NASA MCP Server

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/handlers/nasa/exoplanet.ts:24-111 (handler)

  Main handler function that queries the NASA Exoplanet Archive API, processes the response, adds a resource, and returns formatted content.

  export async function nasaExoplanetHandler(params: ExoplanetParams) {
    try {
      const { table, select, where, order, format, limit } = params;
      
      // Construct the API parameters directly - nstedAPI has different params than TAP/sync
      const apiParams: Record<string, any> = {
        table: table,
        format: format
      };
      
      // Add optional parameters if provided
      if (select) {
        apiParams.select = select;
      }
      
      if (where) {
        apiParams.where = where;
      }
      
      if (order) {
        apiParams.order = order;
      }
      
      if (limit) {
        apiParams.top = limit; // Use 'top' instead of 'limit' for this API
      }
      
      // Make the request to the Exoplanet Archive
      const response = await axios.get(EXOPLANET_API_URL, {
        params: apiParams
      });
      
      // Create a resource ID based on the query parameters
      const resourceId = `nasa://exoplanet/data?table=${table}${where ? `&where=${encodeURIComponent(where)}` : ''}${limit ? `&limit=${limit}` : ''}`;
      
      // Register the response as a resource
      addResource(resourceId, {
        name: `Exoplanet data from ${table}${where ? ` with filter` : ''}`,
        mimeType: format === 'json' ? 'application/json' : 'text/plain',
        text: format === 'json' ? JSON.stringify(response.data, null, 2) : response.data
      });
      
      // Format response based on the data type
      if (Array.isArray(response.data) && response.data.length > 0) {
        // If we got an array of results
        const count = response.data.length;
        return {
          content: [
            {
              type: "text",
              text: `Found ${count} exoplanet records from the ${table} table.`
            },
            {
              type: "text",
              text: JSON.stringify(response.data.slice(0, 10), null, 2) + 
                   (count > 10 ? `\n... and ${count - 10} more records` : '')
            }
          ],
          isError: false
        };
      } else {
        // If we got a different format or empty results
        return { 
          content: [
            {
              type: "text",
              text: `Exoplanet query complete. Results from ${table} table.`
            },
            {
              type: "text",
              text: typeof response.data === 'string' ? response.data : JSON.stringify(response.data, null, 2)
            }
          ],
          isError: false
        };
      }
    } catch (error: any) {
      console.error('Error in Exoplanet handler:', error);
      
      return {
        isError: true,
        content: [{
          type: "text",
          text: `Error accessing NASA Exoplanet Archive: ${error.message || 'Unknown error'}`
        }]
      };
    }
  }

• src/handlers/nasa/exoplanet.ts:9-16 (schema)

  Zod schema for validating input parameters to the nasa_exoplanet tool.

  export const exoplanetParamsSchema = z.object({
    table: z.string(),
    select: z.string().optional(),
    where: z.string().optional(),
    order: z.string().optional(),
    format: z.enum(['json', 'csv', 'ipac', 'xml']).optional().default('json'),
    limit: z.number().int().min(1).max(1000).optional()
  });

• src/index.ts:1609-1623 (registration)

  Registers the MCP request handler for the 'nasa/exoplanet' method, which delegates to the dynamic handler import.

  server.setRequestHandler(
    z.object({ 
      method: z.literal("nasa/exoplanet"),
      params: z.object({
        table: z.string().optional(),
        select: z.string().optional(),
        where: z.string().optional(),
        order: z.string().optional(),
        limit: z.number().optional()
      }).optional()
    }),
    async (request) => {
      return await handleToolCall("nasa/exoplanet", request.params || {});
    }
  );

• src/index.ts:883-910 (schema)

  Input schema definition for the nasa_exoplanet tool in the tools/list response.

  name: "nasa_exoplanet",
  description: "NASA Exoplanet Archive - data about planets beyond our solar system",
  inputSchema: {
    type: "object",
    properties: {
      table: {
        type: "string",
        description: "Database table to query"
      },
      select: {
        type: "string",
        description: "Columns to return"
      },
      where: {
        type: "string",
        description: "Filter conditions"
      },
      order: {
        type: "string",
        description: "Ordering of results"
      },
      limit: {
        type: "number",
        description: "Maximum number of results"
      }
    },
    required: ["table"]
  }

• src/index.ts:478-481 (registration)

  Tool listing in the tools/manifest response.

    name: "nasa_exoplanet",
    id: "nasa/exoplanet",
    description: "Access NASA's Exoplanet Archive data"
  },