Nutrition SkillNutrition Skill

OnlineCredit Usage:1 per callTool:NutritionSkill

The tool

Give your agent nutrition facts for whole foods. Call it as an MCP tool to pull calories, macros and a full micronutrient panel for any food by name.

Once your client is connected to the VerveKit MCP server, this appears in its tool list as NutritionSkill. It is read-only and open-world: it fetches, it never mutates anything on your side, so most clients will call it without asking you to confirm.

Tool call
{
  "name": "NutritionSkill",
  "arguments": {
    "food": "banana"
  }
}

What that looks like in a conversation

You don't name the tool — the model picks it. Asking about banana in the terms this source covers is enough for it to reach for NutritionSkill on its own.

Connecting

One server URL covers every skill in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth — the client opens a browser once and there is no key to paste into a config file.

Client config
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vervekit": {
      "url": "https://api.vervekit.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Endpoint
https://api.vervekit.com/v1/mcp

Per-client setup — Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.

Arguments

These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made.

ArgumentTypeExampleDescription
foodRequiredstringbananaName of the food to look up (e.g. banana, chicken breast, olive oil)
gramsPremiumnumber118Serving weight in grams to scale the nutrition panel to. Defaults to a per-100-gram basis.

What the model gets back

The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client can read fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" on success and error is null; a null field means the value wasn't available for that input, not that the call failed.

Result
{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "food": "Bananas, raw",
    "fdcId": 173944,
    "category": "Fruits and Fruit Juices",
    "basis": "per 100g",
    "servingSizes": [
      {
        "label": "1 NLEA serving",
        "grams": 126
      },
      {
        "label": "1 extra large (9\" or longer)",
        "grams": 152
      },
      {
        "label": "1 large (8\" to 8-7/8\" long)",
        "grams": 136
      }
    ],
    "nutrition": {
      "calories": 89,
      "protein": 1.09,
      "totalFat": 0.33,
      "carbohydrates": 22.8,
      "fiber": 2.6,
      "sugars": 12.2
    },
    "micronutrients": {
      "sodium": 1,
      "potassium": 358,
      "cholesterol": 0,
      "saturatedFat": 0.112,
      "transFat": 0,
      "monounsaturatedFat": 0.032,
      "polyunsaturatedFat": 0.073,
      "calcium": 5,
      "iron": 0.26,
      "magnesium": 27,
      "phosphorus": 22,
      "zinc": 0.15,
      "vitaminC": 8.7,
      "vitaminA": 3,
      "vitaminD": 0,
      "vitaminE": 0.1,
      "vitaminK": 0.5,
      "thiamin": 0.031,
      "riboflavin": 0.073,
      "niacin": 0.665,
      "vitaminB6": 0.367,
      "folate": 20,
      "vitaminB12": 0,
      "water": 74.9
    },
    "analytics": {
      "caloriesPerGram": 0.89,
      "proteinCaloriePercent": 4.4,
      "fatCaloriePercent": 3,

Fields

Fields marked Premium need a paid plan. On a plan without them the key is absent rather than wrong, so a model never reasons over a substituted value.
FieldTypeExampleDescription
foodstringBananas, rawMatched food name from the USDA database
fdcIdnumber173944USDA FoodData Central unique identifier for the food
categorystringFruits and Fruit JuicesUSDA food category the item belongs to
basisstringper 100gBasis the nutrition values are reported on (per 100g, or the requested serving)
servingSizesarray[3]list of rowsCommon household serving sizes reported for the food
servingSizes.0.labelstring1 NLEA serving
servingSizes.0.gramsnumber126
nutritionobject{…}Headline calories and macronutrients
nutrition.caloriesnumber89Energy in kilocalories
nutrition.proteinnumber1.09Protein in grams
nutrition.totalFatnumber0.33Total fat in grams
nutrition.carbohydratesnumber22.8Total carbohydrates in grams
nutrition.fibernumber2.6Dietary fiber in grams
nutrition.sugarsnumber12.2Total sugars in grams
micronutrientsobject{…}Full micronutrient panel
micronutrients.sodiumPremiumnumber1Sodium in milligrams
micronutrients.potassiumPremiumnumber358Potassium in milligrams
micronutrients.cholesterolPremiumnumber0Cholesterol in milligrams
micronutrients.saturatedFatPremiumnumber0.112Saturated fat in grams
micronutrients.transFatPremiumnumber0Trans fat in grams
micronutrients.monounsaturatedFatPremiumnumber0.032Monounsaturated fat in grams
micronutrients.polyunsaturatedFatPremiumnumber0.073Polyunsaturated fat in grams
micronutrients.calciumPremiumnumber5Calcium in milligrams
micronutrients.ironPremiumnumber0.26Iron in milligrams
micronutrients.magnesiumPremiumnumber27Magnesium in milligrams
micronutrients.phosphorusPremiumnumber22Phosphorus in milligrams
micronutrients.zincPremiumnumber0.15Zinc in milligrams
micronutrients.vitaminCPremiumnumber8.7Vitamin C in milligrams
micronutrients.vitaminAPremiumnumber3Vitamin A in micrograms
micronutrients.vitaminDPremiumnumber0Vitamin D in micrograms
micronutrients.vitaminEPremiumnumber0.1Vitamin E in milligrams
micronutrients.vitaminKPremiumnumber0.5Vitamin K in micrograms
micronutrients.thiaminPremiumnumber0.031Thiamin (B1) in milligrams
micronutrients.riboflavinPremiumnumber0.073Riboflavin (B2) in milligrams
micronutrients.niacinPremiumnumber0.665Niacin (B3) in milligrams
micronutrients.vitaminB6Premiumnumber0.367Vitamin B6 in milligrams
micronutrients.folatePremiumnumber20Folate in micrograms
micronutrients.vitaminB12Premiumnumber0Vitamin B12 in micrograms
micronutrients.waterPremiumnumber74.9Water content in grams
analyticsobject{…}Derived nutrition intelligence
analytics.caloriesPerGramPremiumnumber0.89Energy density in calories per gram
analytics.proteinCaloriePercentPremiumnumber4.4Share of calories from protein (percent)
analytics.fatCaloriePercentPremiumnumber3Share of calories from fat (percent)
analytics.carbCaloriePercentPremiumnumber92.6Share of calories from carbohydrate (percent)
analytics.proteinPer100CaloriesPremiumnumber1.22Grams of protein per 100 calories
dailyValuesobject{…}Percent of the FDA Daily Value each nutrient supplies on the reported basis
dailyValues.proteinPremiumnumber2.2Protein as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.totalFatPremiumnumber0.4Total fat as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.saturatedFatPremiumnumber0.6Saturated fat as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.cholesterolPremiumnumber0Cholesterol as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.sodiumPremiumnumber0Sodium as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.carbohydratesPremiumnumber8.3Total carbohydrates as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.fiberPremiumnumber9.3Dietary fiber as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.potassiumPremiumnumber7.6Potassium as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.calciumPremiumnumber0.4Calcium as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.ironPremiumnumber1.4Iron as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.magnesiumPremiumnumber6.4Magnesium as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.phosphorusPremiumnumber1.8Phosphorus as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.zincPremiumnumber1.4Zinc as a percent of the Daily Value
dailyValues.vitaminCPremiumnumber9.7Vitamin C as a percent of the Daily Value

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors with a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code.

StatusWhat it means
400 / 422The arguments didn't validate. The message names the offending one.
401The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server.
403Out of credits. Not a bad key — the month's allowance is spent.
404This skill isn't part of VerveKit. Check the catalog.
429Brief rate limit. Retrying after a moment succeeds.

Other ways to use Nutrition Skill

Set up Nutrition Skill on VerveKit, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveKit account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

Call it as a REST APIOne HTTPS endpoint and an X-API-Key header, with SDKs for Node, Python and .NET.APIVerveReference →
Use it in Google Sheets or ExcelA =VERVE() formula fills a column — no script, no export, recalculates in place.VerveSheetsReference →
Ground an agent on itA cited, machine-checkable fact your model can't produce on its own.VerveContextReference →

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to tell the agent to use NutritionSkill?

No. The tool's name and description are in the model's context once the server is connected, so it selects the tool when the question calls for it. Naming it explicitly works too and is useful when you want to force the call.

Does connecting the server expose every tool at once?

Yes — one connection lists the whole VerveKit catalog. Clients with a tool budget can usually filter the list; the credit cost is per call, so an unused tool costs nothing.

What does a call cost?

1 credit each time the tool actually runs. A model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Is there a REST version of this?

Yes — the same source is available as a plain HTTPS endpoint on APIVerve, linked above. Same data, same credits, same account.

What's Next?

Continue your journey with these recommended resources

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