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This page is for teams moving from proof of concept to a production build. It explains how to structure the integration, when to choose bundle tools versus atomic tools, and how to keep the product understandable for both engineers and operators. For most teams, the cleanest pattern is:
  1. user asks a sports question in your app or workflow
  2. your backend or MCP host decides which Sports MCP Server tool to call
  3. the server returns canonical sports data your product can summarize, render, or chain into the next tool
The backend or MCP host is the right place to keep:
  • API keys
  • prompt logic
  • retries and logging
  • output shaping for your product
  • caching or rate-aware traffic control

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Atomic Tools Versus Bundle Tools

Choose atomic tools whenChoose bundle tools when
the agent needs to reason step by stepthe product already wants a composed surface
you want small, precise payloadsyou want to reduce orchestration work
you need one missing fact, not a whole viewyou are building scoreboards, dashboards, season hubs, or match centers
you are debugging or tuning promptsyou want a faster path to customer-visible value

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Canonical IDs and Scope

Sports MCP Server works best when your product treats IDs as reusable product state, not as throwaway request details.
Use this IDWhen it is the right choice
sportIdbroad discovery or cross-sport schedule windows
leagueIdcurrent-season league workflows
leagueSeasonIdexplicit or historic season workflows
seriesIdcurrent championship or series context
seriesSeasonIdexplicit historic series context
matchIdmatch-center and match-detail experiences
teamId, personIdprofile, roster, and season-stat experiences

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Current Season Versus Historic Season

Do not mix current and historic scope casually.
  • use leagueId when the product means “the current season for this league”
  • use leagueSeasonId when the product means a specific season
  • use seriesId and seriesSeasonId the same way for series workflows
That distinction keeps prompts, summaries, and user expectations aligned.

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Localization and Time Windows

  • pass language when the UI or agent needs localized text
  • use bounded timeFrom and timeTo windows instead of open-ended schedule requests
  • keep timezone handling in your own product layer so user intent maps clearly to the server call

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Tool Selection by Product Job

Product jobBest starting point
”What is on today?”gns_schedule_results or gns_sports_dayboard
”Give me the current league picture”gns_live_league_dashboard
”Build a match page”gns_matchboard
”Show me a team or player hub”gns_team_season_profile or gns_person_season_profile
”Compare seasons”gns_historic_season_bundle or gns_season_compare
”Help me find where to watch this”gns_watchability_by_entity

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Prompt Design Tips

  • resolve fuzzy user terms early so later prompts can rely on canonical IDs
  • keep prompt instructions product-oriented, not feed-oriented
  • avoid asking an LLM to infer standings, bracket logic, or watchability relationships from partial raw payloads when a purpose-built tool already exists

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Browser Safety

Gracenote recommends keeping the Sports MCP Server key on your backend whenever possible. Use direct browser access only when:
  • the experience genuinely requires it
  • the origin is explicitly allowlisted in the portal
  • the risk model has been reviewed
If you can proxy through your backend, do that.

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Production Checklist

  1. confirm the key belongs to sports-mcp-server
  2. run initialize and tools/list from the environment that will go live
  3. verify the product chooses current-season versus historic-season IDs intentionally
  4. verify portal settings for Usage Notifications, Extra Usage, and Billing
  5. confirm your team can export usage and see who owns the product in the portal

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Helpful Next Pages