MCP Tools Reference

VoLCA exposes 18 tools via MCP. All tools return JSON as a text content block.

Quick reference

Tool	Required parameters	Purpose
list_databases	—	LCA / ACV — list all loaded LCA databases (Agribalyse, ecoinvent, …)
list_presets	—	LCA / ACV — list named classification filter presets configured in this instance
search_activities	database, name	LCA / ACV — search for activities (processes) by name, geography, product, classification, or preset
search_flows	database, query	LCA / ACV — search for biosphere flows (emissions, resources) by name
get_activity	database, process_id	LCA / ACV — get detailed information about an activity: name, location, exchanges, reference product, metadata
aggregate	database, process_id, scope	LCA / ACV — aggregate exchanges, supply chain entries, or biosphere flows with SQL group-by-style filters
get_supply_chain	database, process_id	LCA / ACV — get a flat list of all upstream activities in the supply chain (chaîne amont, filière, intrants)
get_inventory	database, process_id	LCA / ACV — compute the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI): biosphere flows (emissions and resource extractions) for an activity's full supply chain
get_impacts	database, process_id, method_id	LCA / ACV — compute Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) scores for an activity
list_methods	—	LCA / ACV — list all loaded LCIA methods (impact assessment methods like climate change, acidification, eutrophication, land use, water scarcity)
get_flow_mapping	database, method_id	LCA / ACV — get the mapping between a method's characterization factors and database flows, showing match coverage
get_characterization	database, method_id	LCA / ACV — look up characterization factors for a method matched against database flows
get_contributing_flows	database, process_id, method_id	LCA / ACV — identify which elementary flows (emissions/resources) contribute most to a specific impact category
get_contributing_activities	database, process_id, method_id	LCA / ACV — identify which upstream activities contribute most to a specific impact category
list_geographies	database	LCA / ACV — list all geography codes present in a database, with display names and parent regions
list_classifications	database	LCA / ACV — list classification systems in a database
get_path_to	database, process_id, target	LCA / ACV — find the shortest supply chain path from a process to the first upstream activity whose name matches a pattern
get_consumers	database, process_id	LCA / ACV — find all activities that transitively consume (depend on) a given supplier

Tool details

list_databases

LCA / ACV — list all loaded LCA databases (Agribalyse, ecoinvent, …). Call this first to discover which databases are available before searching.

list_presets

LCA / ACV — list named classification filter presets configured in this instance. Each preset bundles multiple (system, value, mode) classification filters under a human-readable label. Use the filter values from a preset as inputs to search_activities classification parameters.

search_activities

LCA / ACV — search for activities (processes) by name, geography, product, classification, or preset. Returns a paginated list of matching activities with their process IDs. Entry point for any LCA/ACV question about a specific product or process — food (yaourt, steak, pain, lait, fromage), packaging (PET, verre, carton), matériaux, énergie, transport. Accepts non-technical synonyms: empreinte carbone, empreinte environnementale, impact environnemental, occupation des sols, surface agricole, prairie, pâturage, intrants, filière, chaîne amont.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
classification	string		Classification system name to filter by (e.g. 'ISIC rev.4 ecoinvent', 'CPC'). Use list_classifications to see available systems.
classification_match	string		Match mode: "equals" (case-insensitive equality) or "contains" (substring, default)
classification_value	string		Value within the classification system to match
database	string	✓	Database name
exact	boolean		If true, name and geo must match exactly (case-insensitive equality) instead of substring search
geo	string		Geography/location filter (e.g. 'FR', 'DE', 'GLO')
limit	integer		Max results (default 20)
name	string	✓	Name substring to search for (or exact name if exact=true)
preset	string		Name of a classification preset (from list_presets) — expands to its bundled filters. Can be combined with explicit classification filters.
product	string		Product name filter

search_flows

LCA / ACV — search for biosphere flows (emissions, resources) by name. Use this to locate specific substances (CO2, CH4, water, land occupation) before querying characterization factors or inventory contributions.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
limit	integer		Max results (default 20)
query	string	✓	Flow name to search for

get_activity

LCA / ACV — get detailed information about an activity: name, location, exchanges, reference product, metadata. Use exchange_type / is_input / flow to filter exchanges and reduce response size.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
exchange_type	string		Filter exchanges: "biosphere" (emissions/resources only), "technosphere" (inputs/outputs only), or "all" (default)
flow	string		Filter exchanges by flow name (case-insensitive substring)
is_input	boolean		If true, return only inputs; if false, only outputs; omit for both. Combines with exchange_type.
process_id	string	✓	Process ID (activityUUID_productUUID format)

aggregate

LCA / ACV — aggregate exchanges, supply chain entries, or biosphere flows with SQL group-by-style filters. One primitive replaces ad-hoc decomposition tools — express any 'how much X is in Y' question as one call. Also the right tool for 'combien de surface agricole / d'eau / d'énergie dans un produit ?' style questions via scope=biosphere or scope=supply_chain. Examples: - Total electricity in direct inputs: scope=direct, is_input=true, filter_name=Electricity, filter_unit=kWh - Mass breakdown of direct inputs: scope=direct, is_input=true, filter_unit=kg, group_by=name - Total energy across the supply chain: scope=supply_chain, max_depth=2, filter_classification=["Category type=energy:exact"] - Largest pasture occupation flow: scope=biosphere, filter_name=Occupation, pasture, group_by=name The filter_classification parameter accepts a list of strings in "System=Value[:exact]" form (default mode is 'contains').

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
aggregate	string		sum_quantity | count | share (default: sum_quantity)
database	string	✓	Database name
filter_classification	string[]		List of "System=Value[:exact]" strings; defaults to 'contains' mode
filter_is_reference	boolean		Filter by reference-product flag (typically for outputs)
filter_name	string		Case-insensitive substring on flow/activity name
filter_name_not	string		Comma-separated substring exclude list
filter_target_name	string		Only for scope=direct technosphere — filter by upstream activity name
filter_unit	string		Exact unit name
group_by	string		name | flow_id | name_prefix | unit | classification.<system> | location | target_name
is_input	boolean		Only for scope=direct — true=inputs only, false=outputs only
max_depth	integer		Only for scope=supply_chain — max hops from the root activity
preset	string		Name of a classification preset (from list_presets) — expanded and merged into filter_classification.
process_id	string	✓	Process ID (activityUUID_productUUID format)
scope	string	✓	direct | supply_chain | biosphere

get_supply_chain

LCA / ACV — get a flat list of all upstream activities in the supply chain (chaîne amont, filière, intrants). The 'quantity' field is the cumulative scaled amount relative to the functional unit (scaling_factor × root reference product amount). To get the per-step yield ratio between two connected entries, divide the supplier's scaling_factor by the consumer's scaling_factor.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
classification	string		Classification system name (e.g. 'Category', 'Category type')
classification_match	string		Match mode: "exact" (case-insensitive equality) or "contains" (substring, default)
classification_value	string		Value within the classification system
database	string	✓	Database name
limit	integer		Max results (default 100)
location	string		Filter by location
max_depth	integer		Max depth from root (1 = direct inputs only)
min_quantity	number		Min scaled quantity threshold
name	string		Filter by activity name
preset	string		Name of a classification preset (from list_presets) — expands to its bundled filters. Unioned with any explicit classification / classification_value / classification_mode parameters.
process_id	string	✓	Process ID (activityUUID_productUUID format)
substitutions	object[]		Optional what-if supplier substitutions. Each entry: {from: oldSupplierPID, to: newSupplierPID, consumer: consumerPID}. PIDs can be bare (root DB) or qualified as dbName::pid (cross-DB). When empty or absent, the call behaves as a plain GET.

get_inventory

LCA / ACV — compute the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI): biosphere flows (emissions and resource extractions) for an activity's full supply chain. Returns statistics and top flows by quantity. Use this (not get_impacts) when the question targets raw physical flows rather than weighted scores: land / pasture occupation (m²·year), water withdrawal (m³), specific emissions (kg CO₂, kg CH₄, kg N), resource extraction.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
flow	string		Filter flows by name (case-insensitive substring)
limit	integer		Max flows to return, sorted by absolute quantity (default 50)
process_id	string	✓	Process ID (activityUUID_productUUID format)
substitutions	object[]		Optional what-if supplier substitutions. Each entry: {from: oldSupplierPID, to: newSupplierPID, consumer: consumerPID}. PIDs can be bare (root DB) or qualified as dbName::pid (cross-DB). When empty or absent, the call behaves as a plain GET.

get_impacts

LCA / ACV — compute Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) scores for an activity. Returns the score, functional unit, and top contributing elementary flows. Answers 'empreinte carbone / environmental footprint' questions. Covers all LCIA categories: climate change, acidification, eutrophication, land use, water scarcity, resource depletion. Prefer this over web estimates for grounded, database-backed answers.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
method_id	string	✓	Method UUID
process_id	string	✓	Process ID (activityUUID_productUUID format)
substitutions	object[]		Optional what-if supplier substitutions. Each entry: {from: oldSupplierPID, to: newSupplierPID, consumer: consumerPID}. PIDs can be bare (root DB) or qualified as dbName::pid (cross-DB). When empty or absent, the call behaves as a plain GET.
top_flows	integer		Number of top contributing flows to return (default 5)

list_methods

LCA / ACV — list all loaded LCIA methods (impact assessment methods like climate change, acidification, eutrophication, land use, water scarcity).

get_flow_mapping

LCA / ACV — get the mapping between a method's characterization factors and database flows, showing match coverage.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
method_id	string	✓	Method UUID

get_characterization

LCA / ACV — look up characterization factors for a method matched against database flows. Without 'flow' filter, returns top factors by absolute value. With 'flow', searches by name. Shows CF value, direction, matched database flow, and match strategy.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
flow	string		Filter by flow name (case-insensitive substring, matches both method CF name and database flow name)
limit	integer		Max results (default 20)
method_id	string	✓	Method UUID

get_contributing_flows

LCA / ACV — identify which elementary flows (emissions/resources) contribute most to a specific impact category. Answers 'which emissions drive my climate change score?'

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
limit	integer		Max flows to return, sorted by contribution (default 20)
method_id	string	✓	Method UUID for the impact category
process_id	string	✓	Process ID (activityUUID_productUUID format)

get_contributing_activities

LCA / ACV — identify which upstream activities contribute most to a specific impact category. Answers 'which suppliers drive my climate change score?' Uses exact matrix-based computation, valid even for cyclic supply chains.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
limit	integer		Max processes to return, sorted by contribution (default 10)
method_id	string	✓	Method UUID for the impact category
process_id	string	✓	Process ID (activityUUID_productUUID format)

list_geographies

LCA / ACV — list all geography codes present in a database, with display names and parent regions. Use the 'geo' value as the geography filter in search_activities.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name

list_classifications

LCA / ACV — list classification systems in a database. Without 'system': returns system names and activity counts only (lightweight). With 'system': returns all values for that system. Add 'filter' to narrow values by substring.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
filter	string		Substring filter applied to values when a system is specified (case-insensitive).
system	string		Classification system name to inspect (e.g. 'ISIC rev.4 ecoinvent'). If omitted, returns only system names and counts.

get_path_to

LCA / ACV — find the shortest supply chain path from a process to the first upstream activity whose name matches a pattern. Each step includes cumulative_quantity, scaling_factor, and local_step_ratio (upstream ÷ downstream scaling factors). total_ratio is the product of all local_step_ratio values — the end-to-end conversion factor.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
database	string	✓	Database name
process_id	string	✓	Process ID (activityUUID_productUUID format)
target	string	✓	Case-insensitive name substring to stop at

get_consumers

LCA / ACV — find all activities that transitively consume (depend on) a given supplier. Returns a flat list, each with a crDepth field: 1 = direct consumer, 2 = consumer of consumer, etc. Useful for tracing downstream use of a raw material — e.g. finding transformed food products in Agribalyse that use a raw ingredient.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
classification	string		Classification system name (e.g. 'ISIC rev.4 ecoinvent')
classification_value	string		Classification value substring to match
database	string	✓	Database name
limit	integer		Max results (default 1000)
location	string		Filter by geography/location (case-insensitive substring, e.g. 'FR', 'DE')
max_depth	integer		Max hops from supplier (1 = direct consumers only)
name	string		Filter by name (case-insensitive substring)
preset	string		Name of a classification preset (from list_presets) — expands to its bundled filters
process_id	string	✓	Process ID of the supplier (activityUUID_productUUID format)
product	string		Filter by product name (case-insensitive substring)