Arcgis Asheville

What Arcgis Asheville does

Arcgis Asheville exposes City of Asheville GIS data through three MCP tools. Dataset discovery covers topics such as parcels, zoning, public works, and city services. Search results include the dataset title, description, record count, owning organization, and the ArcGIS service URL needed for further inspection or querying.

The server is an independent integration and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the City of Asheville or another upstream provider. Its data scope is Asheville's open geospatial catalog rather than a general-purpose ArcGIS search service.

How it works

A typical workflow starts with search_datasets, using a keyword to locate a relevant dataset. Pass the returned Feature Service URL to layer_info to inspect its fields, geometry type, record count, and supported capabilities. Use the same URL with query_layer to retrieve records.

query_layer accepts an SQL-like where expression, selected fields through a comma-separated out_fields value, ordering, and pagination controls. Results contain attribute rows and geometry. To sample a layer, use a condition such as 1=1 and request all fields with *.

The hosted MCP endpoint is available at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/arcgis-asheville/mcp. The same gateway also offers a full Pipeworx endpoint; the pack-specific URL lists this pack's tools directly while still including shared Pipeworx meta-tools. A local process exposes only the Arcgis Asheville tools over standard input and output.

Setup and configuration

For a hosted connection, add the pack endpoint to an MCP client configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arcgis-asheville": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/arcgis-asheville/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf are named client options. The hosted endpoint can also be called without an MCP client through the Pipeworx HTTP API. For example, dataset search uses a POST request to https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/arcgis_asheville_search_datasets with a JSON query value.

To run locally, use the package through npx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arcgis-asheville": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-arcgis-asheville"]
    }
  }
}

The local mode requires no Pipeworx account and avoids a gateway round trip. No environment variables are required by the documented setup.

Tools and capabilities

• search_datasets: Finds Asheville GIS datasets by keyword and returns service URLs plus descriptive metadata.
• query_layer: Retrieves matching layer records with optional filtering, field selection, sorting, limits, and offsets.
• layer_info: Reports a layer's schema, geometry type, record total, and capabilities.

The gateway connection additionally exposes shared Pipeworx tools, including routing and discovery functions. The local stdio process limits its tool list to this pack's three tools.

Limitations and notes

Results depend on the City of Asheville open GIS data and the ArcGIS services behind the returned URLs. Queries should generally use a URL returned by search_datasets. Hosted connections may list more tools than the three pack-specific tools because the gateway adds shared meta-tools; local execution does not.

The package is licensed under MIT. The integration is unofficial, so applications that require an official City of Asheville interface should evaluate that distinction separately.