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Tools Quick Reference

One-page cheatsheet for all dbt-nova MCP tools.

Discovery

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
search Full-text and hybrid search query, persona, resource_types, detail, include_highlights, include_sql
get_entity Fetch single entity by ID or name id_or_name, resource_type, detail
list_entities List entities by type with filters resource_type, package, tags, detail
batch_get_entities Retrieve multiple entities at once unique_ids, detail
find_by_path Find entities by file path glob path_pattern, resource_types, detail

Context

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
get_context One-shot context bundle (lineage, columns, tests, docs) id_or_name, include_columns, include_upstream, include_tests, include_sql, include_docs, lineage_depth, context_mode

Lineage

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
get_lineage Traverse entity lineage id_or_name, direction, depth, resource_types, detail
get_impact Blast-radius estimate id_or_name
get_column_lineage Trace column upstream/downstream id_or_name, resource_type, column_name, direction, confidence

Code & Schema

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
get_columns Inspect column names, types, metadata id_or_name
get_sql Return raw or compiled SQL id_or_name, compiled
diff_entities Compare two entities side-by-side entity1, entity2, entity1_resource_type, entity2_resource_type, compare_fields

Analysis

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
get_test_coverage Schema/data test coverage id_or_name, resource_type, include_full, columns_limit
get_metadata_score Metadata quality score id_or_name, persona, scope
get_undocumented Find entities missing descriptions resource_type, include_columns, package, path_prefix
search_recipes Find analysis recipe templates + parameter contracts topic, query, include_queries, limit, offset
get_recipe Load a recipe, SQL, and parameter requirements recipe_id, include_sql, include_queries, parameters, placeholder_types
run_recipe Execute recipe queries with preflight parameter validation recipe_id, query_names, query_indexes, stop_on_failure, parameters, placeholder_types, sql_parameter_types

Validation

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
validate_dag Check for cycles/orphans detail (full | summary)

Metadata Inventory

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
show_metadata Project overview with entity counts (none)
list_tags All tags with counts (none)
list_packages All packages with counts (none)
list_databases All database.schema combinations (none)

Warehouse

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
execute_sql Run SQL against configured provider (databricks, bigquery, duckdb) statement, row_limit, byte_limit, max_poll_seconds, parameters

Operations

Tool Purpose Key Parameters
health Readiness and status check (none)
reload_manifest Reload manifest and rebuild indexes manifest_uri, manifest_path (optional)

Common Patterns

Fast Discovery

{"name":"search","arguments":{"query":"customer","persona":"analyst","detail":"standard","include_highlights":true,"limit":10}}

Quick Triage

{"name":"get_context","arguments":{"id_or_name":"model.pkg.name","include_columns":true,"include_tests":true,"include_upstream":true,"include_sql":false,"include_docs":false}}

Impact Assessment

{"name":"get_impact","arguments":{"id_or_name":"model.pkg.name"}}

Compliance Scan

{"name":"search","arguments":{"query":"nova_pii:true","persona":"governance","resource_types":["model"]}}

See Also