Refactor MCP Implementation: Separate Tools, Resources, and Prompts Primitives

[ra1han]

The current MCP implementation of NLWeb exposes 5 tools and no other primitives. The 5 tools are -

"name": "ask",
"description": "Ask a question and get an answer from the knowledge base",

"name": "ask_nlw",
"description": "Alternative name for the ask function",

"name": "list_prompts",
"description": "List available prompts that can be used with NLWeb",

"name": "get_prompt",
"description": "Get a specific prompt by ID",

"name": "get_sites",
"description": "Get a list of available sites",

Ideas for improvements -

1. Remove the list_prompts, get_prompt and get_sites from Tools. Tools should represent executable actions, not granular data retrieval or metadata listing.
2. Introduce Resources primitive and include the sites here. The Client app should be able to select one or multiple sites from Resources and scope the search within those sites. I don't think we should expose the prompts even in Resources.
3. Introduce Prompts primitive. Here NLWeb should support the CLI commands like -
   • Index a new site
   • Remove an existing site
   • Check index process status

[rvguha]

These are tools that Claude desktop seems to need. There is one core 'method/tool', which is 'ask'. 'get_sites' is a convenience method which should probably be removed. What do you suggest the 'Resources' primitive should do? Data management related operations (especially remove site) are probably best left out of the core. guha

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On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 6:13 PM ra1han ***@***.***> wrote: *ra1han* created an issue (microsoft/NLWeb#218) <#218> The current MCP implementation of NLWeb exposes 5 tools and no other primitives. The 5 tools are - "name": "ask", "description": "Ask a question and get an answer from the knowledge base", "name": "ask_nlw", "description": "Alternative name for the ask function", "name": "list_prompts", "description": "List available prompts that can be used with NLWeb", "name": "get_prompt", "description": "Get a specific prompt by ID", "name": "get_sites", "description": "Get a list of available sites", Ideas for improvements - 1. Remove the list_prompts, get_prompt and get_sites from Tools. Tools should represent executable actions, not granular data retrieval or metadata listing. 2. Introduce Resources primitive and include the sites here. The Client app should be able to select one or multiple sites from Resources and scope the search within those sites. I don't think we should expose the prompts even in Resources. 3. Introduce Prompts primitive. Here NLWeb should support the CLI commands like - - Index a new site - Remove an existing site - Check index process status — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#218>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABICKCSIUJA2F7U2VPQW3KL3EC4K7AVCNFSM6AAAAAB7RVQJN2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43ASLTON2WKOZTGE2TKMJUGE4DAMI> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[ra1han]

Hi @rvguha, thanks for your reply.

These are tools that Claude desktop seems to need. - Not sure what you mean. I commented all the tools except ask_nlw and was able to chat in Claude.

IIMO Resources should return the sites which has been indexed so far. So, the user can see the list of sites and add specific site(s) in the context to scope their search within that site. get_sites tool seem to also return the list of sites, but the client apps will facilitate adding Resources to the context easily. Here is an example from VS code - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/chat/mcp-servers#_use-mcp-resources

Data management related operations (especially remove site) are probably best left out of the core. - Agreed.