get_database_metadata

Retrieve complete database schema including all tables, columns, and field types to understand data structure and relationships for analysis.

Instructions

🔍 [SAFE] Get complete metadata for a database including ALL tables, columns, and field types. This is comprehensive and may return large amounts of data. Use this when you need to understand the full database schema. Risk: None - read-only, but returns large payloads.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`databaseId`	Yes	The ID of the database

Implementation Reference

src/server/handlers/databaseHandlers.js:62-91 (handler)

The primary handler function that executes the get_database_metadata tool. Fetches comprehensive metadata from the Metabase API endpoint `/api/database/${databaseId}/metadata`, processes tables with field counts, and returns a formatted text response suitable for MCP.

  async getDatabaseMetadata(databaseId) {
    Validators.validateDatabaseId(databaseId);
    
    this.logger.debug('Getting database metadata', { databaseId });
    const metadata = await this.apiClient.makeRequest(`/api/database/${databaseId}/metadata`);
    
    const tables = metadata.tables?.map(t => ({
      id: t.id,
      name: t.name,
      schema: t.schema,
      fieldCount: t.fields?.length || 0,
    })) || [];

    return {
      content: [
        {
          type: 'text',
          text: `Database Metadata (ID: ${databaseId}):
Database: ${metadata.name}
Engine: ${metadata.engine}
Total Tables: ${tables.length}

Tables:
${tables.map(t => 
  `- ID: ${t.id} | Schema: ${t.schema} | Name: ${t.name} | Fields: ${t.fieldCount}`
).join('\n')}`,
        },
      ],
    };
  }

src/server/config/toolDefinitions.js:113-127 (schema)

Defines the input schema, description, and name for the get_database_metadata tool, used by the MCP server for tool listing and validation.

{
  name: 'get_database_metadata',
  description: '🔍 [SAFE] Get complete metadata for a database including ALL tables, columns, and field types. This is comprehensive and may return large amounts of data. Use this when you need to understand the full database schema. Risk: None - read-only, but returns large payloads.',
  inputSchema: {
    type: 'object',
    properties: {
      databaseId: {
        type: 'integer',
        description: 'The ID of the database',
        minimum: 1,
      },
    },
    required: ['databaseId'],
  },
},

src/server/MetabaseMCPServer.js:192-193 (registration)
Registers and dispatches the get_database_metadata tool call to the appropriate handler method in the main executeTool switch statement.
```
case 'get_database_metadata':
  return await this.databaseHandlers.getDatabaseMetadata(args.databaseId);
```

Metabase MCP Server