ameriflux-mcp
Server Configuration
Describes the environment variables required to run the server.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
No arguments | |||
Instructions
Guidance the server publishes about itself, which clients place ahead of the tool catalog so the model reads it before choosing anything.
This server publishes no instructions, or was last inspected before Glama recorded them.
Capabilities
Features and capabilities supported by this server
Protocol revision2025-11-25
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| tools | {
"listChanged": false
} |
| prompts | {
"listChanged": false
} |
| resources | {
"subscribe": false,
"listChanged": false
} |
Tools
Functions exposed to the LLM to take actions
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| amf_describe_variablesA | Decode up to 20 variable names from BASE or FLUXNET files: base name and FP Standard definition with QA/QC range, qualifiers (_PI, _QC, _F, _IU), position (_H_V_R, _H_V_A, _#), FLUXNET processing tokens (MDS, VUT/CUT, NT/DT, REF, percentiles), units and QC meaning per resolution, sign conventions. With site: whether the site measures it, sensor heights and instruments, yearly coverage. Next: call amf_get_availability for the site's years. |
| amf_get_availabilityA | Published years per site for AmeriFlux BASE-BADM and FLUXNET (FLUXNET-1F), FLUXNET2015 and FLUXNET-CH4, and BADM (BIF) membership, each labelled with the data policy it is shared under (CC-BY-4.0, Legacy, Tier Two). Lists requested sites without data and why, and the policy the selection must follow with its obligations. Invalid product/policy pairs fail before any request. Next: call amf_get_citation for these sites. |
| amf_get_badmA | A site's Biological, Ancillary, Disturbance and Metadata as the API exposes it, by group: location, IGBP and climate, tower dates, team (no emails by default), disturbance and management, funding sponsors and organizations (needed to acknowledge Legacy sites), reference papers, and instruments with measurement heights. The full BADM ships as the BIF file in BASE-BADM downloads. Next: call amf_get_citation to cite the site. |
| amf_get_citationA | Citations for up to 50 sites and one product (BASE-BADM, BIF, FLUXNET, FLUXNET2015): AmeriFlux's own versioned text per site DOI (e.g. 'Ver. 28-5'), the policy the selection must follow with its obligations (mixing CC-BY and Legacy means Legacy; mixing tiers means Tier Two), verbatim acknowledgments, Legacy site funding, the data-availability sentence and processing papers. Optional BibTeX. Next: cite every site in the reference list and follow the obligations. |
| amf_get_siteA | One site by ID (any case), NEON code, FLUXNET2015 old ID or name: location, IGBP and Köppen with AmeriFlux's descriptions, data policy and what it means, DOIs, years per product (BASE, FLUXNET, FLUXNET2015, FLUXNET-CH4), member networks, links to NEON and to LTER data in EDI, team (no emails by default), measured BASE variables. Next: call amf_get_availability for exact years or amf_get_citation to cite it. |
| amf_list_filesA | Find the AmeriFlux and FLUXNET files already on this computer, in the download directory and configured local roots: BASE and BASE-BADM zips, BIF files, AmeriFlux FLUXNET (ONEFlux) and FLUXNET2015 archives, with each archive's members classified by kind (data, ERA, BIFVARINFO, BIF, aux tables), site, resolution, years and version. Unsafe members are flagged. stdio only. Next: call amf_preview_data(file=...) on one. |
| amf_pingA | Liveness and capability report: server version, protocol and transport; whether a download identity is configured (booleans and profile names only, never the values) and which tools need it; whether downloads are enabled and where files go. With check_api=true it also makes one small request to the AmeriFlux API to confirm connectivity. Next: read ameriflux://guide/identity to set up downloads. |
| amf_preview_dataA | Summarize or page through a local BASE, AmeriFlux FLUXNET or FLUXNET2015 CSV, in place or inside its zip: time step and range, per-column count, missing (-9999), min, max, mean and out-of-range counts, units per resolution, a time window, a QC filter, UTC timestamps from the site's BIF, a SUBSET column view, and aux tables. Stops within a byte and time budget. stdio only. Next: call amf_describe_variables on columns to decode. |
| amf_read_bifA | Read a local BADM Interchange Format file, the site metadata shipped in BASE-BADM (xlsx) and AmeriFlux FLUXNET (CSV) downloads, also from inside the zip: entries by group (location, IGBP, team, instruments, disturbance …), UTC offsets with their start dates, the DOI and citation recorded for that version, and funding acknowledgments. Emails and addresses are withheld by default. stdio only. Next: call amf_get_citation for the current citation. |
| amf_search_sitesA | Find flux tower sites in the AmeriFlux (856), FLUXNET2015 (212) and FLUXNET-CH4 (81) catalogs by words, place (bbox or near a point), IGBP ecosystem, Köppen climate, country/state, status, member network (NEON, LTER, ...), data product and policy, years with data, measured variables or gas species. Returns compact site summaries with years per product, facets over all matches, and paging. Next: call amf_get_site for one site or amf_get_availability for exact years. |
| amf_search_variablesA | Find variable names in the FP Standard list (AmeriFlux BASE, live, with QA/QC ranges) and the FLUXNET dictionaries (AmeriFlux FLUXNET from ONEFlux v1.3; FLUXNET2015 FULLSET and SUBSET), by words, category or resolution. FLUXNET units change with resolution (NEE is umol m-2 s-1 at HH, gC m-2 d-1 at DD), so each result lists units per resolution and SUBSET membership. Next: call amf_describe_variables on the names. |
Prompts
Interactive templates invoked by user choice
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| cite_flux_data | Citations, acknowledgments and data-policy obligations for the sites a paper used. |
| find_flux_sites | Go from a research question to candidate AmeriFlux and FLUXNET towers with their years, products and data policy. |
| plan_site_analysis | Availability, variable meanings, a download plan the user approves, previews and citations for chosen sites. |
Resources
Contextual data attached and managed by the client
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| agent-workflow | From a question to previewed, cited flux data in seven calls: search, site, availability, variables, a consented download, preview, citation; inputs and errors. |
| data-policy | AmeriFlux CC-BY-4.0 vs Legacy and FLUXNET2015 Tier One vs Tier Two: what each asks when you publish, and why mixing sites escalates to the stricter policy. |
| file-formats | Names and contents of BASE, BADM (BIF), AmeriFlux FLUXNET and FLUXNET2015 files: members, timestamps, -9999, UTC offsets, QC, previews and the safety rules. |
| fluxnet2015-access | How to get FLUXNET2015 zips from fluxnet.org yourself and read them here through local.roots; why the server never automates the login or uses unofficial copies. |
| identity | Why AmeriFlux downloads disclose the user's ID, email and intended use to site PIs, how the user configures it, and the auth_required errors without it. |
| products | BASE-BADM, BIF, FLUXNET (FLUXNET-1F), FLUXNET2015 and FLUXNET-CH4: policies, which to use, FULLSET vs SUBSET, bulk BADM and versions. |
| variable-grammar | How BASE (FP Standard) and FLUXNET variable names are built: qualifiers, positions, processing tokens, units and QC that change with resolution, sign conventions. |
| acknowledgments | Verbatim acknowledgment, data-availability and processing-reference texts from the AmeriFlux and FLUXNET data-policy pages, with the date they were checked. |
| fluxnet-variables | FLUXNET2015 FULLSET/SUBSET and ONEFlux v1.3 variables with units and notes per resolution (HH, DD, WW, MM, YY), SUBSET membership and sources. |
| fp-variables | The FP Standard variable list of AmeriFlux BASE (about 145 base names) with units, type and QA/QC ranges; live, or the bundled snapshot when the API is unreachable. |
| lter-crosswalk | AmeriFlux sites linked to LTER sites and their EDI scopes, with the basis of each link; curated, status draft. |
| neon-crosswalk | NEON site codes and their AmeriFlux site IDs (e.g. SRER -> US-xSR), from the live catalog; NEON's flux product for these towers is DP4.00200.001. |
| vocabularies | IGBP ecosystem classes and Köppen climates in AmeriFlux's wording (with caveats), the product x policy matrix, policies, intended-use codes and member networks. |
TDQS
Scored across 11 tools
Most tools occupy clearly separate niches: search_* returns candidate lists, get_* pulls one entity, and the local-file tools (list_files, preview_data, read_bif) are distinct from the API tools. A few pairs are close — describe_variables vs. search_variables (both about variable names) and get_badm vs. read_bif (BADM metadata via API vs. from a local file) — but the descriptions explicitly anchor them to different sources and workflows.
Every tool carries the amf_ prefix and follows a clean snake_case verb_noun pattern (get_site, search_sites, describe_variables, read_bif, list_files), with only the conventional bare 'ping' deviating. The naming is fully predictable and reinforces the search/get/describe groupings.
Eleven tools is a well-scoped set for a site-catalog + metadata + local-file-inspection server, and each tool maps to a concrete step in the discovery-to-analysis workflow. No filler or redundant wrappers are present.
The discovery, metadata, citation and local-file reading surface is rich, but the download step appears absent from the tool list even though amf_ping describes configured download identities, enabled downloads, and 'which tools need it' — leaving a gap between finding a site and reading its data. There is also no write/export or bulk-extraction operation, so agents may hit a dead end after previewing files.