MCP Tools Reference: colaboratory.googleapis.com

Tool: list_runtime_specs

Lists the Colab runtime specifications (combinations of variant, accelerator, and shape) that are available to the requesting user, along with whether the user is eligible for each.

Use this to discover which machine configurations can be requested when creating a runtime.

The following code sample shows how to use curl to call the list_runtime_specs MCP tool.

Curl Request 
curl --location 'https://colaboratory.googleapis.com/mcp' \
--header 'content-type: application/json' \
--header 'accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
--data '{
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "list_runtime_specs",
    "arguments": {
      // Provide these details according to the MCP tool specification.
    }
  },
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1
}'

Input Schema

Request message for ListRuntimeSpecs.

Output Schema

Response message for ListRuntimeSpecs.

ListRuntimeSpecsResponse

JSON representation 
{
  "runtimeSpecs": [
    {
      object (RuntimeSpec)
    }
  ]
}
Fields
runtimeSpecs[]

object (RuntimeSpec)

The list of runtime specs available to the requesting user.

RuntimeSpec

JSON representation 
{
  "key": {
    object (Key)
  },
  "eligible": boolean
}
Fields
key

object (Key)

Required. The key of the runtime spec.
eligible

boolean

Output only. Whether the requesting user is eligible for the runtime spec.

Key

JSON representation 
{
  "variant": enum (Variant),
  "accelerator": string,
  "shape": enum (Shape)
}
Fields
variant

enum (Variant)

Required. Runtime variant.
accelerator

string

Required. Runtime accelerator model name (e.g., "T4", "L4", "A100"). For CPU runtime specs, this field will be "NONE".
shape

enum (Shape)

Required. Runtime shape.

Variant

Runtime variant.

Enums
VARIANT_UNSPECIFIED Default value. This value is unused.
VARIANT_CPU CPU variant.
VARIANT_GPU GPU variant.
VARIANT_TPU TPU variant.

Shape

Runtime shape.

Enums
SHAPE_UNSPECIFIED Default value. This value is unused.
SHAPE_STANDARD Standard shape.
SHAPE_HIGHMEM High memory shape.

Tool Annotations

Tool annotations are sent to MCP clients to describe the basic risk of a given tool. Most clients treat these hints as untrusted, but they can be used to decide when a confirmation prompt might be sent to a user.

Along with the title string, the following boolean hints are defined as follows:

  • readOnlyHint: If true, the tool doesn't modify its environment. Default: false.
  • destructiveHint: If true, then the tool can perform destructive actions. If false, then the tool can only perform additive actions. Default: true.
  • idempotentHint: If true, then calling the tool repeatedly with the same arguments will have no additional effect on its environment. Default: false.
  • openWorldHint: If true, then the tool can interact with an 'open world' of external entities. If false, then the tool can only interact with internal entities. For example, a web search tool would be open world, while a memory tool would not be open world.

Destructive Hint: ❌ | Idempotent Hint: ✅ | Read Only Hint: ✅ | Open World Hint: ❌