Tideways MCP Server

Search traces

tideways_search_traces

Read-onlyIdempotent

Find individual request traces to debug slow or failing requests by response time, memory, bottlenecks, and slowest layers; filter by transaction ID, text, time window, or response time.

Instructions

Find individual request traces (30 per call unless "limit" asks for up to 100; newest first unless sortBy is set) with response time, memory, bottlenecks and the slowest layers. Use to investigate specific slow or failing requests; filter by transaction IDs from tideways_get_performance, text, time window and response time.

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`to`	No	Latest trace time (inclusive), "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm" UTC; needs "from" as well
`from`	No	Earliest trace time, "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm" UTC; needs "to" as well
`limit`	No	Traces to return, up to 100. Raise it to cover a busy window or to find rarer examples, such as traces with an nplus1 bottleneck.
`detail`	No	"concise" (default) returns a trimmed summary. "full" also includes the unmodified API response under "raw"; it can be very large.	concise
`search`	No	One whole word from the transaction name or URL path (e.g. "checkout"), matched against transaction, host and URL tokens. Several words match any of them and widen the result.
`sortBy`	No	response_time = slowest first, memory = highest first; omit for newest first. Without from/to, sorted results span all retained traces (~30 days).
`project`	No	Tideways project as "project" or "organization/project". Defaults to the defaultProject that tideways_list_projects reports; call it for valid names.
`service`	No	Service, e.g. "web" or "worker". Defaults to the configured service, else the project's default service. A project can have several services; tideways_list_services lists them. When results come back, an unknown name fails with an error.
`environment`	No	Environment, e.g. "production" or "staging". Defaults to the configured environment, else production; criteria.environment (traces: each trace's environment) shows which was used. When results come back, an unknown name fails with an error.
`withCallgraph`	No	true = only traces that have a full callgraph (profile)
`transactionIds`	No	Only traces of these transactions: numeric IDs from transactions[].id of tideways_get_performance. Combines with search, environment, service, sortBy and the from/to window.
`maxResponseTimeMs`	No
`minResponseTimeMs`	No

Output Schema

Name	Required	Description
`raw`	No	Unmodified Tideways API response; present only when detail is "full".
`count`	Yes
`traces`	Yes
`project`	Yes
`limitReached`	Yes	True when as many traces came back as "limit" asked for: raise "limit" (up to 100), narrow the time window or change sortBy to see others

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed5 schema fields changedv2.1.1Oct 15, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / limit

Added value: +{
+  "default": 30,
+  "description": "Traces to return, up to 100. Raise it to cover a busy window or to find rarer examples, such as traces with an nplus1 bottleneck.",
+  "maximum": 100,
+  "minimum": 1,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / transactionIds

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Only traces of these transactions: numeric IDs from transactions[].id of tideways_get_performance. Combines with search, environment, service, sortBy and the from/to window.",
+  "items": {
+    "exclusiveMinimum": 0,
+    "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+    "type": "integer"
+  },
+  "maxItems": 20,
+  "minItems": 1,
+  "type": "array"
+}

changedOutput schema / properties / limitReached / description

Previous value: -"True when 30 traces came back, the API maximum: narrow the time window or change sortBy to see others"New value: +"True when as many traces came back as \"limit\" asked for: raise \"limit\" (up to 100), narrow the time window or change sortBy to see others"

addedOutput schema / properties / traces / items / properties / date / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "description": "\"YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm\"",
+    "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2} \\d{2}:\\d{2}$",
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "null"
+  }
+]

removedOutput schema / properties / traces / items / properties / date / type
```
Removed value: -[
-  "string",
-  "null"
-]
```

First observedv2.0.0Oct 3, 2026

TDQS

A4.2/5.0

Behavior4/5

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

Annotations already establish readOnly/idempotent/non-destructive, so the bar is lower; the description nevertheless adds real behavioral facts beyond them: default page size of 30 (max 100) and the default sort order (newest first unless sortBy is set). It does not repeat the schema's warning about detail="full" being very large, which is the one behavior worth surfacing at selection time.

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 sentences: the first front-loads result contents and default paging/ordering, the second front-loads the use case before the filter list. The dense parenthetical earns its space by answering 'how many, in what order' in one clause.

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?

With 13 optional params, an output schema, and 85% schema coverage, the description supplies the missing selection-level context (defaults, ordering) and need not explain return values. It omits only the caveats about from/to being mutually required and the verbose detail="full" payload size, which are relevant before calling but are covered in the schema.

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 coverage is 85%, so the schema already documents nearly every parameter in detail; the description mainly summarizes (limit, sortBy, transactionIds, text, time window, response time). It adds the ordering default only implicitly ('newest first unless sortBy is set'), which duplicates the sortBy schema text rather than extending it. Baseline 3 is appropriate.

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 ("Find individual request traces") and immediately lists what each result carries: response time, memory, bottlenecks, slowest layers. That contrasts cleanly with siblings like tideways_get_transaction (single trace) and tideways_get_performance (aggregated data), so an agent can pick it without opening the schema.

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?

Explicitly gives the use case ("investigate specific slow or failing requests") and names tideways_get_performance as the upstream source for transactionIds, which is a concrete routing rule. It stops short of saying when *not* to use it (e.g. versus tideways_get_transaction for a single known trace), so it is contextually clear but has no exclusions.

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

Deploy Server