generated: '2026-08-27'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://docs.siftstack.com/.well-known/mcp.json (HTTP 200, application/json) and
  https://docs.siftstack.com/documentation/cli/sift-mcp (HTTP 200); live server probed at
  https://docs.siftstack.com/mcp with initialize + tools/list + resources/list on 2026-08-27.
name: Sift MCP servers
status: published
note: >-
  Sift ships TWO distinct MCP servers and they are not interchangeable. (1) A public, anonymous, remote
  documentation server at https://docs.siftstack.com/mcp — advertised at /.well-known/mcp.json, three
  read-mostly tools over the published docs and OpenAPI spec, callable by an agent right now with no
  credential. (2) The product MCP server, which is NOT hosted: it ships inside the sift-cli binary and runs
  locally over stdio (`sift-cli mcp`), authenticating with the API key in a local CLI profile, and exposes
  Sift's own resources (assets, runs, channels, rules, annotations, reports, datasets). Sift documents why
  it is local rather than hosted: the server ships a `data/sql` tool that runs SQL locally over data pulled
  with `data/get_data`, and shipping in the CLI lets the SKILL.md be versioned alongside the MCP.
deployment:
  mode: both
  endpoint: https://docs.siftstack.com/mcp
  install: sift-cli mcp
  package: https://github.com/sift-stack/sift/releases/latest/download/sift_cli-installer.sh
  auth: none
  verified: probed
  note: >-
    auth: none applies to the REMOTE endpoint only — /.well-known/mcp.json declares
    servers[0].authentication "none" and an unauthenticated initialize/tools/list succeeded. The
    local-stdio product server requires an API key configured in a sift-cli profile (api-key auth); it was
    not probed, because doing so would require credentials.
servers:
- id: docs-remote
  name: Sift (documentation)
  mode: remote
  endpoint: https://docs.siftstack.com/mcp
  transport: http
  manifest: https://docs.siftstack.com/.well-known/mcp.json
  auth: none
  protocol_version: '2025-06-18'
  server_info: {name: Sift, version: 1.0.0}
  capabilities: {tools: {listChanged: true}, resources: {listChanged: true}}
  probe: {date: '2026-08-27', http_status: 200, method: 'initialize + tools/list + resources/list'}
  tools_file: mcp/sift-stack-docs-mcp-tools.json
  tools:
  - name: search_sift
    title: Search documentation
    read_only: true
    input: {query: string (required)}
  - name: query_docs_filesystem_sift
    read_only: true
    input: {command: string (required)}
    note: >-
      Read-only shell-like query (rg/grep/find/tree/ls/cat/head/tail/jq and friends) against a virtualized
      in-memory filesystem containing only the Sift docs pages and the OpenAPI spec at /openapi/openapi.json.
      Stateless per call; output truncated to 30KB.
  - name: submit_feedback
    read_only: false
    input: {path: string (required), feedback: string (required)}
    note: The only non-read-only tool; files a documentation defect with the docs team.
  resources:
  - uri: mintlify://skills/sift
    name: sift
    mimeType: text/markdown
    note: Same content as the published Agent Skill saved to skills/sift-stack-sift.md.
  instructions: >-
    Server-supplied instructions state it is read-only and scoped to Sift apart from submit_feedback, and
    that it must not claim access to private or authenticated content unless the session is authenticated.
- id: product-local
  name: Sift (product)
  mode: local-stdio
  install: sift-cli mcp
  client_config: '{"mcpServers":{"sift":{"command":"sift-cli","args":["mcp"]}}}'
  package: https://github.com/sift-stack/sift/releases/tag/sift_cli-v0.4.4
  auth: api-key
  docs: https://docs.siftstack.com/documentation/cli/sift-mcp
  verified: searched
  probe: {date: '2026-08-27', note: 'Not probed — requires an API key and a local sift-cli install.'}
  managed_install: >-
    `sift-cli agent install` detects Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode and registers the server plus a
    SKILL.md for each; `sift-cli agent doctor` reports drift; `sift-cli agent update --read-only` /
    `--allow-destructive` switches the access mode; `sift-cli agent update --profile <name>` switches profile.
  access_model:
    default: read-only
    write_gate: --allow-destructive
    gated_tools: [update_asset, update_run, update_report, update_annotation, update_rule, archive_rule, unarchive_rule]
    ungated_writes: [create_annotation, create_report, create_rule, create_test_report, append_test_measurements, upload_dataset]
    note: >-
      Tool names above are quoted verbatim from https://docs.siftstack.com/documentation/cli/sift-mcp. This
      is a partial list — the docs name the gated and additive-write tools explicitly but do not publish the
      complete tool inventory, and the read tools are only named incidentally (data/get_data, data/sql).
      A full inputSchema inventory requires authenticated local introspection.
  guardrails:
  - List-style tools default to a page size of 50, capped at 200 — lower than the web and API defaults, to protect agent context.
  - Tools prompt the agent to filter broad queries rather than page through large result sets.
  - Failed API calls retry automatically with backoff to avoid triggering rate limiting.