# Explore (`mttr_explore`)

Updated October 24, 2026.

## What does mttr_explore do?

One thing mttr knows and every way on from it, each marked by what made it: meaning, links, or the rulebook. Start from a site, a market, a line of work or a rule, then follow the way on it suggests. Only whoever runs this mttr may make this call.

Who may call it: Owner.

## When to use it

- You want to wander from a site to its rivals, rules and pages.
- You want the reasoning behind a connection.

## What you ask

You might say: “Explore example.com and show me where to go next.”

```
mttr_explore({ node: "site:example.com" })
```

| Argument | Type | Needed | What it is |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `node` | Text | Yes | What to open: site:example.com, s:<code> for an unnamed site, market:<code>, work:<id> such as work:trades, rule:<id> such as rule:answer-first, page:example.com/path, alike:example.com/path, passage:<n>.<v>@example.com/path, or finding:<rule>@example.com/path. Inner ids come back as each edge's "to". |
| `trail` | Text | No | The steps walked so far, as the last reply gave them under "onward". Next never leads back into it while another way on is open. |
| `by` | One of these: meaning, links, rules | No | What kind of edge led here, so Next takes another kind. |
| `why` | Text | No | On a site node: a named site near it, for the passages of the two that came closest. Read the first time it is asked for, then kept. |

## What comes back

- The thing asked about and its edges, each with what made it.
- The one way on worth taking next.

A sample, with made-up sites and figures:

| Way on | Made by | To |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Close in meaning | Meaning | rival.example |
| Links to it | Links | north.example |
| Fails a rule | Rules | Show sources on guides |

## Over HTTP

```
curl "https://mttr.si/api/v1/explore?node=site%3Aexample.com" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MTTR_KEY"
```

## When it fails

| When | Status | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Your assistant has no key yet | 401 over MCP | Sign up with `mttr_signup`, then connect again with the key it gives. |
| The key is a person’s, not the owner’s | 403 | Nothing: only whoever runs mttr makes this call. |

## Sources

- [Model Context Protocol: tools](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-06-18/server/tools), Model Context Protocol: How an assistant calls a tool.

The call in full: [mttr_explore in the API reference](https://mttr.si/docs/reference#mttr_explore).

## Goes with

- [Nearest sites](https://mttr.si/docs/tools/near.md)
- [Worked examples](https://mttr.si/docs/tools/examples.md)