fastmcp.server.transforms.catalog
Base class for transforms that need to read the real component catalog.
Some transforms replace list_tools() output with synthetic components
(e.g. a search interface) while still needing access to the real
(auth-filtered) catalog at call time. CatalogTransform provides the
bypass machinery so subclasses can call get_tool_catalog() without
triggering their own replacement logic.
Re-entrancy problem
When a synthetic tool handler callsget_tool_catalog(), that calls
ctx.fastmcp.list_tools() which re-enters the transform pipeline —
including this transform’s list_tools(). If the subclass overrides
list_tools() directly, the re-entrant call would hit the subclass’s
replacement logic again (returning synthetic tools instead of the real
catalog). A super() call can’t prevent this because Python can’t
short-circuit a method after super() returns.
Solution: CatalogTransform owns list_tools() and uses a
per-instance ContextVar to detect re-entrant calls. During bypass,
it passes through to the base Transform.list_tools() (a no-op).
Otherwise, it delegates to transform_tools() — the subclass hook
where replacement logic lives. Same pattern for resources, prompts,
and resource templates.
This is not the same as the Provider._list_tools() convention
(which produces raw components with no arguments). transform_tools()
receives the current catalog and returns a transformed version. The
distinct name avoids confusion between the two patterns.
Usage::
class MyTransform(CatalogTransform):
async def transform_tools(self, tools):
return [self._make_search_tool()]
def _make_search_tool(self):
async def search(ctx: Context = None):
real_tools = await self.get_tool_catalog(ctx)
…
return Tool.from_function(fn=search, name=“search”)
Classes
CatalogTransform
Transform that needs access to the real component catalog.
Subclasses override transform_tools() / transform_resources()
/ transform_prompts() / transform_resource_templates()
instead of the list_*() methods. The base class owns
list_*() and handles re-entrant bypass automatically — subclasses
never see re-entrant calls from get_*_catalog().
The get_*_catalog() methods fetch the real (auth-filtered) catalog
by temporarily setting a bypass flag so that this transform’s
list_*() passes through without calling the subclass hook.
Methods:
list_tools
list_resources
list_resource_templates
list_prompts
transform_tools
list_tools() directly — the base class uses it
to handle re-entrant bypass when get_tool_catalog() reads the
real catalog.
transform_resources
list_resources() directly — the base class uses it
to handle re-entrant bypass when get_resource_catalog() reads the
real catalog.
transform_resource_templates
list_resource_templates() directly — the base class
uses it to handle re-entrant bypass when
get_resource_template_catalog() reads the real catalog.
transform_prompts
list_prompts() directly — the base class uses it
to handle re-entrant bypass when get_prompt_catalog() reads the
real catalog.
get_tool_catalog
ctx: The current request context.run_middleware: Whether to run middleware on the inner call. Defaults to True because this is typically called from a tool handler where list_tools middleware has not yet run.
get_resource_catalog
ctx: The current request context.run_middleware: Whether to run middleware on the inner call. Defaults to True because this is typically called from a tool handler where list_resources middleware has not yet run.
get_prompt_catalog
ctx: The current request context.run_middleware: Whether to run middleware on the inner call. Defaults to True because this is typically called from a tool handler where list_prompts middleware has not yet run.
get_resource_template_catalog
ctx: The current request context.run_middleware: Whether to run middleware on the inner call. Defaults to True because this is typically called from a tool handler where list_resource_templates middleware has not yet run.