Add tags for tools, start the MCP server with a shorter list of tools by default. (#6)

* Add some more tags to sdk tools
and start the server without subscriptions/download tags

* Update the examples not use subscriptions examples

* remove quotes from include/exclude tags example

Author: angaither

README.md

@@ -86,12 +86,24 @@ To connect using GitHub Copilot, configure the `mcp.json` file (see [VSCode docs
 }
 ```
 
+### Customizing the tools
+If you'd like, you can enable or disable specific tools in the MCP server. For example, if you're only working with the orders tooling: You can start the server with just the that enabled:
+`--include-tags=orders`
+
+If you want to keep the defaults, but disable a certain tool, you can: `--exclude-tags=destinations`
+
+In order to disable more than one tool you can provide a comma separated list like:
+`--exclude-tags=destinations,moasics`
+
+By default, we have disabled download tools and the subscriptions tools, as we have found those tools don't work very well with LLMs at the moment.
+
+
 ## Example queries
 
 - Does Planet have any recent imagery over Puget Sound?
-- List my subscriptions
-- Get my June 2025 subscriptions and cancel the ones with name Netherlands
-- Create a PlanetScope subscription with the first item in my Netherlands Feature Collection.
+- List my feature collections
+- Order me the latest high-res imagery over the Netherlands
+- Create a PlanetScope order with the first item in my Netherlands Feature Collection.
 
 ## Troubleshooting
 

src/planet_mcp/main.py

@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 is installed, this is installed as an executable named planet-mcp.
 """
 
-# note - the mcp dev tooling (e.g. uv run fastmcp dev src/main.py)
-# wants to find a server object named `mcp` (or it won't work)
 import argparse
 from planet_mcp.server import init
 
@@ -19,7 +17,12 @@ def csv(value):
     # when using fastmcp inspector and other tools, we handle
     # extra args here (or else the parser barfs)
     parser.add_argument("args", nargs="*")
-    parser.add_argument("--include-tags", type=csv, default=None)
+    # default enable all tools, except download and subscriptions
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--include-tags",
+        type=csv,
+        default={"data", "tiles", "orders", "destinations", "mosaics", "features"},
+    )
     parser.add_argument("--exclude-tags", type=csv, default=None)
     parser.add_argument("--servers", type=csv, default=None)
     # similar to extra args, inspector adds this
@@ -28,6 +31,8 @@ def csv(value):
 
 
 args = parse_args()
+# note - the mcp dev tooling (e.g. uv run fastmcp dev src/main.py)
+# wants to find a server object named `mcp` (or it won't work)
 mcp = init(
     enabled_servers=args.servers,
     include_tags=args.include_tags,

src/planet_mcp/servers/sdk.py

@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
 
 from pydantic import PydanticSchemaGenerationError
 
+
+# tools we don't want enabled at all.
+# they simply don't work well in an AI context.
 _DEFAULT_IGNORE = {
     "data_wait_asset",
     "orders_wait",
@@ -22,15 +25,20 @@
     "destinations_patch_destination",
 }
 
+SDK_CLIENTS = [
+    (planet.FeaturesClient, "features"),
+    (planet.DataClient, "data"),
+    (planet.OrdersClient, "orders"),
+    (planet.SubscriptionsClient, "subscriptions"),
+    (planet.MosaicsClient, "mosaics"),
+    (planet.DestinationsClient, "destinations"),
+]
+
 
 def mcp() -> FastMCP:
     mcp = FastMCP("sdk")
-    make_tools(mcp, planet.FeaturesClient, "features")
-    make_tools(mcp, planet.DataClient, "data")
-    make_tools(mcp, planet.OrdersClient, "orders")
-    make_tools(mcp, planet.SubscriptionsClient, "subscriptions")
-    make_tools(mcp, planet.MosaicsClient, "mosaics")
-    make_tools(mcp, planet.DestinationsClient, "destinations")
+    for client, prefix in SDK_CLIENTS:
+        make_tools(mcp, client, prefix)
     return mcp
 
 
@@ -61,8 +69,16 @@ def make_tools(mcp: FastMCP, client_class: type, prefix: str):
             if sig.return_annotation is None:
                 func = _return_wrapper(func)
 
-            if "download" in name:
-                opts["tags"] = set("download")
+            opts["tags"] = set()
+
+            for tag in ["download", "patch", "update"]:
+                if tag in name:
+                    opts["tags"].add(tag)
+
+            # add tags based on sdk client
+            for _, tag in SDK_CLIENTS:
+                if tag in full_name:
+                    opts["tags"].add(tag)
 
             try:
                 mcp.tool(func, name=full_name, **opts)

src/planet_mcp/servers/tiles.py

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 mcp = FastMCP("tiles")
 
 
-@mcp.tool
+@mcp.tool(tags={"tiles", "scene"})
 async def get_scene_tile(
     item_type: Annotated[str, Field(pattern=r"^\w+$")],
     item_id: Annotated[str, Field(pattern=r"^\w+$")],
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ async def get_scene_tile(
     )
 
 
-@mcp.tool
+@mcp.tool(tags={"tiles", "thumbnail"})
 async def get_scene_thumbnail(
     item_type: Annotated[str, Field(pattern=r"^\w+$")],
     item_id: Annotated[str, Field(pattern=r"^\w+$")],