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Disco

Find novel, statistically validated patterns in tabular data — feature interactions, subgroup effects, and conditional relationships that humans and agents miss.

PyPI License: MIT

Made by Leap Laboratories.


What it actually does

Most data analysis starts with a question. Disco starts with the data.

Without biases or assumptions, it finds combinations of feature conditions that significantly shift your target column — things like "patients aged 45–65 with low HDL and high CRP have 3× the readmission rate" — without you needing to hypothesise that interaction first.

Each pattern is:

  • Validated on a hold-out set — increases the chance of generalisation

  • FDR-corrected — p-values included, adjusted for multiple testing

  • Checked against academic literature — to help you understand what you've found, and identify if it is novel.

The output is structured: conditions, effect sizes, p-values, citations, and a novelty classification for every pattern found.

Use it when: "which variables are most important with respect to X", "are there patterns we're missing?", "I don't know where to start with this data", "I need to understand how A and B affect C".

Not for: summary statistics, visualisation, filtering, SQL queries — use pandas for those


Related MCP server: Discovery Engine MCP Server

Quickstart

pip install discovery-engine-api

Get an API key:

# Step 1: request verification code (no password, no card)
curl -X POST https://disco.leap-labs.com/api/signup \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "you@example.com"}'

# Step 2: submit code from email → get key
curl -X POST https://disco.leap-labs.com/api/signup/verify \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email": "you@example.com", "code": "123456"}'
# → {"key": "disco_...", "credits": 10, "tier": "free_tier"}

Or create a key at disco.leap-labs.com/developers.

Run your first analysis:

from discovery import Engine

engine = Engine(api_key="disco_...")
result = await engine.discover(
    file="data.csv",
    target_column="outcome",
)

for pattern in result.patterns:
    if pattern.p_value < 0.05 and pattern.novelty_type == "novel":
        print(f"{pattern.description} (p={pattern.p_value:.4f})")

print(f"Explore: {result.report_url}")

Runs take a few minutes. discover() polls automatically and logs progress — queue position, estimated wait, current pipeline step, and ETA. For background runs, see Running asynchronously.

→ Full Python SDK reference · Example notebook


What you get back

Each Pattern in result.patterns looks like this (real output from a crop yield dataset):

Pattern(
    description="When humidity is between 72–89% AND wind speed is below 12 km/h, "
                "crop yield increases by 34% above the dataset average",
    conditions=[
        {"type": "continuous", "feature": "humidity_pct",
         "min_value": 72.0, "max_value": 89.0},
        {"type": "continuous", "feature": "wind_speed_kmh",
         "min_value": 0.0, "max_value": 12.0},
    ],
    p_value=0.003,              # FDR-corrected
    novelty_type="novel",
    novelty_explanation="Published studies examine humidity and wind speed as independent "
                        "predictors, but this interaction effect — where low wind amplifies "
                        "the benefit of high humidity within a specific range — has not been "
                        "reported in the literature.",
    citations=[
        {"title": "Effects of relative humidity on cereal crop productivity",
         "authors": ["Zhang, L.", "Wang, H."], "year": "2021",
         "journal": "Journal of Agricultural Science"},
    ],
    target_change_direction="max",
    abs_target_change=0.34,     # 34% increase
    support_count=847,          # rows matching this pattern
    support_percentage=16.9,
)

Key things to notice:

  • Patterns are combinations of conditions — humidity AND wind speed together, not just "more humidity is better"

  • Specific thresholds — 72–89%, not a vague correlation

  • Novel vs confirmatory — every pattern is classified; confirmatory ones validate known science, novel ones are what you came for

  • Citations — shows what IS known, so you can see what's genuinely new

  • report_url links to an interactive web report with all patterns visualised

The result.summary gives an LLM-generated narrative overview:

result.summary.overview
# "Disco identified 14 statistically significant patterns. 5 are novel.
#  The strongest driver is a previously unreported interaction between humidity
#  and wind speed at specific thresholds."

result.summary.key_insights
# ["Humidity × low wind speed at 72–89% humidity produces a 34% yield increase — novel.",
#  "Soil nitrogen above 45 mg/kg shows diminishing returns when phosphorus is below 12 mg/kg.",
#  ...]

How it works

Disco is a pipeline, not prompt engineering over data. It:

  1. Trains machine learning models on a subset of your data

  2. Uses interpretability techniques to extract learned patterns

  3. Validates every pattern on the held-out data with FDR correction (Benjamini-Hochberg)

  4. Checks surviving patterns against academic literature via semantic search

You cannot replicate this by writing pandas code or asking an LLM to look at a CSV. It finds structure that hypothesis-driven analysis misses because it doesn't start with hypotheses.


Preparing your data

Before running, exclude columns that would produce meaningless findings. Disco finds statistically real patterns — but if the input includes columns that are definitionally related to the target, the patterns will be tautological.

Exclude:

  1. Identifiers — row IDs, UUIDs, patient IDs, sample codes

  2. Data leakage — the target renamed or reformatted (e.g., diagnosis_text when the target is diagnosis_code)

  3. Tautological columns — alternative encodings of the same construct as the target. If target is serious, then serious_outcome, not_serious, death are all part of the same classification. If target is profit, then revenue and cost together compose it. If target is a survey index, the sub-items are tautological.

Full guidance with examples: SKILL.md


Parameters

await engine.discover(
    file="data.csv",           # path, Path, or pd.DataFrame
    target_column="outcome",   # column to predict/explain
    analysis_depth=2,          # 2=default, higher=deeper analysis, lower = faster and cheaper
    visibility="public",       # "public" (always free, data and report is published) or "private" (costs credits)
    column_descriptions={      # improves pattern explanations and literature context
        "bmi": "Body mass index",
        "hdl": "HDL cholesterol in mg/dL",
    },
    excluded_columns=["id", "timestamp"],  # see "Preparing your data" above
    use_llms=False,                        # Defaults to False. If True, runs are slower and more expensive, but you get smarter pre-processing, summary page, literature context and novelty assessment. Public runs always use LLMs.
    title="My dataset",
    description="...", # improves pattern explanations and literature context
)

Public runs are free but results are published. Set visibility="private" for private data — this costs credits.


Running asynchronously

Runs take a few minutes. For agent workflows or scripts that do other work in parallel:

# Submit without waiting
run = await engine.run_async(file="data.csv", target_column="outcome", wait=False)
print(f"Submitted {run.run_id}, continuing...")

# ... do other things ...

result = await engine.wait_for_completion(run.run_id, timeout=1800)

For synchronous scripts and Jupyter notebooks:

result = engine.run(file="data.csv", target_column="outcome", wait=True)
# or: pip install discovery-engine-api[jupyter] for notebook compatibility

MCP server

Disco is available as an MCP server — no local install required.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "discovery-engine": {
      "url": "https://disco.leap-labs.com/mcp",
      "env": { "DISCOVERY_API_KEY": "disco_..." }
    }
  }
}

Tools: discovery_list_plans, discovery_estimate, discovery_upload, discovery_analyze, discovery_status, discovery_get_results, discovery_account, discovery_signup, discovery_signup_verify, discovery_login, discovery_login_verify, discovery_add_payment_method, discovery_subscribe, discovery_purchase_credits.

→ Full agent skill file


Pricing

Cost

Public runs

Free — results and data are published

Private runs

Credits vary by file size and configuration — use engine.estimate()

Free tier

10 credits/month, no card required

Researcher

$49/month — 500 credits

Team

$199/month — 2000 credits

Credits

$0.10 per credit

Estimate before running:

estimate = await engine.estimate(file_size_mb=10.5, num_columns=25, analysis_depth=2, visibility="private")
# estimate["cost"]["credits"] → 55
# estimate["account"]["sufficient"] → True/False

Account management is fully programmatic — attach payment methods, subscribe to plans, and purchase credits via the SDK or REST API. See Python SDK reference or SKILL.md.


Expected data format

Disco expects a flat table — columns for features, rows for samples.

| patient_id | age | bmi  | smoker | outcome |
|------------|-----|------|--------|---------|
| 001        | 52  | 28.3 | yes    | 1       |
| 002        | 34  | 22.1 | no     | 0       |
| ...        | ... | ...  | ...    | ...     |
  • One row per observation — a patient, a sample, a transaction, a measurement, etc.

  • One column per feature — numeric, categorical, datetime, or free text are all fine

  • One target column — the outcome you want to understand. Must have at least 2 distinct values.

  • Missing values are OK — Disco handles them automatically. Don't drop rows or impute beforehand.

  • No pivoting needed — if your data is already in a flat table, it's ready to go

Supported formats: CSV, TSV, Excel (.xlsx), JSON, Parquet, ARFF, Feather. Max 5 GB.

Not supported: images, raw text documents, nested/hierarchical JSON, multi-sheet Excel (use the first sheet or export to CSV)


Compared to other tools

Goal

Tool

Summary statistics, data quality

ydata-profiling, sweetviz

Predictive model

AutoML (auto-sklearn, TPOT, H2O)

Quick correlations

pandas, seaborn

Answer a specific question about data

ChatGPT, Claude

Find what you don't know to look for

Disco

Disco isn't a replacement for EDA or AutoML — it finds the patterns those tools miss. We tested 18 data analysis tools on a dataset with known ground-truth patterns. Most confidently reported wrong results. Disco was the only one that found every pattern.



Available Tools

14 tools
discovery_accountA
Read-only
Inspect

Check your Disco account status.

Returns current plan, available credits (subscription + purchased), and
payment method status. Use this to verify you have sufficient credits
before running a private analysis.

Args:
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: api_key. Returns: result

discovery_add_payment_methodA
Idempotent
Inspect

Attach a Stripe payment method to your Disco account.

The payment method must be tokenized via Stripe's API first — card details
never touch Disco's servers. Required before purchasing credits
or subscribing to a paid plan.

To tokenize a card, call Stripe's API directly:
POST https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_methods
with the stripe_publishable_key from your account info.

Args:
    payment_method_id: Stripe payment method ID (pm_...) from Stripe's API.
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: payment_method_id (required), api_key. Returns: result

discovery_analyzeA
Destructive
Inspect

Run Disco on tabular data to find novel, statistically validated patterns.

This is NOT another data analyst — it's a discovery pipeline that systematically
searches for feature interactions, subgroup effects, and conditional relationships
nobody thought to look for, then validates each on hold-out data with FDR-corrected
p-values and checks novelty against academic literature.

This is a long-running operation. Returns a run_id immediately.
Use discovery_status to poll and discovery_get_results to fetch completed results.

Use this when you need to go beyond answering questions about data and start
finding things nobody thought to ask. Do NOT use this for summary statistics,
visualization, or SQL queries.

Public runs are free but results are published. Private runs cost credits.
Call discovery_estimate first to check cost. Private report URLs require
sign-in — tell the user to sign in at the dashboard with the same email
address used to create the account (email code, no password needed).

Call discovery_upload first to upload your file, then pass the returned file_ref here.

Args:
    target_column: The column to analyze — what drives it, beyond what's obvious.
    file_ref: The file reference returned by discovery_upload.
    analysis_depth: Search depth (1=fast, higher=deeper). Default 1.
    visibility: "public" (free) or "private" (costs credits). Default "public".
    title: Optional title for the analysis.
    description: Optional description of the dataset.
    excluded_columns: Optional JSON array of column names to exclude from analysis.
    column_descriptions: Optional JSON object mapping column names to descriptions. Significantly improves pattern explanations — always provide if column names are non-obvious (e.g. {"col_7": "patient age", "feat_a": "blood pressure"}).
    author: Optional author name for the report.
    source_url: Optional source URL for the dataset.
    use_llms: Slower and more expensive, but you get smarter pre-processing, summary page, literature context and pattern novelty assessment. Only applies to private runs — public runs always use LLMs. Default false.
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: target_column (required), file_ref, analysis_depth, visibility, +8 more. Returns: result

discovery_estimateA
Read-only
Inspect

Estimate cost, time, and credit requirements before running an analysis.

Returns credit cost, estimated duration in seconds, whether you have
sufficient credits, and whether a free public alternative exists. Always call
this before discovery_analyze for private runs.

Args:
    file_size_mb: Size of the dataset in megabytes.
    num_columns: Number of columns in the dataset.
    num_rows: Number of rows (optional, improves time estimate).
    analysis_depth: Search depth (1=fast, higher=deeper). Default 1.
    visibility: "public" (free, results published) or "private" (costs credits).
    use_llms: Slower and more expensive, but you get smarter pre-processing, summary page, literature context and pattern novelty assessment. Only applies to private runs — public runs always use LLMs. Default false.
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: file_size_mb (required), num_columns (required), num_rows, analysis_depth, +3 more. Returns: result

discovery_get_resultsA
Read-only
Inspect

Fetch the full results of a completed Disco run.

Returns discovered patterns (with conditions, p-values, novelty scores,
citations), feature importance scores, a summary with key insights, column
statistics, and suggestions for what to explore next.

The response includes a `dashboard_urls` object with direct links to each
page of the interactive report — use these to direct the user to the most
relevant view:
- **summary**: AI-generated overview with key insights, novel findings, and plain-language explanation of the most important findings
- **patterns**: Full list of discovered patterns with conditions, effect sizes, p-values, novelty scores, citations, and interactive visualisations
- **features**: Feature importances, feature statistics and distribution plots, and correlation matrix
- **territory**: Interactive 3D map showing how patterns select different regions of the data

Only call this after discovery_status returns "completed".

Args:
    run_id: The run ID returned by discovery_analyze.
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: run_id (required), api_key. Returns: result

discovery_list_plansA
Read-only
Inspect

List available Disco plans with pricing.

No authentication required. Returns all available subscription tiers with credit allowances and pricing. Use this to help users choose a plan.

Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: result

discovery_loginA
Idempotent
Inspect

Get a new API key for an existing Disco account.

Sends a 6-digit verification code to the email address. Call
discovery_login_verify with the code to receive a new API key.
Use this when you need an API key for an account that already exists
(e.g. the key was lost or this is a new agent session).

Returns 404 if no account exists with this email — use discovery_signup instead.

Args:
    email: Email address of the existing account.

Inputs: email (required). Returns: result

discovery_login_verifyA
Idempotent
Inspect

Complete login and receive a new API key.

Call this after discovery_login returns {"status": "verification_required"}.
The user receives a 6-digit code by email — pass it here along with the
same email address. Returns a new API key on success.

Args:
    email: Email address used in the discovery_login call.
    code: 6-digit verification code from the email.

Inputs: email (required), code (required). Returns: result

discovery_purchase_creditsA
Destructive
Inspect

Purchase Disco credit packs using a stored payment method.

Credits cost $0.10 each, sold in packs of 100 ($10/pack). Credits are used
for private analyses (public analyses are free). Requires a payment method
on file — use discovery_add_payment_method first.

Args:
    packs: Number of 100-credit packs to purchase. Default 1.
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: packs, api_key. Returns: result

discovery_signupA
Idempotent
Inspect

Create a Disco account and get an API key.

Provide an email address to start the signup flow. If email verification
is required, returns {"status": "verification_required"} — the user will
receive a 6-digit code by email, then call discovery_signup_verify to
complete signup and receive the API key. The free tier (10 credits/month,
unlimited public runs) is active immediately. No authentication required.

Returns 409 if the email is already registered.

Args:
    email: Email address for the new account.
    name: Display name (optional — defaults to email local part).

Inputs: email (required), name. Returns: result

discovery_signup_verifyA
Idempotent
Inspect

Complete Disco signup using an email verification code.

Call this after discovery_signup returns {"status": "verification_required"}.
The user receives a 6-digit code by email — pass it here along with the
same email address used in discovery_signup. Returns an API key on success.

Args:
    email: Email address used in the discovery_signup call.
    code: 6-digit verification code from the email.

Inputs: email (required), code (required). Returns: result

discovery_statusA
Read-only
Inspect

Check the status of a Disco run.

Returns current status and progress details:
- status: "pending" | "processing" | "completed" | "failed"
- job_status: underlying job queue status
- queue_position: position in queue when pending (1 = next up)
- current_step: active pipeline step (preprocessing, training, interpreting, reporting)
- estimated_seconds: estimated total processing time in seconds
- estimated_wait_seconds: estimated queue wait time in seconds (pending only)

Poll this after calling discovery_analyze — runs typically take 3–15 minutes.
Use discovery_get_results to fetch full results once status is "completed".

Args:
    run_id: The run ID returned by discovery_analyze.
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: run_id (required), api_key. Returns: result

discovery_subscribeA
DestructiveIdempotent
Inspect

Subscribe to or change your Disco plan.

Available plans:
- "free_tier": Explorer — free, 10 credits/month
- "tier_1": Researcher — $49/month, 50 credits/month
- "tier_2": Team — $199/month, 200 credits/month

Paid plans require a payment method on file. Credits roll over on paid plans.

Args:
    plan: Plan tier ID ("free_tier", "tier_1", or "tier_2").
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: plan (required), api_key. Returns: result

discovery_uploadAInspect

Upload a dataset file and return a file reference for use with discovery_analyze.

Call this before discovery_analyze. Pass the returned result directly to
discovery_analyze as the file_ref argument.

Provide exactly one of: file_url, file_path, or file_content.

Args:
    file_url: A publicly accessible http/https URL. The server downloads it directly.
              Best option for remote datasets.
    file_path: Absolute path to a local file. Only works when running the MCP server
               locally (not the hosted version). Streams the file directly — no size limit.
    file_content: File contents, base64-encoded. For small files when a URL or path
                  isn't available. Limited by the model's context window.
    file_name: Filename with extension (e.g. "data.csv"), for format detection.
               Only used with file_content. Default: "data.csv".
    api_key: Disco API key (disco_...). Optional if DISCOVERY_API_KEY env var is set.

Inputs: file_content, file_name, file_path, file_url, +1 more. Returns: result

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Loading tool schema changelog…

    TDQS

    A4.7/5.0

    Scored across 14 tools

    Disambiguation5/5

    Each tool has a clearly distinct purpose with no overlap. Account management (discovery_account, discovery_add_payment_method), authentication (discovery_login, discovery_login_verify, discovery_signup, discovery_signup_verify), analysis workflow (discovery_upload, discovery_estimate, discovery_analyze, discovery_status, discovery_get_results), and billing (discovery_list_plans, discovery_purchase_credits, discovery_subscribe) are all cleanly separated. An agent can easily distinguish between tools like discovery_analyze (run analysis) and discovery_estimate (check cost/time) despite both relating to analysis preparation.

    Naming Consistency5/5

    All 14 tools follow a perfect 'discovery_verb_noun' pattern with consistent snake_case throughout. The naming convention is highly predictable: discovery_account, discovery_analyze, discovery_estimate, discovery_get_results, discovery_list_plans, etc. This consistency makes the tool set immediately understandable and navigable.

    Tool Count5/5

    14 tools is ideal for this server's comprehensive scope covering authentication, data upload, analysis execution, results retrieval, and billing management. Each tool serves a specific, necessary function in the end-to-end workflow. The count is neither too thin (missing critical operations) nor bloated (no redundant tools), perfectly matching the domain of a sophisticated data analysis platform.

    Completeness5/5

    The tool surface provides complete coverage for the Disco platform's domain. It includes full authentication flow (signup/login with verification), account management, billing operations (plans, payments, credits), data upload, analysis estimation, execution, status monitoring, and results retrieval. There are no dead ends or gaps—every logical step in the workflow has a corresponding tool, creating a coherent end-to-end experience.

    Maintenance

    ActivitySlowing
    ResponsivenessLimited data

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