# valet_search_cities

Search the cities directory by name prefix with population-ranked results. Use this when an agent needs to resolve a partial city name into a canonical city slug plus state slug plus lat/lng before composing valet_find_operators_in_city or valet_find_operators_near. Empty array if no matches.

Agent View of the PolicyLayer registry record for `valet_search_cities`. HTML page: https://policylayer.com/tools/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory/valet-search-cities

## Facts

- Tool: `valet_search_cities`
- Server: Valet Parking Directory (`https://api.getvaletparking.com/mcp`) — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory.md
- Homepage: https://github.com/getvaletparking/valet-parking-mcp
- Risk category: Read (Low risk)
- Registry record: grade C, identity unverified
- Server auth posture: open
- Server CORS policy: *
- Server rate-limited: no
- Parameters: 2 (1 required)
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `limit` | integer | no | Max results to return; default 8, capped at 25 |
| `query` | string | yes | Partial or full city name (>=2 chars). Matched against name and lowercase name fields with prefix semantics. |

Parameters from the server's own tool schema.

## Example call (MCP tools/call, JSON-RPC 2.0)

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "valet_search_cities",
    "arguments": {
      "query": "<query>"
    }
  }
}
```

## Why valet_search_cities is rated Low

This tool queries a public valet parking directory to resolve city names into slugs and coordinates. It performs a simple lookup with zero destructive, financial, or execution capabilities. The data returned is informational and used only to prepare parameters for other tools.

From the tool's own definition: "'Search the cities directory by name prefix' – retrieves data from a directory; 'Empty array if no matches' – read-only with no side effects; returns canonical city and state identifiers for downstream queries."

## Use case

AI agents call valet_search_cities to retrieve information from Valet Parking Directory without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

## Recommended policy (PolicyLayer)

Verdict: **Allowed**. Enforced by the PolicyLayer MCP gateway (https://policylayer.com/mcp-gateway) before a call reaches Valet Parking Directory:

```json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "valet_search_cities": {}
  }
}
```

## Other tools on Valet Parking Directory (6)

- `valet_find_nearest_operators` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory/valet-find-nearest-operators.md
- `valet_find_operators_in_city` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory/valet-find-operators-in-city.md
- `valet_find_operators_near` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory/valet-find-operators-near.md
- `valet_get_operator` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory/valet-get-operator.md
- `valet_list_services` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory/valet-list-services.md
- `valet_search_by_service_and_city` — Read — https://policylayer.com/tools/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory/valet-search-by-service-and-city.md

## For agents

This record is a snapshot. Live verdicts and the full registry:

- Check every server in your MCP config at once: `npx -y policylayer stack`
- Vet a server before you add it: install the mcp-precheck skill — `npx skills add https://policylayer.com` (skill text: https://policylayer.com/skill.md)
- Query the registry over MCP: endpoint `https://api.policylayer.com/mcp` — tools `check_mcp_server`, `check_mcp_stack`, `check_tool`, `search_registry`, `get_change_events`

---

Source: the PolicyLayer MCP registry — one continuously verified record per MCP server. Full record: https://policylayer.com/registry?q=com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory · API: https://policylayer.com/registry/api · Policy library: https://policylayer.com/policies/com-getvaletparking-valet-parking-directory