Resources And Prompts
The server exposes MCP resources for documentation, artifact patterns, and live object lookup. It also provides prompts that guide agents through discovery-first workflows.
Resources
A live-object resource withholds what its matching get-* tool withholds. Both read the same record, so a value the tool declines to print must not be reachable by reading the URI instead. Bulky content a tool gates behind a flag is served here as a { included: false, sha256, length } summary — the digest matches the one in the tool's own output, so the two can be compared — and a value the server declares secure is served as [redacted]. The full content stays available through the tool and flag named in each row below.
This is about withholding, not field-set parity: a resource is otherwise a faithful serialization of the record, and fields a tool merely omits for brevity are still served.
| Resource URI | Purpose |
|---|---|
vcfa://docs/readme | README content for tool usage and configuration. |
vcfa://docs/artifact-authoring | vRO artifact authoring and import/export guide. |
vcfa://schemas/workflow-scaffold | Structured contract and validation notes for scaffold-workflow-file. |
vcfa://patterns/workflows/basic-scriptable-task | Guidance for linear scriptable-task workflows. |
vcfa://patterns/workflows/action-wrapper | Guidance for wrapping a verified vRO action in a workflow. |
vcfa://patterns/templates/conventions | Blueprint template metadata/content conventions and authoring rules. |
vcfa://patterns/templates/small-vm | Guidance for minimal small VM blueprint templates. |
vcfa://patterns/templates/catalog-ready | Guidance for catalog-facing templates and deployment workflow alignment. |
vcfa://context/latest | Manifest for the most recent persisted context snapshot pair, including file paths, counts, warnings count, and snapshot resource URIs. |
vcfa://context/snapshots/{fileName} | Persisted context snapshot file content for a generated .json or .md snapshot under the effective context directory. |
vcfa://workflows/{id} | Workflow metadata as JSON. Nothing is withheld: the record carries no script or content, and parameters are declarations without values. |
vcfa://actions/{id} | Action metadata as JSON. The script is served as a sha256/length summary; use get-action with includeScript for the full script. |
vcfa://deployments/{id} | Deployment details as JSON. An input whose name reads as credential material is [redacted]; that check is name-based and is not a guarantee. |
vcfa://configurations/{id} | Configuration element details as JSON. An attribute the server declares secure, by type or by value envelope, has its value [redacted]. |
vcfa://resource-elements/{id} | Resource element metadata as JSON. Nothing is withheld: the record is metadata only, and element content is served by export-resource-element. |
vcfa://subscriptions/{id} | Extensibility subscription details as JSON. Constraints are served as a sha256/length summary; use get-subscription with includeConstraints for the full JSON. |
vcfa://packages/{name} | vRO package metadata as JSON. Nothing is withheld: the content listings are names and types, which get-package omits for brevity rather than secrecy. |
vcfa://patterns/subscriptions/event-driven | Discovery-first guidance for creating extensibility subscriptions wired to vRO workflows. |
Prompts
Use prompts when you want the client assistant to follow one of the server's discovery-first playbooks. Prompts are most useful at the start of a task, before tool calls or artifact edits, because they tell the assistant which read-only discovery calls, resources, preflight checks, confirmation points, and verification steps belong in the workflow.
Use vcfa-discover-capabilities for exploratory conversational discovery. Use vcfa-collect-context-snapshot when that discovery should be persisted as reusable Markdown and JSON inventory for future agents.
vcfa-author-workflow
Guide workflow authoring, scaffolding, preflight, and import. This prompt plans, scaffolds, preflights, and safely imports a vRO workflow artifact.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
goal | string | Yes | - | Workflow goal or requirements. |
categoryHint | string | No | - | Optional workflow category name or path hint. |
vcfa-review-artifact-import
Review a local workflow, action, configuration, or package artifact before import.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
artifactKind | enum | Yes | - | Artifact kind to review: workflow, action, configuration, or package. |
fileName | string | Yes | - | Local artifact file name to review. |
vcfa-troubleshoot-deployment
Inspect a deployment and guide safe troubleshooting or remediation, including discovering the deployment's request history with list-deployment-requests and polling a known or newly submitted day-2 request with get-deployment-request.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
deploymentId | string | Yes | - | Deployment ID to troubleshoot. |
goalHint | string | No | - | Optional troubleshooting focus or symptom description. |
vcfa-troubleshoot-workflow-execution
Diagnose a failed or problematic workflow execution using logs, stack, and workflow source.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
workflowHint | string | Yes | - | Workflow ID, name, or search hint. |
executionId | string | No | - | Optional execution ID to inspect directly. |
vcfa-discover-capabilities
Discover reusable plugins, categories, actions, workflows, catalog items, and templates. Use this for exploratory conversational discovery before creating or importing anything.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
goal | string | No | general discovery | Optional automation or troubleshooting goal to focus the discovery. |
vcfa-collect-context-snapshot
Persist reusable Markdown and JSON VCFA/vRO context for future agents.
When the MCP client exposes workspace roots and VCFA_CONTEXT_DIR is not set, generated files are saved under the current workspace's artifacts/context/ directory. The vcfaBuiltIns profile focuses on Library workflows and VMware built-in actions; action details are resolved from the opaque action IDs returned by vRO so list-level module path quirks do not cause false 404 warnings.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
goal | string | No | reusable VCFA/vRO context | Optional project or implementation goal for the snapshot. |
includeOptionalDomains | boolean | No | false | Whether to include templates, catalog items, event topics, subscriptions, packages, and plugins in addition to the core context domains. |
profile | enum | No | default | Use vcfaBuiltIns when the snapshot should focus on workflows in subfolders below Library and actions in com.vmware modules. |
vcfa-build-workflow-from-action
Discover an existing action and scaffold a workflow wrapper around its verified contract.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
actionHint | string | Yes | - | Action name, module, ID, or fully qualified name hint. |
workflowGoal | string | Yes | - | Desired workflow name or public behavior. |
categoryHint | string | No | - | Optional workflow category name or path hint. |
vcfa-refactor-workflow
Inspect, export, preflight, and safely plan workflow refactors.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
workflowHint | string | Yes | - | Workflow ID, name, or search hint for the workflow to refactor. |
refactorGoal | string | Yes | - | Desired refactor outcome. |
vcfa-create-template
Discover existing Cloud Assembly templates and draft a new blueprint template safely.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
templateGoal | string | Yes | - | Template purpose or desired workload. |
projectHint | string | No | - | Optional project name or ID hint; resolve it with list-projects. |
vcfa-review-template
Inspect an existing blueprint template for correctness, reuse, and catalog readiness.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
templateId | string | Yes | - | Template ID to review. |
reviewGoal | string | No | - | Optional review focus, such as catalog readiness or small VM shape. |
vcfa-integrate-workflow-template-subscription
Plan integration between workflows, templates, catalog items, deployments, and extensibility subscriptions.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
integrationGoal | string | Yes | - | Integration goal or lifecycle event. |
workflowHint | string | No | - | Optional workflow name, ID, or search hint. |
templateHint | string | No | - | Optional template name or ID hint. |
vcfa-discovery-first-implementation-plan
Produce a concrete implementation plan that starts with verified read-only VCFA/vRO discovery.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
goal | string | Yes | - | Implementation goal. |
artifactKinds | string | No | - | Optional artifact focus, such as workflows, actions, templates, or subscriptions. |
Prompt Examples
Initial environment discovery:
Use prompt vcfa-discover-capabilities with:
goal: "Map reusable VM provisioning workflows, actions, templates, catalog items, and subscriptions."Persist reusable context:
Use prompt vcfa-collect-context-snapshot with:
goal: "Persist reusable VM provisioning context before implementation work."
includeOptionalDomains: truePersist VMware baseline Library/com.vmware context:
Use prompt vcfa-collect-context-snapshot with:
goal: "Persist VMware built-in workflow and action baseline context."
profile: vcfaBuiltInsFor large environments where the default 100-item-per-domain limit causes skipped items, call the tool directly with a higher limit:
Use collect-context-snapshot with:
fileBaseName: vcfa-context-full
includeOptionalDomains: true
maxItemsPerDomain: 600
overwrite: trueDiscovery-first implementation planning:
Use prompt vcfa-discovery-first-implementation-plan with:
goal: "Create a workflow that lists VMs by project name."
artifactKinds: "workflows and actions"Author a new workflow:
Use prompt vcfa-author-workflow with:
goal: "Build a workflow that accepts a project name and returns matching VM names."
categoryHint: "VCFA"Wrap an existing action:
Use prompt vcfa-build-workflow-from-action with:
actionHint: "getAllMachines"
workflowGoal: "Expose machine inventory lookup as a workflow."
categoryHint: "VCFA"Review before import:
Use prompt vcfa-review-artifact-import with:
artifactKind: "workflow"
fileName: "list-vms-by-project.workflow"Template work:
Use prompt vcfa-create-template with:
templateGoal: "Small Ubuntu VM blueprint aligned with existing catalog conventions."
projectHint: "Development"Subscription or integration planning:
Use prompt vcfa-integrate-workflow-template-subscription with:
integrationGoal: "Run a tagging workflow after deployment creation."
workflowHint: "Tag VM"
templateHint: "Ubuntu"Troubleshoot a failed workflow execution:
Use prompt vcfa-troubleshoot-workflow-execution with:
workflowHint: "Provision VM"
executionId: "abc12345-def6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890"Discovery Guardrail
Workflow and template implementation prompts tell agents to stop when required environment details are missing. Agents should report missing workflows, actions, categories, projects, parameters, return types, IDs, or blueprint schema details instead of inventing plausible values. When action discovery is required, list-actions must produce an exact candidate and get-action must verify the contract; no match, partial data, or ambiguous action data means the agent should stop and ask for the missing details instead of inventing parameter names or return types.