Tools and tool servers

Tools

Engineering → Modules → Tools: everything the AI can use. Built-in tools are part of Starbase; Modules and tool servers add more, each folded under its name. Search finds a tool by its name or what it does.

A tool's level decides what happens when the AI uses it:

Level
Look	runs right away
Change	waits for an OK
Serious	needs an OK and a PIN

On switches a tool off for everyone. Who may use each one is in Clearance.

Tool servers

A tool server gives the AI tools from another program, over MCP (the Model Context Protocol, an open standard): Home Assistant, or any MCP server, at a web address or as a program on the Starbase PC.

1. Engineering → Modules → Tool servers → Add a tool server: a name, then whether it's a web address (the address, and a token if it needs one: kept on this PC, never shown again) or a program on this PC (the program to run). A program runs with Starbase's rights, so adding one needs your PIN. Changes take effect after a restart.
2. Set its tools' levels in Tools. Its tools start with the Captain and the First Officer in Clearance.

Reconnect, Turn off or Remove one. A server that isn't connected says why on its card (a wrong address, a stopped program, a refused token).

Home Assistant

Home Assistant has an MCP server built in. In Home Assistant, turn on the Model Context Protocol Server integration and make a long-lived access token (your profile → Security). In Starfarer, add a tool server with Home Assistant's MCP address and that token. Then "turn on the kitchen lights" or "what's the temperature upstairs?" work, as far as Home Assistant exposes those devices to its MCP server.

Tokens and passwords for tool servers are kept scrambled and locked to the Starbase computer.