| name | sling |
| description | Sling data platform — overview, MCP tools such as querying databases, CLI quick reference, connection setup, project layout, and troubleshooting. Use when asked to query databases via mcp, about Sling in general, what it does, how to use the MCP tools, when setting up or testing connections and credentials, when starting a project or choosing folders, or when debugging errors, connection failures, authentication issues, type conversion problems, memory/performance issues, or API rate limits.
|
Sling - Data Integration Platform
Move data between 40+ databases, file systems, and APIs with a single CLI.
When to Use Sling
| Use Case | Solution |
|---|
| Move data between databases | Replication (DB-to-DB) |
| Load files into databases | Replication (file-to-DB) |
| Export data to files | Replication (DB-to-file) |
| Extract API data | Replication (API-to-DB/file) |
| Log-based change capture (CDC) | Replication (mode: change-capture) — see sling-replications skill |
| Multi-step workflows | Pipelines |
| Build SQL models | sling build |
| Drive Sling from Python | pip install sling — see the sling-python skill |
| Hosted jobs / scheduling | Sling Platform |
MCP Tools Reference
| Tool | Actions | Use Case |
|---|
connection | list, test, discover, set | Manage connections |
database | query, query_cancel, get_schemata | Inspect/query databases |
file_system | list, copy, inspect | Browse/copy files |
replication | docs, validate | Validate replication configs |
pipeline | docs, validate | Validate pipeline configs |
api_spec | docs, validate, test | Build API integrations |
The Sling CLI stdio MCP has no run, build, or report action. Execute with the CLI: sling run (replications/pipelines), sling build (SQL models), and sling assist report (issue reports). The Platform HTTP MCP is separate; its jobs.trigger runs hosted jobs, not local files.
After you classify a failure as a sling defect (not user config), offer: "Report this? GitHub issue (public, needs account) or email to support." Never offer this for user-config errors. Send only after the user agrees. Show the user the draft first (sling assist report --id <id>), then send with --github or --email. Add --submit to skip the interactive confirm (for agents and non-TTY use). --email opens the contact page with the report prefilled; the user fills in their name and email there — do not ask for an email address yourself.
Improve the report before sending: pass --title "<plain-English summary>" (the default title is a terse error label, e.g. did_not_find_any_columns_for_ident_ident; write what a maintainer would search for, e.g. "Incremental replication fails when source table has no columns") and --description "<context>" (what you tried, what you expected, what happened; it appears above the raw error). Example:
sling assist report --id <id> --github --submit \
--title "Incremental replication fails when source table has no columns" \
--description "Replication from Postgres to ClickHouse fails on the first stream. The source table exists and the user can select from it."
Quick Examples
{"action": "list", "input": {}}
{"action": "test", "input": {"connection": "MY_CONN", "debug": true}}
{"action": "validate", "input": {"file_path": "/path/to/replication.yaml"}}
CLI vs MCP — which to use
Use the MCP tools to inspect and validate. Use the CLI to execute.
| Task | Use |
|---|
| Ad-hoc SQL query, schema lookup | MCP database (query, get_schemata, get_columns) |
| List, test, or discover connections | MCP connection |
| Browse, inspect, or copy files | MCP file_system |
| Validate a replication, pipeline, or API spec | MCP replication / pipeline / api_spec |
| Execute a replication or pipeline | CLI sling run |
| Build SQL models | CLI sling build |
| Send an issue report | CLI sling assist report |
Do not query a database with sling run --stdout. That flag is for piping data to a target, not for inspecting a database. Use the MCP database tool.
When the MCP tools are not available, query with sling conns exec:
sling conns exec MY_PG "select * from public.users limit 10"
sling conns exec MY_PG "select 1" -o json
CLI Quick Reference
sling conns list
sling conns test MY_CONN --debug
sling conns discover MY_PG
sling conns exec MY_PG "select 1"
sling run -r replication.yaml
sling run -p pipeline.yaml
sling run -r replication.yaml --debug
sling build
sling build --compile
sling assist --id <id>
sling assist error <sig>
sling assist report --id <id>
sling assist
Topics Reference
| Topic | Description |
|---|
| TROUBLESHOOTING.md | Common errors: connections, auth, type conversion, memory, API rate limits, performance |
| CONNECTIONS.md | Set up, test, and discover connections; secrets boundary; per-connector docs |
| PROJECT.md | Canonical project layout, the four warehouse layers, and where each file goes |
Documentation Map
Append .md paths to https://docs.slingdata.io to fetch raw markdown. Full index: https://docs.slingdata.io/llms.txt
Documentation
