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Spectral

What is the Catalog

The Spectral community catalog is a public Git repository — spectral-tools — that contains MCP tool definitions contributed by users. Anyone can browse, install, or publish tool collections.

A Git repo of tool definitions

Section titled “A Git repo of tool definitions”

At its core, the catalog is just a Git repository. Each collection is a folder containing declarative tool definitions — HTTP request templates that describe how to call an API endpoint. There is no executable code: tools specify a URL, an HTTP method, headers, and a body template with placeholders that the agent fills in at runtime.

This means:

  • Everything is auditable. You can read exactly what a tool does before installing it.
  • Changes are reviewed. Publishing goes through a pull request, so every addition or update is checked before it reaches the catalog.
  • Transparency benefits everyone. Because the catalog is public, any issue spotted in a tool definition is visible to the entire community.

A safer model for AI tooling

Section titled “A safer model for AI tooling”

Sharing MCP tools through a reviewed, declarative catalog avoids the risks of distributing arbitrary code:

  • No code execution. Tools are data (request templates), not scripts. Installing a tool from the catalog does not run anything on your machine.
  • Scoped by design. Each tool maps to a single API call. Agents can only perform the actions described by the tools you install.
  • Public review process. Contributions are merged only after review, reducing the risk of malicious or broken tool definitions reaching users.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”