geo-agent-training

name	geo-agent-training
description	Analyze geo-agent app behavior from LLM proxy and MCP server logs, identify inefficiencies, and trace root causes to the correct layer: STAC metadata, MCP tool descriptions, geo-agent framework, or app system prompt. TRIGGER when: reviewing agent behavior, analyzing LLM logs, improving system prompts based on observed failures, debugging tool-use loops, or optimizing query patterns in geo-agent apps.
license	Apache-2.0
metadata	{"author":"boettiger-lab","version":"2.0"}

Geo-Agent Training Workflow

Iterative cycle: observe app behavior via logs, diagnose inefficiencies, trace each issue to the correct architectural layer, and fix it there.

Architecture: Where Information Lives

Each geo-agent app's LLM context is assembled from four layers, each with a specific responsibility. Fixes must go to the correct layer.

Layer 1: STAC Catalog (canonical data source)

• Owns: Dataset paths (S3 URLs), column schemas (names, types, descriptions), coded values, dataset descriptions
• How it reaches the LLM: geo-agent/app/dataset-catalog.js fetches STAC collections at boot, calls generatePromptCatalog() to inject dataset metadata (paths, columns, coded values) into the system prompt automatically
• Also: The MCP server's list_datasets and get_dataset_details tools read from the same STAC catalog
• Fix here when: Model doesn't know a column name, guesses coded values, uses wrong paths, or lacks dataset descriptions
• Managed by: boettiger-lab/data-workflows repo (STAC collection JSON files)

Layer 2: MCP Tool Descriptions (shared query guidance)

• Owns: SQL construction patterns, H3 join rules, partition pruning, area calculations, deduplication strategies, raster vs vector aggregation
• How it reaches the LLM: mcp-data-server/query-optimization.md and h3-guide.md are injected into the query tool's docstring at server startup
• Fix here when: Model writes structurally wrong SQL (bad join patterns, missing h0, wrong aggregation), or doesn't know how to handle H3 resolution mismatches
• Managed by: boettiger-lab/mcp-data-server repo

Layer 3: geo-agent Framework (tool orchestration)

• Owns: When to use which tool, enforcement of STAC-first patterns, tool descriptions for map tools, the list_datasets/get_dataset_details local tools, prompt assembly
• How it reaches the LLM: Framework code in geo-agent/app/ — tool registry, map-tools.js, agent.js, dataset-catalog.js
• Fix here when: Model skips STAC tools and explores schemas with DESCRIBE/SELECT*, model doesn't call get_dataset_details before using coded values, model uses wrong tool type (SQL vs map), ListToolsRequest spam
• Managed by: boettiger-lab/geo-agent repo

Layer 4: App System Prompt (app-specific flavor only)

• Owns: ONLY information that cannot live anywhere else — app persona, domain-specific caveats about data interpretation (e.g. "don't say TPL-protected land"), disambiguation rules specific to this app's audience
• Does NOT own: SQL examples, S3 paths, column schemas, query patterns, H3 join instructions, tool choice guidance. These belong in layers 1-3.
• Fix here when: The issue is purely about how the app presents results or interprets data for its specific audience
• Goal: This file should be as small as possible. If you're tempted to add an SQL example here, ask: "Could this be fixed by improving STAC metadata, MCP tool descriptions, or geo-agent framework instead?"

Design Principle: Information Flows Down, Not Up

STAC Catalog (data truth)
    ↓ auto-injected by
geo-agent Framework (tool orchestration + prompt assembly)
    ↓ assembles context from
MCP Tool Descriptions (SQL patterns)
    ↓ all combined into
LLM Context = system-prompt.md + catalog text + MCP tool docstrings

The system-prompt.md should NEVER duplicate information available from STAC or MCP tool descriptions. If the model needs to know a column name, that column should be documented in STAC. If the model needs to know a join pattern, that should be in query-optimization.md or h3-guide.md.

---

HARD BOUNDARY: Cross-Repo Changes

Changes to core infrastructure repos require opening issues — do not directly implement changes in these repos:

Repo	What lives there	Action
boettiger-lab/geo-agent	Framework JS (agent.js, dataset-catalog.js, map-tools.js, tool-registry.js)	Open issue with exact proposed change
boettiger-lab/mcp-data-server	query-optimization.md, h3-guide.md, server.py	Open issue with exact proposed change
boettiger-lab/data-workflows	STAC collection JSON, dataset processing pipelines	Open issue with exact proposed change

What you CAN directly change: The focal app repo's system-prompt.md, layers-input.json, and k8s/ manifests. But prefer fixing root causes in the correct layer over adding workarounds to system-prompt.md.

After tracing all issues, open a single summary issue in the focal app repo that links to all cross-repo issues and describes remaining app-level changes.

---

Step 1: Collect Logs

You need both proxy and MCP logs to see the full picture.

LLM Proxy logs (what the model decided)

# All pods, filtered to app origin — must check all pods
for pod in $(kubectl -n biodiversity get pods -l app=llm-proxy -o name); do
  kubectl -n biodiversity logs $pod --since=168h 2>/dev/null | grep '"origin":"https://APP.nrp-nautilus.io"'
done | sort

Request log fields: timestamp, type, provider, model, origin, client (X-Client app+version, e.g. geo-agent/v3.13.1; null until the client sends it — filter on it to correlate behavior with a release), message_count, tools_count, user_message

Response log format: ✓ RESPONSE: {...} with latency_ms, has_tool_calls, tool_calls, tokens

Known limitations:

• user_message captures the last message in the conversation, which in a tool-use loop is usually a tool result — not the human's question
• Responses lack an origin field (fix tracked in boettiger-lab/open-llm-proxy#2)
• No request_id to correlate request/response pairs (fix tracked in boettiger-lab/open-llm-proxy#1)

MCP Server logs (what SQL was executed)

for pod in $(kubectl -n biodiversity get pods -l app=duckdb-mcp -o name); do
  kubectl -n biodiversity logs $pod --since=168h 2>/dev/null | grep -E '🔍 Executing|SQL Error'
done | sort

Historical logs (S3 backup)

rclone copy nrp:logs-wetlands/ ./logs

Step 2: Reconstruct Conversations

Sort all entries by timestamp and interleave proxy + MCP logs. Key signals:

• message_count growth — tracks round-trips per session. A single user question producing message_count 2→20 means 9 tool-call rounds.
• Errors followed by retries — the model hit an error and self-corrected (or repeated the same mistake).
• DESCRIBE/SELECT spam* — model is exploring schemas instead of using STAC tools. This is a geo-agent enforcement issue.
• ListToolsRequest spam — client re-fetches the tool list on every turn (client-side issue in geo-agent).

Step 3: Classify Each Issue to Its Correct Layer

For every inefficiency found, ask these questions in order:

3a. Is the model guessing data paths or column names?

Symptom: DESCRIBE queries, SELECT * LIMIT 2, wrong S3 paths, wrong column names, "No results found" from typos.

Root cause: Model isn't using STAC tools, OR STAC metadata is incomplete.

Diagnosis steps:

1. Call mcp__duckdb-geo__get_dataset for the relevant dataset — does it return the columns the model needs?
2. Check if the column info includes descriptions and coded values
3. If STAC metadata is complete but model still guesses → geo-agent issue (framework not enforcing STAC-first)
4. If STAC metadata is missing/wrong → data-workflows issue (STAC collection needs patching)

3b. Is the model writing structurally wrong SQL?

Symptom: SQL errors on join patterns, aggregation, partition access, nested aggregates, wrong H3 usage.

Root cause: Missing or unclear guidance in MCP tool descriptions.

Diagnosis steps:

1. Read ../mcp-data-server/query-optimization.md and ../mcp-data-server/h3-guide.md
2. Does the guidance cover this pattern? If not → mcp-data-server issue
3. Is the guidance there but the model ignores it? → Check if it's buried or ambiguous → still mcp-data-server issue (improve clarity)

3c. Is the model using the wrong tool type?

Symptom: Running SQL when a map tool would suffice, or vice versa. Calling query tool without calling list_datasets/get_dataset first.

Root cause: geo-agent framework tool descriptions or orchestration.

Diagnosis: → geo-agent issue

3d. Is the model misinterpreting data or presenting results incorrectly?

Symptom: Says "TPL-protected land" when it should say "land tracked by the Almanac". Misunderstands what a dataset represents. Doesn't apply appropriate caveats.

Root cause: This is genuinely app-specific domain knowledge.

Fix: system-prompt.md in the app repo. This is the ONE case where app-level fixes are appropriate.

Step 4: Verify Fixes Against Live Data

Always test proposed SQL patterns against the actual MCP tool before recommending them. The public MCP endpoint handles both public and private data — private apps just require credentials passed per-call.

Public apps

mcp__duckdb-geo__query(sql_query="YOUR SQL HERE")
mcp__duckdb-geo__get_dataset(dataset_id="COLLECTION_ID")

Apps with private data

The same public MCP endpoint is used, but credentials must be passed per-call:

mcp__duckdb-geo__query(
  sql_query="SELECT column_name FROM (DESCRIBE SELECT * FROM read_parquet('s3://my-private-bucket/...') LIMIT 0)",
  s3_key="...",
  s3_secret="...",
  s3_endpoint="my-s3-endpoint.example.org"
)

For a private STAC catalog:

mcp__duckdb-geo__get_dataset(
  dataset_id="my-dataset",
  catalog_url="https://my-app.example.org/stac/catalog.json",
  catalog_token="..."
)

If you do not have the credentials in your session, ask the user to provide them before proceeding. Do not attempt to verify data by going to raw source files — MCP is always the right path.

Step 5: File Issues and Apply Fixes

For cross-repo issues (HARD BOUNDARY)

Open a GitHub issue in each affected repo with:

1. What's failing: The exact log evidence (error messages, query patterns)
2. Root cause: Why the current state causes this failure
3. Proposed fix: Exact text/code change needed
4. Verification: How to test that the fix works

Use gh issue create via Bash tool.

For app-level fixes

Only modify system-prompt.md for genuinely app-specific content:

• Domain interpretation rules (e.g., attribution language for data sources)
• Audience-specific disambiguation (e.g., "when user says 'my district', ask which one")
• Caveats about data limitations specific to this app's context

Do NOT add to system-prompt.md:

• SQL examples (these teach the model to hardcode instead of using STAC)
• S3 paths (STAC is the canonical source)
• Column schemas (STAC provides these)
• H3 join patterns (MCP tool descriptions cover these)
• Generic tool-use guidance (geo-agent framework handles this)

Summary issue

Open one issue in the focal app repo linking all cross-repo issues and listing any remaining app-level changes needed.

Step 6: Deploy and Validate

Most deploy like this but check the app's AGENTS.md file, some apps with private data have configmap-based deployment instead of pulls from github.

# For k8s-deployed apps (only needed if system-prompt.md changed)
kubectl -n biodiversity rollout restart deployment/APP_NAME
kubectl -n biodiversity rollout status deployment/APP_NAME

Then test by asking the same questions that triggered issues. Check MCP logs for fewer errors and fewer tool calls.

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Reference: Key File Locations

File	Purpose	Repo
APP_REPO/system-prompt.md	App-specific flavor ONLY	App repo
APP_REPO/layers-input.json	Map layers, welcome message, view config	App repo
mcp-data-server/query-optimization.md	Shared SQL optimization rules	mcp-data-server
mcp-data-server/h3-guide.md	Shared H3 spatial math guide	mcp-data-server
mcp-data-server/server.py	MCP server, tool registration	mcp-data-server
geo-agent/app/agent.js	Tool-use loop, LLM orchestration	geo-agent
geo-agent/app/dataset-catalog.js	STAC metadata -> system prompt generation	geo-agent
geo-agent/app/map-tools.js	Map tool definitions and descriptions	geo-agent

Reference: App Inventory

Claude should be running from the repo of the app in question when debugging any specific app.