MCP tools reference

Quick reference

The most common tools at a glance — the ones you will see most in everyday sessions. The Phase column shows where each tool typically belongs in the six-phase lifecycle.

This page curates a selected set out of the 45 tools the trw-mcp server registers for agent use. Expect your client’s MCP tool listing to show fewer than that, not all of them. By default (tool_resolution_mode: standard) the server advertises only the tools the current task type needs, and a call to a tool outside that set is refused with tool_not_in_surface rather than executed. An agent requests one it needs with trw_request_tool_access; setting tool_resolution_mode: all in .trw/config.yaml turns the narrowing off and advertises every tool at once.

Session and workflow

These tools manage one work session. trw_session_start explicitly requests prior learnings and active-run state; checkpoints preserve milestones that a later session can recover after interruption or compaction.

Learning and knowledge

These tools record, retrieve, and update durable discoveries. Recall is explicit and ranked against the current query; instruction sync refreshes the managed TRW protocol rather than silently promoting arbitrary learning text.

Quality and verification

Quality tools record validation outcomes, produce structured review artifacts, and enforce the delivery receipt boundary. Run the real project commands first; these tools preserve and evaluate the evidence rather than replacing the test runner.

Requirements

Requirements are the bridge between what you want and what your agent builds. These tools create AARE-F compliant PRDs with EARS-format requirements, then validate them for completeness before implementation begins.

Feedback

Send the TRW maintainer a bug report, install issue, feature request, or general feedback without leaving your editor. Submissions go through the authenticated platform endpoint, and PII - license keys, API key prefixes, your home path, and sensitive env vars - is redacted client-side before anything leaves your machine.

Usage examples

A connected agent calls these tools when the workflow requires them. These examples show the activity shape you may see as a task moves from startup to delivery.

Common patterns

Tools combine differently depending on task risk and client capability. Start with the smallest pattern that preserves the evidence and handoff the task actually needs.

MCP resources

In addition to tools, TRW exposes 6 read-only MCP resources. Your AI reads these for configuration, state, and templates without making a tool call. Unlike tools, resources are not filtered by task type — all of them are readable in every session.

Claude Code MCP tool search

TRW ships 45 MCP tools. Claude Code can defer MCP schemas until they are needed, reducing host-context overhead without changing the server catalog. Other clients own their discovery and schema-loading behavior.

{
  "env": {
    "ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH": "false"  // disable deferred schemas
  }
}

Next steps

Tools are the primitives. Skills show the packaged workflows built on top of them, agents show who uses them, and lifecycle explains when each one should appear.