Star Lookup Skill

Overview

Requests accept a specific star name or astronomical classification, such as spectral codes, spectral classes, or categories like red dwarf and supergiant. Classification queries return up to ten matching entries. Each record supplies mass in kilograms, distance in light-years, and stellar classification, while paid plans add surface temperature, diameter, hex color codes, and 3D galactic coordinates.

Live Test Star Lookup Skill Skill →

The tool

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

Tool call

{
  "name": "StarLookupSkill",
  "arguments": {
    "name": "Sirius"
  }
}

You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about Sirius in the terms this skill covers is enough for it to reach for StarLookupSkill on its own — naming it explicitly also works, and is the way to force the call.

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.

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

Per-client setup — Claude, 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. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Argument	Type	Description
`name`Required	string	The name of the star for which you want to get the data (e.g., Sirius)

What the model gets back

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

Result

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "starName": "Sirius",
    "mass": 4.674385e+30,
    "diameter": 2825760,
    "galX": -5.895,
    "galY": -6.152,
    "galZ": -1.167,
    "dist": 8.6,
    "starType": "A1(V)",
    "temp": 9500,
    "color": "0xbaccff"
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Field	Type	Example	Description
`starName`	string	`Sirius`	The name of the star
`mass`	number	`4.674385e+30`	Mass of the star in kilograms
`diameter`Premium	number	`2825760`	Diameter of the star in kilometers
`galX`Premium	number	`-5.895`	Galactic X coordinate position
`galY`Premium	number	`-6.152`	Galactic Y coordinate position
`galZ`Premium	number	`-1.167`	Galactic Z coordinate position
`dist`	number	`8.6`	Distance to star in light-years
`starType`	string	`A1(V)`	Stellar classification type (e.g., A1V)
`temp`Premium	number	`9500`	Surface temperature of the star in Kelvin
`color`Premium	string	`0xbaccff`	Color representation as hex code

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.

Status	What it means
`400` / `422`	The arguments did not validate. The message names the offending one.
`401`	The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server.
`403`	Blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Never a bad identity.
`404`	This skill is not part of VerveKit. Check the catalog.
`429`	Out of credits, or a brief rate limit. The message tells them apart.

A call costs 2 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

Planetarium Display Systems: Stargazing apps query star names to show visitors distance from Earth, stellar classification, and real celestial mass during live sky tours.
Sci-Fi Worldbuilding: To build believable galaxy maps, game developers pull spectral classes like red dwarf or main sequence to seed star systems with authentic physics.
Astronomy Curriculum Portals: When students compare celestial bodies, digital textbooks pull mass in kilograms and stellar types to demonstrate the Hertzsprung-Russell relationship.
Telescope Calibration Software: Align optical tracking mounts by looking up known reference stars to verify catalog identity and light-year distance against visual field observations.

Other ways to use Star Lookup Skill

Set up Star Lookup 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.APIVerve →Reference →

Google Sheets or ExcelA =VERVE() formula fills a column — no script, no export, recalculates in place.VerveSheets →Reference →

Ground an agent on itA cited, machine-checkable fact your model can't produce on its own.VerveContext →Reference →