MCP documentation proxy

api/src/org/labkey/api/action/ConfirmAction.java

@@ -77,7 +77,10 @@ public final ModelAndView handleRequest() throws Exception
                     ModelAndView mv = getSuccessView(form);
                     if (null != mv)
                         return mv;
-                    throw new RedirectException(getSuccessURL(form));
+                    URLHelper redirect = getSuccessURL(form);
+                    if (null != redirect)
+                        throw new RedirectException(redirect);
+                    return null;
                 }
             }
             else
@@ -137,7 +140,6 @@ public void validate(@NotNull Object form, @NotNull Errors errors)
     /* Generic version of validate */
     public abstract void validateCommand(FORM form, Errors errors);
 
-    @NotNull
     public abstract URLHelper getSuccessURL(FORM form);
 
     // not usually used but some actions return views that close the current window etc...

api/src/org/labkey/api/admin/AdminUrls.java

@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ public interface AdminUrls extends UrlProvider
 
     ActionURL getAllowedExternalRedirectHostsURL();
     ActionURL getDeleteEncryptedContentURL();
+    ActionURL getOptionalFeaturesURL();
 
     /**
      * Simply adds an "Admin Console" link to nav trail if invoked in the root container. Otherwise, root is unchanged.

api/src/org/labkey/api/mcp/DocumentationService.java

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2026 LabKey Corporation
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.labkey.api.mcp;
+
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
+import org.labkey.api.services.ServiceRegistry;
+
+/**
+ * Local implementation of documentation search/retrieval, backing the {@code searchDocumentation}/
+ * {@code retrieveDocument} MCP tools in {@code CoreMcp}. Only registered on servers that host the LabKey
+ * documentation content and its vector store (currently www.labkey.org); every other server forwards those
+ * tool calls to www.labkey.org instead of calling this service. See {@link #isEnabled()}.
+ */
+public interface DocumentationService
+{
+    static @Nullable DocumentationService get()
+    {
+        return ServiceRegistry.get().getService(DocumentationService.class);
+    }
+
+    static void setInstance(DocumentationService impl)
+    {
+        ServiceRegistry.get().registerService(DocumentationService.class, impl);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * True if this server is enabled as the documentation source. The backing optional feature flag is owned by
+     * whichever module registers an implementation (currently serviceTools), not this interface, so the flag
+     * only exists at all on servers that have that module installed.
+     */
+    boolean isEnabled();
+
+    /** Returns a JSON string; see CoreMcp's searchDocumentation tool description for the response shape. */
+    String searchDocumentation(String query, @Nullable Integer topK);
+
+    /** Returns a JSON string; see CoreMcp's retrieveDocument tool description for the response shape. */
+    String retrieveDocument(String id);
+}

api/src/org/labkey/api/mcp/McpToolProxy.java

@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2026 LabKey Corporation
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.labkey.api.mcp;
+
+import io.modelcontextprotocol.client.McpClient;
+import io.modelcontextprotocol.client.McpSyncClient;
+import io.modelcontextprotocol.client.transport.HttpClientStreamableHttpTransport;
+import io.modelcontextprotocol.spec.McpSchema;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
+import org.labkey.api.util.logging.LogHelper;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+
+/**
+ * Proxy for calling an MCP tool on a remote server.
+ *
+ * A single {@link McpSyncClient} is created lazily and reused for the lifetime of this instance; the MCP
+ * initialize handshake only happens once, on the first forwarded call.
+ */
+public class McpToolProxy
+{
+    private static final Logger LOG = LogHelper.getLogger(McpToolProxy.class, "MCP tool forwarding");
+
+    private final String remoteBaseUrl;
+    private volatile McpSyncClient client;
+
+    public McpToolProxy(String remoteBaseUrl)
+    {
+        this.remoteBaseUrl = remoteBaseUrl;
+    }
+
+    private McpSyncClient getClient()
+    {
+        McpSyncClient c = client;
+        if (c == null)
+        {
+            synchronized (this)
+            {
+                c = client;
+                if (c == null)
+                {
+                    var transport = HttpClientStreamableHttpTransport.builder(remoteBaseUrl).build();
+                    c = McpClient.sync(transport)
+                            .clientInfo(McpSchema.Implementation.builder("labkey-server-forwarder", "1.0").build())
+                            .build();
+                    c.initialize();
+                    client = c;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return c;
+    }
+
+    // Drop the cached client after a failed call, so the next attempt reconnects instead of reusing a dead session
+    private synchronized void resetClient()
+    {
+        if (client != null)
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                client.closeGracefully();
+            }
+            catch (RuntimeException ignore)
+            {
+                // already broken; nothing to do
+            }
+            client = null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Calls {@code remoteToolName} on the remote MCP server with {@code arguments} and returns its text content
+     * (joined, if the tool returned more than one text content block). Throws if the remote server can't be
+     * reached or the remote tool itself reports an error.
+     */
+    public String forward(String remoteToolName, Map<String, Object> arguments)
+    {
+        McpSchema.CallToolResult result;
+        try
+        {
+            result = getClient().callTool(McpSchema.CallToolRequest.builder(remoteToolName).arguments(arguments).build());
+        }
+        catch (RuntimeException e)
+        {
+            LOG.error("Failed to forward MCP tool call '{}' to {}", remoteToolName, remoteBaseUrl, e);
+            resetClient();
+            throw new McpException("Unable to reach " + remoteBaseUrl + " to forward '" + remoteToolName + "': " + e.getMessage());
+        }
+
+        String text = result.content().stream()
+                .filter(content -> content instanceof McpSchema.TextContent)
+                .map(content -> ((McpSchema.TextContent) content).text())
+                .collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
+
+        if (Boolean.TRUE.equals(result.isError()))
+            throw new McpException("Remote tool '" + remoteToolName + "' at " + remoteBaseUrl + " reported an error: " + text);
+
+        return text;
+    }
+}

api/src/org/labkey/api/settings/AppProps.java

@@ -279,4 +279,9 @@ static WriteableAppProps getWriteableInstance()
     @NotNull List<String> getAllowedExtensions();
 
     @NotNull String getAllowedExternalResourceHosts();
+
+    default @Nullable String getDocumentationServer()
+    {
+        return "https://www.labkey.org";
+    }
 }

api/src/org/labkey/api/wiki/WikiService.java

@@ -124,9 +124,8 @@ default HtmlString getHtml(Container c, String name)
      * <p>Each {@link org.labkey.api.mcp.McpService.VectorDocument} is assigned an ID of the form
      * {@code "<containerEntityId>/<wikiEntityId>"}, where both components are GUIDs
      * (as returned by {@link Container#getId()} and the wiki's own entity ID).
-     * Tools that consume vector store results (e.g. {@code listDocuments},
-     * {@code retrieveDocument}) must use this same format when constructing or
-     * interpreting document IDs.</p>
+     * Tools that consume vector store results (e.g. {@code retrieveDocument}) must use this same
+     * format when constructing or interpreting document IDs.</p>
      *
      * @return the number of documents added
      */

core/src/org/labkey/core/CoreMcp.java

@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@
 import org.labkey.api.collections.LabKeyCollectors;
 import org.labkey.api.data.Container;
 import org.labkey.api.data.ContainerManager;
+import org.labkey.api.mcp.DocumentationService;
+import org.labkey.api.mcp.McpException;
+import org.labkey.api.mcp.McpToolProxy;
 import org.labkey.api.mcp.McpService;
 import org.labkey.api.module.ModuleLoader;
 import org.labkey.api.security.RequiresNoPermission;
@@ -35,21 +38,116 @@
 import org.labkey.api.study.Study;
 import org.labkey.api.study.StudyService;
 import org.labkey.api.util.HtmlString;
+import org.labkey.api.util.URLHelper;
 import org.labkey.api.view.ActionURL;
 import org.springframework.ai.chat.model.ToolContext;
 import org.springframework.ai.mcp.annotation.McpResource;
 import org.springframework.ai.tool.annotation.Tool;
 import org.springframework.ai.tool.annotation.ToolParam;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
+import static org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils.isBlank;
 import static org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils.isNotBlank;
 
 public class CoreMcp implements McpService.McpImpl
 {
+    // Lazily created, then reused for the lifetime of this instance -- see McpToolProxy's class javadoc.
+    private volatile McpToolProxy documentationProxy;
+
+    public CoreMcp()
+    {
+    }
+
+    private static boolean isDocumentationSourceRemote()
+    {
+        if (DocumentationService.get() instanceof DocumentationService s && s.isEnabled())
+            return false;
+        var documentationServer = AppProps.getInstance().getDocumentationServer();
+        if (isBlank(documentationServer))
+            return false;
+
+        var baseServerUrl = AppProps.getInstance().getBaseServerUrl();
+        try
+        {
+            // Disallow call back to self.  If this looks like a self-reference (www.labkey.org trying to call www.labkey.org) return false.
+            return !(new URLHelper(documentationServer).getHost().equalsIgnoreCase(new URLHelper(baseServerUrl).getHost()));
+        }
+        catch (URISyntaxException x)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    private McpToolProxy getDocumentationProxy()
+    {
+        McpToolProxy proxy = documentationProxy;
+        if (proxy == null)
+        {
+            synchronized (this)
+            {
+                proxy = documentationProxy;
+                if (proxy == null)
+                {
+                    proxy = new McpToolProxy(AppProps.getInstance().getDocumentationServer());
+                    documentationProxy = proxy;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return proxy;
+    }
+
+    private String forward(String remoteToolName, Map<String, Object> arguments)
+    {
+        return getDocumentationProxy().forward(remoteToolName, arguments);
+    }
+
+
+    @Tool(description = "Search the LabKey documentation for chunks of text semantically similar to a natural language query. " +
+            "Each result is an excerpt from a larger document, not the full document -- multiple results may come from the same " +
+            "source document. Returns each chunk's content, metadata (title, source URL, content type), a similarity score, and " +
+            "an id identifying the source document; pass that id to retrieveDocument to fetch the entire document.")
+    @RequiresNoPermission
+    String searchDocumentation(
+            @ToolParam(description = "Natural language search query describing what you're looking for") String query,
+            @ToolParam(required = false, description = "Maximum number of results to return, defaults to 5") Integer topK)
+    {
+        if (isDocumentationSourceRemote())
+        {
+            Map<String, Object> arguments = new HashMap<>();
+            arguments.put("query", query);
+            if (topK != null)
+                arguments.put("topK", topK);
+            return forward("searchDocumentation", arguments);
+        }
+
+        DocumentationService svc = DocumentationService.get();
+        if (svc == null || !svc.isEnabled())
+            throw new McpException("Documentation search is not available on this server.");
+        return svc.searchDocumentation(query, topK);
+    }
+
+    @Tool(description = "Return the entire document from the LabKey documentation using the `id` as returned by `searchDocumentation`.")
+    @RequiresNoPermission
+    String retrieveDocument(
+            @ToolParam(description = "Id of the document to return") String id)
+    {
+        if (isDocumentationSourceRemote())
+        {
+            return forward("retrieveDocument", Map.of("id", id));
+        }
+
+        DocumentationService svc = DocumentationService.get();
+        if (svc == null || !svc.isEnabled())
+            throw new McpException("Documentation retrieval is not available on this server.");
+        return svc.retrieveDocument(id);
+    }
+
     @Tool(description = "This tool provides useful context information about the current user (name, userid), webserver " +
         "(name, url, description), and current container/folder (name, path, url, description) once the container is set via setContainer.")
     @RequiresPermission(ReadPermission.class)

core/src/org/labkey/core/DataAnalysis_Python.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ When writing Python scripts, read the server URL from `.mcp.json` to pre-populat
 Confirm all of these settings with the analyst before writing any script.
 
 ## Online Reference Material
-https://www.labkey.org/Documentation/wiki-page.view?name=python
+For questions about the `labkey` Python package, LabKey SQL, or server concepts not covered here, call `searchDocumentation` (e.g. `searchDocumentation("labkey python APIWrapper select_rows filters")`), then `retrieveDocument` for the full page.
 
 ## MCP Tools Available
 
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ All modification APIs accept `timeout=300`, `container_path=None`, `transacted=T
 
 10. **select_rows sends a GET request** to `query-getQuery.api`. `execute_sql` sends a POST to `query-executeSql.api`.
 
-11. **LabKey SQL is not standard SQL.** It is a SQL dialect specific to LabKey. Use `mcp__labkey__validateSQL` to check syntax before executing. Refer to LabKey documentation for dialect-specific features (e.g., lookup column traversal via `/` or `.` notation).
+11. **LabKey SQL is not standard SQL.** It is a SQL dialect specific to LabKey. Use `mcp__labkey__validateSQL` to check syntax before executing. For dialect-specific features (e.g., lookup column traversal via `/` or `.` notation), read the LabKey SQL resource (`resource://org/labkey/query/controllers/prompts/LabKeySql.md`) or call `searchDocumentation`.
 
 ## Typical Analysis Workflow
 

core/src/org/labkey/core/DataAnalysis_R.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ When writing R scripts, read the server URL from `.mcp.json` (via `jsonlite::fro
 Confirm all of these settings with the analyst before writing any script.
 
 ## Online Reference Material
-https://www.labkey.org/Documentation/wiki-page.view?name=rAPI
+For questions about the Rlabkey package, LabKey SQL, or server concepts not covered here, call `searchDocumentation` (e.g. `searchDocumentation("Rlabkey selectRows executeSql filters")`), then `retrieveDocument` for the full page.
 
 ## MCP Tools Available
 
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ Data frames passed to modification functions must be created with `stringsAsFact
 
 10. **baseUrl must include the context path and trailing slash**: e.g. `"http://localhost:8080/labkey/"` if the server uses a context path, or `"http://localhost:8080/"` if it does not.
 
-11. **LabKey SQL is not standard SQL.** It is a SQL dialect specific to LabKey. Use `mcp__labkey__validateSQL` to check syntax before executing. Refer to LabKey documentation for dialect-specific features (e.g., lookup column traversal via `/` or `.` notation).
+11. **LabKey SQL is not standard SQL.** It is a SQL dialect specific to LabKey. Use `mcp__labkey__validateSQL` to check syntax before executing. For dialect-specific features (e.g., lookup column traversal via `/` or `.` notation), read the LabKey SQL resource (`resource://org/labkey/query/controllers/prompts/LabKeySql.md`) or call `searchDocumentation`.
 
 12. **SSL configuration**: For HTTPS servers on Windows, you may need to set the `RLABKEY_CAINFO_FILE` environment variable pointing to a CA bundle file. Use `labkey.acceptSelfSignedCerts()` for development servers with self-signed certificates.
 

core/src/org/labkey/core/FileBasedModules.md

@@ -420,12 +420,8 @@ Simply refresh your browser to see changes.
 
 ## Documentation Resources
 
-For more information, see:
-- Simple Modules Overview: https://www.labkey.org/Documentation/wiki-page.view?name=simpleModules
-- File-Based Module Tutorial: https://www.labkey.org/Documentation/wiki-page.view?name=moduleqvr
 - JavaScript API Documentation: https://labkey.github.io/labkey-api-js/
-- Module Directory Structures: https://www.labkey.org/Documentation/wiki-page.view?name=moduleDirectoryStructures
-- Query Development: https://www.labkey.org/Documentation/wiki-page.view?name=addSQLQuery
+- For everything else (simple modules overview, the file-based module tutorial, module directory structures, query development), call `searchDocumentation` — e.g. `searchDocumentation("file-based module directory structure")` — then `retrieveDocument` for the full page.
 
 ## Quick Start Checklist