Elephant Server

Elephant MCP connects Claude-compatible clients to the Elephant data graph, exposing discoverable tools for listing data groups, classes, and individual property schemas. The server is published on npm as @elephant-xyz/mcp.

Embedding Provider: The getVerifiedScriptExamples tool uses text embeddings for semantic code search. The server supports two embedding providers:

• OpenAI (preferred when OPENAI_API_KEY is set) - Uses text-embedding-3-small with 1024 dimensions
• AWS Bedrock (automatic fallback) - Uses amazon.titan-embed-text-v2 via IAM authentication

When running on AWS, the server automatically uses Bedrock if no OpenAI key is provided.

🚀 Prompt Recommendations

For best results with Elephant MCP, always specify the Data Group you're working on in your prompts and add use elephant mcp at the end.

Example prompts:

"I'm working on the 'County' data group. Can you help me explore the available classes? use elephant mcp"

"What properties are available in the 'property' class? I'm working with the 'County' data group. use elephant mcp"

This helps the AI understand which data context to use and ensures it leverages the Elephant MCP tools effectively.

Install MCP Server

Heads up: the one-click badges above install the npm build (@elephant-xyz/mcp@latest), which is temporarily behind and does not include the query-table tools (queryProperties), and one-click cannot set the required PROPERTY_QUERY_TABLE_MAP. Until the next npm release, use the manual configuration below (GitHub build).

Why Elephant?

• Ready-to-use npx launcher compatible with Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, and other MCP clients.
• Tools to enumerate Elephant data groups, related classes, and full JSON Schema fragments.
• Structured MCP logging to stream diagnostics into every connected client.

Available Tools

• listClassesByDataGroup – Lists classes attached to an Elephant data group, including friendly names and descriptions.
• listPropertiesByClassName – Returns schema property keys for a class (excluding transport-only fields).
• getPropertySchema – Fetches the full JSON Schema for a specific property and class combination.
• getVerifiedScriptExamples – Returns a list of working examples of the code, that maps data to the Elephant schema.
• findPropertiesInArea – Returns properties whose centroid falls inside a user-supplied bounding box or polygon, sourced from the derived geo index.
• sumPropertyValueInArea – Sums the current AVM value of properties whose centroid falls inside a bounding box or polygon.
• queryProperties – Runs a read-only SQL SELECT/WITH over a county's query-table (view properties) via embedded DuckDB, for arbitrary counts, filters, and aggregates over owner, address, zip, value, acreage, material, and more.
• getPropertyQuerySchema – Returns the query-table's columns and types for a county so callers know what they can query.
• getOracleProperty – Fetches the full consolidated record for one property (by parcel id, property id, or CID).
• listOracleProperties – Paginated per-county property listing.
• getOracleDatasetInfo – Per-county dataset summary (property count, export time, source) plus per-source coverage datasets[] (count, %, date range) when DATASET_COVERAGE_MAP is configured.
• getPropertyPermits – On-demand permit harvest for a parcel.

Geo tools and data sources

These geo tools read two independent IPFS-published datasets, each resolved at the doc level by its own IPNS name (no central hosted endpoint — every consumer runs the server locally via npx, see below):

• Lee property data — stable IPNS oracle-open-data-lee.
• Derived geo/value index — separate dataset configured via ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_IPNS (e.g. oracle-geo-index-lee), or a fixed ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_CID. This index is independent from the property open-data vars and is what findPropertiesInArea / sumPropertyValueInArea query.

Supported MCP Clients

Cursor

Install MCP Server

1. Ensure Node.js 22.18+ is installed.
2. Cursor will open a configuration screen pre-filled with:

   {
     "command": "npx",
     "args": ["-y", "@elephant-xyz/mcp@latest"],
     "env": {
       // Option 1: Use OpenAI embeddings
       "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-your-openai-key",
       // Option 2: Use AWS Bedrock (omit OPENAI_API_KEY)
       // "AWS_REGION": "us-east-1"  // optional, defaults to us-east-1
       // Recommended: the per-county query-table (powers queryProperties AND all
       // property/geo/dataset tools). A served county needs ONLY this line:
       "PROPERTY_QUERY_TABLE_MAP": "{\"lee\":\"https://ipfs.filebase.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5djd4ohcf3qm87dhlt0e270xw8ejhkyia62edr76uj0u05hrf7m5\"}",
       // Optional override/addition: per-county hourly coverage snapshots.
       // Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach coverage URLs are built in.
       "DATASET_COVERAGE_MAP": "{\"lee\":\"https://ipfs.filebase.io/ipns/<coverage-ipns-name>\"}",
       // Optional legacy fallback (only for counties NOT in the query-table map):
       // "ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_IPNS": "k51qzi5uqu5djo3756w73x3swtt63g9y7igj7tvv1gs4skjk3haj3fuk7qosdi",
     },
   }
   

   For OpenAI, replace the placeholder with your actual key. For AWS Bedrock, remove the OPENAI_API_KEY line and ensure your environment has valid AWS credentials (IAM role, environment variables, or AWS credentials file).

PROPERTY_QUERY_TABLE_MAP maps each county to its published query-table Parquet on IPFS. It powers queryProperties (arbitrary SQL) and is the primary source for getOracleProperty, listOracleProperties, getOracleDatasetInfo, and the geo tools — so a county listed there needs no ORACLE_* vars. getOracleDatasetInfo has built-in public coverage snapshots for Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach. DATASET_COVERAGE_MAP can override those URLs or add more counties by mapping each county to its small hourly dataset-coverage.json snapshot on Filebase/IPNS. Donphan uses this coverage to qualify answers, while Miranda's website can read the same public JSON URL directly. Do not configure this to an AWS S3 URL for public users. The ORACLE_OPEN_DATA_* / ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_* vars are optional fallback for counties not yet in the map.

Note: the query-table tools (queryProperties, getPropertyQuerySchema) are on main. Until the next npm release, install the current build from GitHub — replace the args with ["-y", "github:elephant-xyz/elephant-mcp"] (first launch builds from source; give it a minute).

3. Save and toggle the Elephant connection inside Cursor's MCP panel.
4. If you are hacking on a local checkout, switch the command to npm start and set cwd to your repository path.

Visual Studio Code

1. Install the Model Context Protocol extension.
2. Accept the pre-populated install flow above or add manually under Settings → MCP → Servers with:
   • OpenAI: OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key npx -y @elephant-xyz/mcp@latest
   • AWS Bedrock: npx -y @elephant-xyz/mcp@latest (uses IAM credentials from environment)
3. Reload VS Code and enable the Elephant server in the MCP panel.

Claude Code

macOS/Linux with OpenAI:

claude mcp add elephant --env OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key -- npx -y @elephant-xyz/mcp@latest

macOS/Linux with AWS Bedrock (uses IAM credentials):

claude mcp add elephant -- npx -y @elephant-xyz/mcp@latest

Restart Claude Code after adding the server so the tools appear in the @tools palette.

OpenAI Codex

• CLI setup

  With OpenAI:

  codex mcp add elephant --env OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key -- npx -y @elephant-xyz/mcp@latest
  

  With AWS Bedrock:

  codex mcp add elephant -- npx -y @elephant-xyz/mcp@latest
  

  You can explore additional options with codex mcp --help. Inside the Codex TUI, run /mcp to view currently connected servers.

• config.toml setup Edit ~/.codex/config.toml (or open MCP settings → Open config.toml from the IDE extension) and add:

  For OpenAI:

  [mcp.elephant]
  command = "npx"
  args = ["-y", "@elephant-xyz/mcp@latest"]
  env = { OPENAI_API_KEY = "sk-your-openai-key" }
  

  For AWS Bedrock:

  [mcp.elephant]
  command = "npx"
  args = ["-y", "@elephant-xyz/mcp@latest"]
  # Uses IAM credentials from environment; optionally set AWS_REGION
  

  Save the file and restart Codex to load the new server.

Gemini CLI

Create (or edit) .gemini/settings.json in your project and add:

With OpenAI:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elephant": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@elephant-xyz/mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-your-openai-key",
      },
    },
  },
}

With AWS Bedrock:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elephant": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@elephant-xyz/mcp@latest"],
      // Uses IAM credentials from environment
    },
  },
}

Restart Gemini CLI or run gemini tools sync to pick up the new server.

Configuration

The stdio transport means no port or server identity flags are required. Environment variables handled by src/config.ts:

Variable	Description	Default
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key for embeddings. When set, OpenAI is used; otherwise falls back to AWS Bedrock.	(optional)
AWS_REGION	AWS region for Bedrock API calls.	us-east-1
LOG_LEVEL	Pino log level (error, warn, info, debug).	info
PROPERTY_QUERY_TABLE_MAP	Recommended. JSON object mapping county → query-table Parquet location (an IPNS gateway URL or a local path), e.g. {"lee":"https://ipfs.filebase.io/ipns/k51…"}. County keys are lowercased and hyphenated (palm-beach, not palm_beach). When a requested county is here, all data tools read the query-table via DuckDB; the ORACLE_* vars below are unused.	(optional)
PROPERTY_QUERY_TABLE	Single-county query-table location (fallback when the map is unset).	(optional)
PROPERTY_QUERY_TABLE_DEFAULT_COUNTY	County the single PROPERTY_QUERY_TABLE serves.	(optional)
DATASET_COVERAGE_MAP	Optional JSON object mapping county → published dataset-coverage.json location (a Filebase/IPNS gateway URL or a local path for development), e.g. {"lee":"https://ipfs.filebase.io/ipns/k51…"}. Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach are built in; this env var overrides those URLs or adds more counties. getOracleDatasetInfo returns datasets[] with per-source (appraisal/permits/sunbiz/bbb) ingestedCount, expectedCount, completionPercent, and load timestamps. Coverage is additive — a read failure or slow gateway never breaks dataset-info. Do not use AWS S3 URLs for public users.	(optional)
DATASET_COVERAGE	Single-county coverage snapshot location (fallback when the map is unset).	(optional)
DATASET_COVERAGE_DEFAULT_COUNTY	County the single DATASET_COVERAGE serves.	(optional)
ORACLE_OPEN_DATA_IPNS_MAP	JSON object mapping county → IPNS for multi-county deployments, e.g. {"lee":"k51…lee","palm-beach":"k51…pb"}. County keys are lowercased and hyphenated. When set, each requested county resolves to its own IPNS.	(optional)
ORACLE_OPEN_DATA_DEFAULT_COUNTY	County used when a request omits county. When the map is unset, this is the single-IPNS county.	(optional)
ORACLE_OPEN_DATA_IPNS	Legacy single-county IPNS of the open-data manifest/index. Used when ORACLE_OPEN_DATA_IPNS_MAP is unset/empty, or for the default county.	(optional)
ORACLE_OPEN_DATA_INDEX_CID / ORACLE_OPEN_DATA_MANIFEST_CID	Fixed CID fallback for the default county when IPNS resolution yields nothing.	(optional)
ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_IPNS	IPNS name of the derived geo/value index (e.g. oracle-geo-index-lee); resolved to its current CID at runtime.	(optional)
ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_IPNS_MAP	JSON object mapping county → IPNS for the geo/value index (same shape as ORACLE_OPEN_DATA_IPNS_MAP).	(optional)
ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_DEFAULT_COUNTY	Default county for the geo/value index when no county is requested.	(optional)
ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_CID	Fixed CID of the derived geo/value index; used when ORACLE_GEO_INDEX_IPNS is unset.	(optional)

AWS Bedrock Authentication

When using AWS Bedrock (no OPENAI_API_KEY set), the server authenticates using the standard AWS credential chain:

1. Environment variables (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY)
2. Shared credentials file (~/.aws/credentials)
3. ECS/Lambda container credentials (AWS_CONTAINER_CREDENTIALS_*)
4. IAM instance role (when running on EC2/ECS/Lambda)

Ensure your IAM role or user has the bedrock:InvokeModel permission and access to the amazon.titan-embed-text-v2:0 embedding model in the configured AWS_REGION. In some regions, you must explicitly request access to this model in the AWS Bedrock Console before it can be invoked.

Important: At least one embedding provider must be configured. If neither OPENAI_API_KEY nor AWS credentials are available, the getVerifiedScriptExamples tool will return an error prompting you to configure credentials.

Credential Verification

At startup, the server verifies embedding provider credentials:

• For OpenAI: Checks that OPENAI_API_KEY is set
• For AWS Bedrock: Resolves credentials through the full AWS credential provider chain and logs the detected source

The verification result is logged and included in the MCP startup message for debugging.

Database Compatibility

The embedding database is automatically rebuilt when switching between embedding models with different vector dimensions (e.g., switching from a 1536-dimension model to a 1024-dimension model). This ensures the getVerifiedScriptExamples tool works correctly after model changes. The server will re-index all verified scripts after a rebuild.

Zod compatibility note: this server and its dependencies require zod v3. Installs will fail if a v4 copy is hoisted into node_modules; the postinstall script enforces the v3 constraint to avoid runtime errors such as keyValidator._parse is not a function.

Need to Contribute?

Development setup, testing, and release workflows live in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Support

Open an issue with your Node.js version, client details, and any relevant log output if you run into trouble. We're happy to help you get connected.