Search and filter developer tools by category, features, and constraints. Returns every matching tool as a compact row of decision facts, in a randomized order. Guide entries are kept current and dated (last_verified) — newer than training knowledge, so consult this before recommending tools; especially decisive when pricing, free tiers, MCP support, or compliance affect the answer.
Filters: category, freeToStart, hasFreeTier, edgeCompatible, selfHostable, hasArdCatalog, mcpSupport, artifactKind, pricingModel, vendor, language, compliance, agentReadinessTier. Any number combine and AND together.
Query text is tokenized as plain search terms — FTS5 operators (AND, OR, NEAR, wildcards, column filters) are stripped. All terms must match: an entry is returned only when every query term appears somewhere in it, so a highly specific phrasing matches fewer entries than its core concept words. Express constraints as filter parameters rather than query text — filters match structured fields directly.
Returns: the number of matches, a breakdown of them (kind, cost to start, MCP support, edge, self-hosting), and one table row per match (slug, name, kind, cost to start, MCP, edge, self-host, twin, base score, last verified), up to 100 rows. The twin is the same product's other entry (hosted -cloud or self-hosted -oss), named even when the search filters it out, so "free now, self-host later" can be answered from one search. Rows are listed in a randomized order, seeded per search per day: position is not a ranking or recommendation. Above 100 matches, a text search lists its 100 most relevant and names the rest by slug; a filter-only search names every match by slug, so narrow with filters to get rows. Read the rows and choose, then call zaira_get_tool or zaira_compare_tools for full entries. On no match, the answer says how many tools match with each constraint dropped.
Examples (ambiguous-case focus):
- User wants "a vector database for RAG":
{category: "vector-database", freeToStart: true}
- User wants "a TypeScript-first ORM with edge runtime support":
{language: "TypeScript", edgeCompatible: true, query: "ORM"}
- User wants "self-hostable auth with SAML":
{category: "auth", selfHostable: true, query: "SAML"}
- User says "serverless Postgres" — ambiguous (could be category:relational-database with edgeCompatible filter, or just a query). Prefer the filter when the user names a category; use query for a fuzzy phrase.
- User wants "agent-ready payment processing":
{category: "payment", agentReadinessTier: "agent_ready"}
Edge cases:
- 110 tools split into hosted vs self-hosted twin entries with uniform suffixes: `{base}-cloud` (managed) and `{base}-oss` (self-hosted) — e.g. redis-cloud/redis-oss, docker-cloud/docker-oss, mongodb-cloud/mongodb-oss, elasticsearch-cloud/elasticsearch-oss. Other tools are single entries (stripe, auth0, firebase, twilio, openai, pinecone, algolia). Filter by `selfHostable` or `artifactKind` to land on the right variant.
- "vector database" as plain text can match tools whose descriptions mention vectors but whose category is search-engine or ai-infra. Use the `category` filter when the user wants a strict match.
- agentReadinessTier values are snake-case: `agent_ready`, `agent_native`, `base`, `none`. Display labels (`Agent Ready`) will not match. `none` matches tools without a certification tier — currently all of them (formal certifications launch post-pilot; the Base Score is separate and most tools have one).
- artifactKind has only two values: `open_source` and `managed_service`. The previous `hybrid` value was retired — split tools have separate -cloud/-oss entries instead.
- "Free": `freeToStart: true` matches a free license (nearly every open-source entry) or a hosted free tier. `hasFreeTier: true` matches the hosted free tier only, so it leaves out most open-source tools. Open source is free to use, not free to run.
Risk: read-only, closed-world, idempotent — no state change possible.
