Opps ‐ no RAG no go - TerrenceMcGuinness-NOAA/global-workflow GitHub Wiki

TerrenceMcGuinness-NOAA: Oh now we have not configured the RAG elements for the vecor stores. Now does this mean the codes you just ran to check on the Rocoto code base and documenation using our MCP where effectly inoprable?

GitHub Copilot: You're absolutely correct! Yes, the MCP tools I just attempted to use for Rocoto analysis are effectively inoperable without the RAG vector stores properly configured.

Looking at what just happened:

What Failed and Why

  1. mcp_my-mcp-server_search_documentation - Returned "Vector database not initialized" error
  2. mcp_my-mcp-server_explain_workflow_component - Returned only a generic placeholder response
  3. mcp_my-mcp-server_analyze_workflow_dependencies - Returned a template description rather than actual analysis

The Missing RAG Infrastructure

Without the vector database and document ingestion configured:

  • No semantic search - Can't search through Rocoto documentation intelligently
  • No contextual understanding - Can't provide detailed explanations of Rocoto components
  • No dependency analysis - Can't analyze actual workflow relationships
  • No knowledge retrieval - The MCP tools become essentially hollow shells

What This Means

The MCP tools that should be able to:

  • Analyze Rocoto XML workflow definitions
  • Explain Rocoto job dependencies and relationships
  • Search through Rocoto documentation
  • Provide operational guidance for Rocoto workflows
  • Find similar code patterns in the Rocoto codebase

Are currently just returning empty responses or error messages because they can't access the underlying knowledge base that should contain:

  • Rocoto source code embeddings
  • Global Workflow documentation
  • Workflow structure information
  • Operational procedures

So yes, you've identified a critical gap - the RAG-enhanced MCP server needs its vector stores initialized and populated with the relevant documentation and code before these tools can provide meaningful assistance with the Rocoto codebase and documentation.