Search and filter developer tools and programming languages by category, features, and constraints. Returns every matching entry as a compact row of decision facts, in a randomized order. Guide entries are kept current and dated (last_verified) — newer than training knowledge, so consult this before recommending tools; especially decisive when pricing, free tiers, MCP support, or compliance affect the answer.
Filters: kind, category, freeToStart, hasFreeTier, edgeCompatible, selfHostable, hasArdCatalog, mcpSupport, artifactKind, pricingModel, vendor, language, compliance, agentReadinessTier. Any number combine and AND together.
Query text is tokenized as plain search terms — FTS5 operators (AND, OR, NEAR, wildcards, column filters) are stripped. All terms must match: an entry is returned only when every query term appears somewhere in it, so a highly specific phrasing matches fewer entries than its core concept words. Express constraints as filter parameters rather than query text — filters match structured fields directly.
Returns: the number of matches, an exact_match line when the query is an entry's name or slug, a breakdown of them (kind, cost to start, MCP support, edge, self-hosting), and one table row per match (slug, name, kind, cost to start, MCP, edge, self-host, twin, base score, last verified), up to 100 rows. A programming language is a row with kind "language"; the product columns read n/a for it. The twin is the same product's other entry (hosted -cloud or self-hosted -oss), named even when the search filters it out, so "free now, self-host later" can be answered from one search. Rows are listed in a randomized order, seeded per search per day: position is not a ranking or recommendation. Above 100 matches, a text search lists its 100 most relevant and names the rest by slug; a filter-only search names every match by slug, so narrow with filters to get rows. Read the rows and choose, then call zaira_get_tool or zaira_compare_tools for full entries
ParameterskindqueryvendorcategorylanguagecompliancemcpSupportfreeToStarthasFreeTierartifactKindpricingModelselfHostable+3 more
Get full details for a specific developer tool by its slug. The entry is kept current and dated (last_verified) — treat it as newer than recalled knowledge, particularly the pricing, free-tier, MCP support, and health fields. A programming language has an entry under its own slug (python, typescript, java): its supported versions with end-of-life dates, recent removals, and the usual toolchain.
Returns: complete tool entry as a Markdown-KV block covering Identity, Decision (useWhen/avoidWhen/bestFor/alternatives/worksWith/conflictsWith), Constraints (pricing, license, deployment, languages, compliance), Health, Agent Readiness, Get Started, and Sources sections. Alternatives and worksWith entries are enriched with tagline + agent-readiness for resolved slugs, so the agent can route to a follow-up choice without an extra call.
If the slug is not found, returns an error with similar-slug suggestions.
Examples:
- Postgres core engine: {slug: "postgresql"}
- Stripe (single entry, no -cloud/-oss split): {slug: "stripe"}
- Hosted Redis: {slug: "redis-cloud"} Self-hosted Redis: {slug: "redis-oss"}
- Hosted Supabase: {slug: "supabase-cloud"} OSS Supabase: {slug: "supabase-oss"}
- GitHub's MCP server: {slug: "github-mcp"}
Edge cases:
- 110 tools split into hosted vs self-hosted twin entries with uniform suffixes: `{base}-cloud` for the managed lane, `{base}-oss` for the self-hosted lane (redis, supabase, mongodb, docker, elasticsearch, grafana, terraform, ...). Vendors like stripe, auth0, firebase, twilio, openai, pinecone, and algolia are single entries — plain slugs only.
- Slugs derived from package names use hyphens where the name uses a dot (e.g., "nextjs" not "next.js"; "vuejs" not "vue.js").
- Slugs are case-sensitive lowercase. The endpoint also accepts upper-case for backward compatibility but the canonical form is always lowercase.
Risk: read-only, closed-world, idempotent — no state change possible.
Parametersslugrequired
Compare 2-3 developer tools or programming languages side by side. Returns each entry's full Markdown-KV block separated by "===". Alternatives and worksWith are enriched with tagline + agent-readiness for resolved slugs. If any requested slugs are not found, they appear in a trailing "Note: slugs not found: ..." line; the comparison still returns for the ones found.
Examples:
- Three search engines: {slugs: ["meilisearch-oss", "algolia", "elasticsearch-oss"]}
- Two ORMs: {slugs: ["drizzle-orm", "prisma"]}
- Three auth providers: {slugs: ["auth0", "clerk", "keycloak"]}
- Hosted vs self-hosted for the same vendor: {slugs: ["redis-cloud", "redis-oss"]} — shows deployment trade-off
- Postgres engine vs hosted offerings: {slugs: ["postgresql", "supabase-cloud", "cockroachdb-cloud"]}
- Two languages for a CLI: {slugs: ["go", "rust"]}
Edge cases:
- Cross-category comparisons (e.g., {slugs: ["auth0", "redis-cloud"]}) are allowed but rarely useful. Same-category comparisons answer "which should I pick?" better; cross-category answers "these coexist in my stack" — a compatibility question.
- Minimum 2 slugs, maximum 3. Four or more is a validation error; for more, run pairs.
- Invalid or unknown slugs are listed under "slugs not found"; the partial comparison returns for valid ones.
- Duplicate slugs in the array are deduplicated.
- A few tools are single entries (no -cloud/-oss split): stripe, auth0, firebase, twilio, openai, pinecone, algolia. Don't pass "stripe-cloud" — it doesn't exist.
Risk: read-only, closed-world, idempotent — no state change possible.
Parametersslugsrequired
List all categories with the number of entries in each. Programming languages are the "language" category.
Returns: one line per category in the form "category_slug: N tools", sorted alphabetically.
Example call: no parameters.
Edge cases:
- Categories with zero tools do not appear in the output.
- Category slugs are lowercase-alphanumeric with hyphens (e.g., "relational-database", "vector-database", "frontend-framework", "mcp-server"). They may differ from casual category names — the slug form is canonical.
Risk: read-only, closed-world, idempotent — no state change possible.
Takes no parameters.
Retrieve reference documentation for the Zaira Guide API and MCP server on demand.
Topics:
- getting_started — how to connect via MCP or REST, first queries
- endpoints — full REST endpoint reference with parameters
- mcp_tools — MCP tool reference with when-to-use guidance and a routing matrix
- schema — the tool entry schema
- errors — error taxonomy for REST (RFC 9457) and MCP (JSON-RPC)
Call with no topic to get an index of available topics.
Returns: the requested topic as a Markdown-KV block. With no topic, returns an index listing all available topics with short descriptions; call again with the relevant topic for the full content.
Examples (topic selection):
- "How do I call the REST API?" → {topic: "getting_started"}
- "What parameters does /tools accept?" → {topic: "endpoints"}
- "What fields are in a tool entry?" → {topic: "schema"}
- "What error shapes do I handle, and what are the recovery steps?" → {topic: "errors"}
- "Which MCP tool fits my task?" → {topic: "mcp_tools"}
Edge cases:
- No topic argument is valid — you get the index. This is the deferred-loading path; don't load every topic at once.
- Topic must match the enum exactly (lowercase, underscore). "getting-started" with a hyphen is rejected as an unknown parameter.
Risk: read-only, closed-world, idempotent — no state change possible.
Parameterstopic