Available MCP Tools Overview

Purpose and Scope

This page provides a comprehensive overview of all Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools available through the laravel-boost MCP server when using GitHub Copilot CLI. These tools are provided by Laravel Boost v2.0+ and made accessible through the configuration generated by this package.

For detailed information about specific tools, see:

• Documentation Search (search-docs) for the search-docs tool specifics
• Development and Debugging Tools for in-depth coverage of tinker, database-query, and related tools
• Tool Availability by Environment for environment-specific limitations
• Pest Testing Skill for the pest-testing skill documentation

Tool Provision Model

The MCP tools documented here are not implemented by this package. Instead, they are provided by the Laravel Boost framework (v2.0+). This package serves as a configuration bridge that:

1. Generates .github/mcp-config.json with the laravel-boost server configuration
2. Spawns the MCP server via php artisan boost:mcp or equivalent commands
3. Enables GitHub Copilot CLI to access all Laravel Boost tools through the "tools": ["*"] configuration

MCP Tool Request Architecture

Sources: .github/mcp-config.json1-13 .github/copilot-instructions.md37-90

Available Tools by Category

The Laravel Boost MCP server provides tools organized into functional categories:

Tool Reference Table

Tool Name	Category	Purpose	Full Laravel	Testbench
search-docs	Documentation	Search version-specific Laravel & package documentation	✓	✓
list-artisan-commands	Discovery	List available Artisan commands with parameters	✓	✓
application-info	Discovery	Get application information and configuration	✓	✓
tinker	Development	Execute PHP code for debugging and exploration	✓	✓
database-query	Database	Execute read-only SQL queries	✓	Limited
database-schema	Database	Inspect database table structure	✓	Limited
list-routes	Discovery	List all application routes	✓	Limited
browser-logs	Debugging	Read browser console logs and exceptions	✓	✗
get-absolute-url	Utility	Generate absolute URLs with correct scheme/port	✓	Limited
pest-testing (skill)	Testing	Pest 4 PHP testing framework integration	✓	✓

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md16-24 .ai/guidelines/copilot-cli.blade.php11-21

Tool Categories

Tool Category Architecture

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md79-119 .github/copilot-instructions.md37-52

Documentation & Discovery Tools

These tools help explore and understand the Laravel application and its available features:

• search-docs: Searches version-specific documentation for Laravel and installed packages. The tool automatically passes package versions to return only relevant documentation. Supports multiple query syntax patterns including stemming, AND logic, exact phrases, and multiple queries. See Documentation Search (search-docs) for complete details.

• list-artisan-commands: Lists all available Artisan commands with their parameters and options. Use this tool before executing Artisan commands to verify available parameters.

• application-info: Retrieves application-level information including configuration, environment details, and Laravel version.

• list-routes: Lists all registered application routes with methods, URIs, names, and controllers. Note: Returns limited or no results in Orchestra Testbench environments.

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md86-119

Development & Debugging Tools

These tools facilitate active development and debugging workflows:

• tinker: Executes PHP code in the application context. Use this tool to debug code, query Eloquent models directly, or test PHP logic interactively. This is the preferred tool for debugging over raw database queries.

• browser-logs: Reads browser console logs, errors, and exceptions. Only recent logs are useful; older logs should be ignored. This tool requires a full Laravel application with browser integration and does not work in Testbench.

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md93-103

Database Operations Tools

These tools provide database introspection and querying capabilities:

• database-query: Executes read-only SQL queries against the application database. Use this tool when you only need to read data without the overhead of Eloquent models.

• database-schema: Inspects database table structure including columns, types, indexes, and relationships. Use this tool before writing migrations or models to understand existing schema.

Note: Both database tools require a configured database connection and may return limited or no results in Orchestra Testbench environments without a full application database.

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md95-98

Utility Tools

• get-absolute-url: Generates absolute URLs with the correct scheme (http/https), domain/IP address, and port. Use this tool whenever sharing project URLs with users to ensure correctness across different environments (local, Sail, WSL).

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md90-92

Skills System

The Laravel Boost MCP server also provides domain-specific skills that are activated contextually:

• pest-testing: A comprehensive skill for working with the Pest 4 PHP testing framework. This skill is activated when writing tests, creating test files, adding assertions, testing components, debugging failures, or when the user mentions test-related keywords. See Pest Testing Skill for complete documentation.

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md48-51

Tool Configuration in MCP Config

All tools are made available through the wildcard configuration in the generated MCP configuration file:

The "tools": ["*"] configuration grants GitHub Copilot CLI access to all tools provided by the Laravel Boost MCP server. This wildcard approach ensures that any new tools added to Laravel Boost automatically become available without requiring configuration updates.

Sources: .github/copilot-instructions.md37-52 .github/mcp-config.json1-13

Tool Access Flow

Sources: .github/mcp-config.json1-13 .github/copilot-instructions.md37-52

Tool Usage Guidelines

When working with MCP tools through GitHub Copilot CLI, the following guidelines ensure optimal usage:

Search Documentation First

The search-docs tool should be used before attempting other approaches when working with Laravel or ecosystem packages. This tool returns only version-specific documentation relevant to the installed packages, preventing outdated or incorrect information.

Example search patterns:

• Simple word searches: authentication (finds 'authenticate', 'auth')
• Multiple words (AND logic): rate limit (both terms required)
• Quoted phrases: "infinite scroll" (exact phrase)
• Mixed queries: middleware "rate limit" (middleware AND exact phrase)
• Multiple queries: ["authentication", "middleware"] (any of these)

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md104-119

Use Appropriate Tools for Database Operations

The tool selection hierarchy for database operations:

1. tinker: Preferred for debugging code or querying Eloquent models directly
2. database-query: Use when you only need to read database data
3. database-schema: Use to inspect table structure before migrations or models

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md93-98

Verify Artisan Commands

Always use list-artisan-commands to verify available parameters before executing Artisan commands, as command signatures may vary across Laravel versions.

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md86-88

Generate Correct URLs

Use get-absolute-url whenever sharing project URLs with users to ensure correct scheme, domain/IP, and port across different environments (standard Laravel, Laravel Sail, WSL).

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md90-92

Environment-Specific Behavior

Tool availability and functionality varies significantly between standard Laravel applications and Orchestra Testbench package development environments. This affects which tools return useful results:

Standard Laravel Application: All tools function normally with full application context, database connections, and application-specific features.

Orchestra Testbench: Limited environment without full application context. Tools like database-query, database-schema, list-routes may return limited or no results. Basic tools like application-info, list-artisan-commands, search-docs work normally.

For complete details on environment-specific tool availability, see Tool Availability by Environment.

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md16-24 .ai/guidelines/copilot-cli.blade.php11-21

Troubleshooting Tool Access

If GitHub Copilot CLI cannot see the laravel-boost MCP server or its tools, the most common cause is forgetting to specify the MCP configuration file when starting Copilot CLI.

Required startup command:

The --additional-mcp-config option is required for every Copilot CLI session to access Laravel Boost MCP tools. Without this flag, the tools will not be available to the AI agent.

To resume an existing session with the correct configuration:

Sources: .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md6-13 .ai/guidelines/copilot-cli.blade.php3-9