implementing-mcp-tools

name	implementing-mcp-tools
description	Guide for exposing PostHog product endpoints as MCP tools. Use when creating new or updating API endpoints, adding MCP tool definitions, scaffolding YAML configs, or writing serializers with good descriptions. Covers the full pipeline from Django serializer to generated TypeScript tool handler.

Implementing MCP tools

Read the full guide at docs/published/handbook/engineering/ai/implementing-mcp-tools.md.

Quick workflow

# 1. Scaffold a starter YAML with all operations disabled.
#    --product discovers endpoints via x-product (priority 1) then
#    URL substring match (fallback). ViewSets in products/<name>/backend/
#    are auto-attributed via module path. ViewSets elsewhere need
#    @extend_schema(extensions={"x-product": "<product>"}).
pnpm --filter=@posthog/mcp run scaffold-yaml -- --product your_product \
    --output ../../products/your_product/mcp/tools.yaml

# 2. Configure the YAML — enable tools, add scopes, annotations, descriptions
#    Place in products/<product>/mcp/*.yaml (preferred) or services/mcp/definitions/*.yaml

# 3. Add a HogQL system table in posthog/hogql/database/schema/system.py
#    and a model reference in products/posthog_ai/skills/querying-posthog-data/references/

# 4. Generate handlers and schemas
hogli build:openapi

Before you scaffold: fix the backend first

The codegen pipeline can only generate correct tools if the Django backend exposes correct types. Read the type system guide for the full picture.

Before scaffolding YAML, verify:

1. Serializers have explicit field types and help_text — these flow all the way to Zod .describe() in the generated tool. Missing descriptions = agents guessing at parameters. Use ListField(child=serializers.CharField()) instead of bare ListField(), and @extend_schema_field(PydanticModel) on JSONField subclasses to get typed Zod output (see posthog/api/alert.py for the pattern).
2. Plain ViewSet methods have @extend_schema(request=...) — without it, drf-spectacular can't discover the request body and the generated tool gets z.object({}) (zero parameters). ModelViewSet with a serializer_class is fine; plain ViewSet with manual validation is not.
3. Query parameters use @validated_request or @extend_schema with a query serializer — otherwise boolean and array query params may produce type mismatches in the generated code.

If a generated tool has an empty or wrong schema, the fix is almost always on the Django side, not in the YAML config. For a full audit checklist and before/after examples, use the improving-drf-endpoints skill.

When to add MCP tools

When a product exposes API endpoints that agents should be able to call. MCP tools are atomic capabilities (list, get, create, update, delete) — not workflows.

If you're adding a new endpoint, check whether it should be agent-accessible. If yes, add a YAML definition and generate the tool.

Tool design

Tools should be basic capabilities — atomic CRUD operations and simple actions. Agents compose these primitives into higher-level workflows.

Good: "List feature flags", "Get experiment by ID", "Create a survey". Bad: "Search for session recordings of an experiment" — bundles multiple concerns.

Tool naming constraints

Tool names and feature identifiers are validated at build time and in CI. Violations fail the build.

Tool names

• Format: lowercase kebab-case — only [a-z0-9-], no leading/trailing hyphens
• Length: 52 characters or fewer
• Convention: domain-action, e.g. cohorts-create, dashboard-get, feature-flags-list

Feature identifiers

• Format: lowercase snake*case — only [a-z0-9*], must start with a letter
• Convention: should match the product folder name, e.g. error_tracking, feature_flags

Why 52 characters?

MCP clients enforce different limits on tool names. The 52-char limit is the safe zone that works across all known clients:

Client	Limit	Notes
MCP spec (draft)	1–128 chars, [A-Za-z0-9_\-.]	Official recommendation, not enforced
Claude Code	64 chars	Hard limit; prefixes tool names with mcp____
Cursor	60 chars combined	server_name + tool_name; tools over this are silently filtered
OpenAI API	^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$, 64 chars	No dots allowed

With the server name "posthog" (7 chars) plus a separator, tool names must stay at or below 52 characters to fit within Cursor's 60-char combined limit.

CI enforcement

• pnpm --filter=@posthog/mcp lint-tool-names — validates length and pattern for YAML and JSON definitions
• A vitest test validates all runtime TOOL_MAP and GENERATED_TOOL_MAP entries

YAML definitions

YAML files configure which operations are exposed as MCP tools. See existing definitions for patterns:

• products/<product>/mcp/*.yaml — preferred, keeps config close to the code
• services/mcp/definitions/*.yaml — fallback for functionality without a product folder

The build pipeline discovers YAML files from both paths.

Key fields

category: Human readable name
feature: snake_case_name # should match the product folder name (used for runtime filtering)
url_prefix: /path # frontend app route, used for enrich_url links
tools:
  your-tool-name: # kebab-case
    operation: operationId_from_openapi
    enabled: true
    scopes:
      - your_product:read
    annotations:
      readOnly: true
      destructive: false
      idempotent: true
    # Optional:
    mcp_version: 1 # 2 for create/update/delete ops, 1 for read/list if available via HogQL
    title: List things
    description: >
      Human-friendly description for the LLM.
    list: true
    enrich_url: '{id}'
    param_overrides:
      name:
        description: Custom description for the LLM
    response: # filter response fields (applied per-item on list endpoints)
      include: [id, key, name] # keep only these fields (dot-path wildcards supported)
      exclude: [filters.groups.*.properties] # remove these fields
      # include and exclude are mutually exclusive
    feature_flag: my-flag-key # gate this tool behind a PostHog feature flag
    feature_flag_behavior: enable # 'enable' (default) or 'disable'

Unknown keys are rejected at build time (Zod .strict()).

Gating tools with feature flags

Add feature_flag to any tool (standard or query wrapper) to gate its exposure on a PostHog feature flag evaluated at MCP init time for the current user.

• feature_flag_behavior: enable (default) — tool is shown only when the flag is on. Use for rolling out new tools.
• feature_flag_behavior: disable — tool is hidden when the flag is on. Use for sunsetting old tools.

Reusing the same flag key with both behaviors performs an atomic swap: flag on → new tool visible, old tool hidden; flag off → old tool visible, new tool hidden. Useful for A/B testing tool variations.

Flags are evaluated in parallel at init via evaluateFeatureFlags. If a flag can't be evaluated (service error, missing flag), enable-gated tools are excluded and disable-gated tools are included — fail-closed for new tools, fail-open for existing ones.

Syncing after endpoint changes

pnpm --filter=@posthog/mcp run scaffold-yaml -- --sync-all

Idempotent and non-destructive — adds new operations as enabled: false, removes stale ones.

Serializer descriptions

Descriptions flow through the entire pipeline:

Django serializer field → OpenAPI spec → Zod schema → MCP tool description

These descriptions are what agents read to understand tool parameters.

• Use help_text on serializer fields — it becomes the OpenAPI description.
• Use param_overrides in YAML to override generated descriptions with imperative instructions.
• Be specific about formats, constraints, and valid values.
• Avoid jargon that an LLM wouldn't understand without context.

HogQL system tables

Every list/get endpoint should have a corresponding HogQL system table in posthog/hogql/database/schema/system.py. This lets agents query data via SQL in v2 of the MCP.

Each system table must include a team_id column for data isolation.

Use mcp_version: 1 on read/list YAML tools when a system table covers the same data — v2 agents use SQL instead.

When adding a system table, also add a model reference file (models-<domain>.md) in products/posthog_ai/skills/querying-posthog-data/references/ and register it in products/posthog_ai/skills/querying-posthog-data/SKILL.md under Data Schema.

Two MCP versions

• v1 (legacy): all CRUD tools exposed, for clients without skill support.
• v2 (SQL-first): read/list tools replaced by HogQL, create/update/delete tools kept. For coding agents.

Control per-tool availability with mcp_version: 1/2 in the YAML definition.