# col.species.suggest

Autocomplete a partial species or taxon name against the Catalogue of Life working draft, returning up to 25 ranked suggestions. Each suggestion includes the usage ID (for passing to col.species.detail or col.species.children), the matched name string, taxonomic rank, status (accepted/synonym), taxonomic group (e.g. "insects", "flowering plants", "birds"), higher-taxon context (e.g. "Hominidae"), and a human-readable suggestion string. Ideal for type-ahead name disambiguation in scientific workflows, species identification pipelines, or biodiversity data cleaning tasks. Optionally restrict suggestions to a specific rank (e.g. GENUS to return only genus-level matches).

Agent View of the PolicyLayer registry record for `col.species.suggest`. HTML page: https://policylayer.com/tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase/col.species.suggest

## Facts

- Tool: `col.species.suggest`
- Server: Apibase (`apibase-mcp-client`) — https://policylayer.com/tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase.md
- Install: `npx -y apibase-mcp-client`
- Homepage: https://github.com/whiteknightonhorse/APIbase
- Risk category: Read (Low risk)
- Registry record: grade F, identity unverified
- Server auth posture: open
- Server rate-limited: no
- Parameters: 3 (1 required)
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `rank` | string | no | Restrict suggestions to a specific taxonomic rank (e.g. SPECIES, GENUS, FAMILY). Omit to return suggestions across all ranks. |
| `limit` | integer | no | Maximum number of autocomplete suggestions to return (1–25, default 10). |
| `query` | string | yes | Partial or full name prefix for autocomplete (e.g. "Homo", "Pinus syl", "Pan tr"). Returns ranked suggestions from the COL working draft. |

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": "col.species.suggest",
    "arguments": {
      "query": "<query>"
    }
  }
}
```

## Why col.species.suggest is rated Low

Retrieves and ranks species name suggestions from a taxonomy database without modification.

From the tool's own definition: "autocomplete, returning suggestions, taxonomic data retrieval, no side effects"

## Use case

AI agents call col.species.suggest to retrieve information from Apibase 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 Apibase:

```json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "col.species.suggest": {}
  }
}
```

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## 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=io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase · API: https://policylayer.com/registry/api · Policy library: https://policylayer.com/policies/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase