the description earns credit for adding the concrete payoff of calling it: column types dictate WHERE clause quoting. Returned fields are listed, though that partially duplicates the existing output schema.

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?

Two tight sentences, front-loaded with purpose, followed by the mandatory-call ordering and a concrete quoted/unquoted literal example. Nothing is redundant or padded.

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

Completeness4/5

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

Given a full output schema and rich parameter descriptions, the definition covers the agent's decision needs — when to call, what comes back in broad terms, and how the result feeds the query tool. Minor gaps like error behavior on an unknown ID are not addressed but are not essential.

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

Parameters3/5

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

Schema description coverage is 100% and the schema already explains the dataset_id pattern, portal scoping, and the domain default fallback trap in detail. The description only restates 'by ID' without adding syntax or format meaning beyond the schema.

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?

States a specific verb and resource ('Fetch full metadata and column schema for a Socrata dataset by ID') and enumerates the returned fields, which cleanly separates it from socrata_find_datasets (discovery) and socrata_query_dataset (row retrieval).

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

Usage Guidelines5/5

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

Explicitly instructs 'Always call this before writing a socrata_query_dataset' and names the sibling tool that follows it, giving a clear ordering rule rather than vague context. The rationale for the sequencing is also given.

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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Get Dataset Schema

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Output Schema

Schema Changelog

TDQS

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