The console announces five tools and reaches everything by address (hq ADR 0195)

mesh_overview, mesh_machine, mesh_search, mesh_describe and mesh_call walk the mesh's structure;
every tool has one address per layer: <seat>.<verb>, <node>/<seat>.<verb>, <node>/<module>.<tool>,
and <module>.<tool> for a module the mesh issued a plain subject. A stateful module called without
its machine, a node seat without one, a mesh seat with one, or a module on the wrong machine is
refused naming what would work. Answers come from the mesh when asked, kept five seconds, so a tool
that arrives mid-session is found. The flat catalogue stays behind MESH_CONSOLE_FLAT=1 and old
<module>.<tool> names still answer.

node-tools/internal/console/mcp.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package console
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -47,10 +48,17 @@ type Surface struct {
 	mu    sync.Mutex
 	known *Listing
 	at    time.Time
+	idx   *index
+	idxAt time.Time
+	// Flat announces the whole catalogue, as the console did before ADR 0195: for a person reading
+	// it or a client that wants it. Off by default; MESH_CONSOLE_FLAT=1 turns it on.
+	Flat bool
 }
 
 // NewSurface is the surface over a connection, as `who`.
-func NewSurface(conn *bus.Conn, who string) *Surface { return &Surface{conn: conn, who: who} }
+func NewSurface(conn *bus.Conn, who string) *Surface {
+	return &Surface{conn: conn, who: who, Flat: os.Getenv("MESH_CONSOLE_FLAT") == "1"}
+}
 
 func (s *Surface) listing() (*Listing, error) {
 	s.mu.Lock()
@@ -99,12 +107,7 @@ func (s *Surface) Handle(r Request) *Reply {
 			"protocolVersion": Protocol,
 			"capabilities":    map[string]any{"tools": map[string]any{}},
 			"serverInfo":      map[string]any{"name": "mesh", "version": "1"},
-			"instructions": "These are the tools of a Novox mesh, reached as " + s.who + ". Every call goes to the module " +
-				"that serves it; what may be called was fixed when this account was issued, so a " +
-				"refusal means the account, not the tool. The list is what the running modules " +
-				"answered, plus every role's tools from the mesh's records — the mesh's own verbs " +
-				"(mesh-controller.status, .push, .assign …) among them; a module that did not answer " +
-				"is named in the list's _meta and can still be called by <module>.<tool>.",
+			"instructions":    s.instructions(),
 		})
 	case "notifications/initialized":
 		return nil
@@ -114,6 +117,9 @@ func (s *Surface) Handle(r Request) *Reply {
 		}
 		return answer(r.ID, map[string]any{})
 	case "tools/list":
+		if !s.Flat {
+			return answer(r.ID, map[string]any{"tools": discovery()})
+		}
 		l, err := s.listing()
 		if err != nil {
 			return refuse(r.ID, -32603, whyItFailed(catalogueModules, err))
@@ -142,6 +148,12 @@ func (s *Surface) Handle(r Request) *Reply {
 			Arguments map[string]any `json:"arguments"`
 		}
 		_ = json.Unmarshal(r.Params, &p)
+		if isDiscovery(p.Name) {
+			if p.Arguments == nil {
+				p.Arguments = map[string]any{}
+			}
+			return answer(r.ID, s.discover(p.Name, p.Arguments))
+		}
 		args := map[string]any{}
 		for k, v := range p.Arguments {
 			args[k] = v
@@ -266,3 +278,20 @@ func withNode(schema map[string]any, description string, required bool) map[stri
 	}
 	return out
 }
+
+// instructions is what an agent host is told about this surface when it connects.
+func (s *Surface) instructions() string {
+	if s.Flat {
+		return "These are the tools of a Novox mesh, reached as " + s.who + ". Every call goes to the module " +
+			"that serves it; what may be called was fixed when this account was issued, so a " +
+			"refusal means the account, not the tool. The list is what the running modules " +
+			"answered, plus every role's tools from the mesh's records — the mesh's own verbs " +
+			"(mesh-controller.status, .push, .assign …) among them; a module that did not answer " +
+			"is named in the list's _meta and can still be called by <module>.<tool>."
+	}
+	return "The tools of a Novox mesh, reached as " + s.who + ", found by address rather than listed " +
+		"whole (novox/hq ADR 0195). mesh_overview shows the mesh's seats and machines; mesh_machine one " +
+		"machine's seats and modules; mesh_search finds a tool by words; mesh_describe gives one tool's " +
+		"arguments; mesh_call calls it. " + grammar + " What may be called was fixed when this account " +
+		"was issued, so a refusal means the account, not the tool."
+}