Caruon

What caruon does

caruon exposes UK electricity carbon data as MCP tools. It connects through the Pipeworx gateway to provide current headline intensity in grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour, historical readings at 30-minute intervals, grid generation shares, regional forecasts, and the factors used for fuel-specific calculations.

The data is suited to agents that need to reason about when electricity use may have a lower carbon impact. For example, an agent can compare intensity levels before scheduling a batch job, inspect the current contribution from wind or gas, or review a complete day's readings to identify lower-intensity periods.

How it works

The hosted MCP endpoint is available at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/carbon/mcp. An MCP client connects to that URL and discovers the carbon tools. The same gateway also offers a full endpoint at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp; the carbon endpoint lists the carbon pack directly, while the full endpoint lists tools from the wider Pipeworx catalog.

Pack endpoints also expose shared Pipeworx meta-tools, including routing and discovery tools. These can reach other catalog data sources through the gateway, even when the carbon endpoint is being used. The exact tool scope is returned during MCP initialization.

Calls can also be made over HTTP. For example, POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/get_intensity with a JSON content type and an empty object invokes the current-intensity tool.

Setup and configuration

For a hosted connection, add the following MCP server entry:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "carbon": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/carbon/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The npm package provides a local stdio bridge:

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

The bridge forwards requests to the hosted gateway and therefore needs network access. It does not provide offline operation. Anonymous use is capped at 50 calls per day. A free Pipeworx account increases the limit to 200 calls per day; set PIPEWORX_API_KEY in the MCP server's environment to use the account key. Setting PIPEWORX_META_TOOLS=1 adds the gateway-wide meta-tools to the local server's listed tools.

Tools and capabilities

• get_intensity returns current forecast and actual gCO2/kWh values with an intensity band ranging from very low to very high.
• get_intensity_by_date returns forecast and actual readings for each 30-minute period on a specified date.
• get_generation_mix reports the current percentage contribution from gas, coal, wind, solar, nuclear, hydro, biomass, and imports.
• get_regional_intensity provides forecast intensity, an index band, and generation mix for a Great Britain region. It accepts a UK postcode outcode or a region ID; omitting both returns all regions for the current half-hour.
• get_intensity_factors lists the gCO2/kWh factors used for headline figures, including factors for coal, combined-cycle gas, nuclear, wind, and solar.

Limitations and notes

Regional results are forecast-only. The local bridge depends on the Pipeworx gateway, so network connectivity is required. A hosted connection does not require an account for initial calls, while authenticated use has a higher daily allowance. The integration is independent and unofficial rather than published or endorsed by the upstream data provider.