generated: '2026-08-27'
method: derived
source: mcp/aftership-mcp.yml + openapi/aftership-tracking-api-openapi.yml + openapi/aftership-returns-api-openapi.yml
description: 'Binds each published AfterShip MCP tool to the REST operations that back it. The public MCP server
  is a consumer-facing shim, not a projection of the merchant API: its two tools cover a tiny slice of the 134 REST
  operations AfterShip publishes, and neither maps 1:1.'
surfaces:
  openapi:
  - openapi/aftership-tracking-api-openapi.yml
  - openapi/aftership-returns-api-openapi.yml
  graphql: null
  mcp: https://mcp.aftership.com/tracking/public
  gated:
  - AfterShip Post-purchase MCP (OAuth, endpoint URL not published in server-rendered docs)
  - AfterShip Channels MCP (OAuth, endpoint URL not published in server-rendered docs)
  - live tools/list on the public server (HTTP 429 at probe time)
crosswalk:
- tool: track_shipment
  category: tracking
  rest:
  - create-tracking
  - get-tracking-by-id
  - get-trackings
  - detect-courier
  binding: composite
  confidence: medium
  note: The tool takes a tracking_number plus optional carrier_slug and returns live status, which is what the Tracking
    API does across create-tracking (registers the number), get-tracking-by-id / get-trackings (reads checkpoints)
    and detect-courier (the auto-detection the tool advertises). The public server is anonymous while these REST
    operations require an as-api-key, so the binding is semantic, not observed.
- tool: get_returns_demo
  category: returns-marketing
  rest: []
  binding: none
  confidence: high
  note: Generates a marketing demo page at aftership.com/tools/product-demo/returns/{domain}. No public REST operation
    exposes this; it is not part of the Returns API.
mcp_only:
- tool: get_returns_demo
  reason: Product-demo generator with no REST counterpart in any published AfterShip OpenAPI.
- tool: track_shipment
  reason: Anonymous, keyless tracking. No published REST operation is callable without an as-api-key, so this capability
    exists only on the MCP surface.
rest_only_summary:
  count: 130
  note: 130 of 134 published REST operations have no MCP tool on the public server — the entire Shipping, Commerce,
    Warranty, Protection, Parser, Members, Address and Personalization surface, plus all write paths on Tracking
    and Returns. The OAuth-gated Post-purchase MCP names list_shipments, get_shipment and list_returns in its docs,
    which would cover a further slice, but its tool list could not be introspected without an AfterShip account.
  apis_with_no_mcp_coverage:
  - AfterShip Shipping API
  - AfterShip Commerce API
  - AfterShip Warranty API
  - AfterShip Protection API
  - AfterShip Parser API
  - AfterShip Members API
  - AfterShip Address API
  - AfterShip Personalization API
coverage:
  mcp_tools: 2
  rest_operations: 134
  mapped: 1
  mcp_only: 2
  rest_only: 130
  note: track_shipment is counted once as mapped (composite) and once as mcp_only because the anonymous access mode
    has no REST equivalent.