Tools Overview - PagerDuty MCP Server

Introduction to MCP Tools

The PagerDuty MCP Server provides a comprehensive set of tools that enable AI assistants to interact with your PagerDuty account through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). These tools allow you to query data, create resources, update configurations, and manage incidents—all through natural language conversations with your AI assistant.

How Tools Work with AI Assistants

When you ask your AI assistant to perform a PagerDuty-related task, the assistant:

Interprets your request using natural language understanding
Selects the appropriate tool from the available PagerDuty MCP tools
Calls the tool with the necessary parameters
Processes the response and presents it to you in a human-readable format

For example, when you ask “Who is on-call for the production team?”, the assistant uses the list_oncalls tool with appropriate filters to retrieve and display the information.

The AI assistant handles all the API complexity for you—you don’t need to know API endpoints, authentication headers, or JSON structures.

Tool Categories

The PagerDuty MCP Server organizes tools into functional categories based on the PagerDuty resources they manage:

Incidents

Create, manage, and resolve incidents

Services

Manage services and service dependencies

Schedules

View and modify on-call schedules

Teams

Manage teams and team membership

Users

Retrieve user information

On-Call

Check current on-call status

Escalation Policies

View escalation policies

Event Orchestrations

Configure event routing and automation

Alert Grouping

Manage alert grouping settings

Change Events

Track change events

Status Pages

Manage status page posts

Log Entries

View audit log entries

Complete Tools Reference

The following table lists all 68 tools available in the PagerDuty MCP Server:

Tool	Area	Description	Read-only
create_alert_grouping_setting	Alert Grouping	Creates a new alert grouping setting	❌
delete_alert_grouping_setting	Alert Grouping	Deletes an alert grouping setting	❌
get_alert_grouping_setting	Alert Grouping	Retrieves a specific alert grouping setting	✅
list_alert_grouping_settings	Alert Grouping	Lists alert grouping settings with filtering	✅
update_alert_grouping_setting	Alert Grouping	Updates an existing alert grouping setting	❌
get_change_event	Change Events	Retrieves a specific change event	✅
list_change_events	Change Events	Lists change events with optional filtering	✅
list_incident_change_events	Change Events	Lists change events related to a specific incident	✅
list_service_change_events	Change Events	Lists change events for a specific service	✅
get_event_orchestration	Event Orchestrations	Retrieves a specific event orchestration	✅
get_event_orchestration_global	Event Orchestrations	Gets the global orchestration configuration for an event orchestration	✅
get_event_orchestration_router	Event Orchestrations	Gets the router configuration for an event orchestration	✅
get_event_orchestration_service	Event Orchestrations	Gets the service orchestration configuration for a specific service	✅
list_event_orchestrations	Event Orchestrations	Lists event orchestrations with optional filtering	✅
update_event_orchestration_router	Event Orchestrations	Updates the router configuration for an event orchestration	❌
append_event_orchestration_router_rule	Event Orchestrations	Adds a new routing rule to an event orchestration router	❌
list_escalation_policies	Escalation Policy	Lists escalation policies	✅
get_escalation_policy	Escalation Policy	Retrieves a specific escalation policy	✅
add_note_to_incident	Incidents	Adds note to an incident	❌
add_responders	Incidents	Adds responders to an incident	❌
create_incident	Incidents	Creates a new incident	❌
get_alert_from_incident	Incidents	Retrieves a specific alert from an incident	✅
get_incident	Incidents	Retrieves a specific incident	✅
get_outlier_incident	Incidents	Retrieves outlier incident information for a specific incident	✅
get_past_incidents	Incidents	Retrieves past incidents related to a specific incident	✅
get_related_incidents	Incidents	Retrieves related incidents for a specific incident	✅
list_alerts_from_incident	Incidents	Lists all alerts for a specific incident with pagination	✅
list_incident_notes	Incidents	Lists all notes for a specific incident	✅
list_incidents	Incidents	Lists incidents	✅
manage_incidents	Incidents	Updates status, urgency, assignment, or escalation level	❌
get_incident_workflow	Incident Workflows	Retrieves a specific incident workflow	✅
list_incident_workflows	Incident Workflows	Lists incident workflows with optional filtering	✅
start_incident_workflow	Incident Workflows	Starts a workflow instance for an incident	❌
get_log_entry	Log Entries	Retrieves a specific log entry by ID	✅
list_log_entries	Log Entries	Lists all log entries across the account with time filtering	✅
add_team_member	Teams	Adds a user to a team with a specific role	❌
create_team	Teams	Creates a new team	❌
delete_team	Teams	Deletes a team	❌
get_team	Teams	Retrieves a specific team	✅
list_team_members	Teams	Lists members of a team	✅
list_teams	Teams	Lists teams	✅
remove_team_member	Teams	Removes a user from a team	❌
update_team	Teams	Updates an existing team	❌
get_user_data	Users	Gets the current user’s data	✅
list_users	Users	Lists users in the PagerDuty account	✅
list_oncalls	On-call	Lists on-call schedules	✅
create_schedule_override	Schedules	Creates an override for a schedule	❌
get_schedule	Schedules	Retrieves a specific schedule	✅
list_schedule_users	Schedules	Lists users in a schedule	✅
list_schedules	Schedules	Lists schedules	✅
create_schedule	Schedules	Creates a new on-call schedule	❌
update_schedule	Schedules	Updates an existing schedule	❌
create_service	Services	Creates a new service	❌
get_service	Services	Retrieves a specific service	✅
list_services	Services	Lists services	✅
update_service	Services	Updates an existing service	❌
create_status_page_post	Status Pages	Creates a new post (incident or maintenance) on a status page	❌
create_status_page_post_update	Status Pages	Adds a new update to an existing status page post	❌
get_status_page_post	Status Pages	Retrieves details of a specific status page post	✅
list_status_page_impacts	Status Pages	Lists available impact levels for a status page	✅
list_status_page_post_updates	Status Pages	Lists all updates for a specific status page post	✅
list_status_page_severities	Status Pages	Lists available severity levels for a status page	✅
list_status_page_statuses	Status Pages	Lists available statuses for a status page	✅
list_status_pages	Status Pages	Lists all status pages with optional filtering	✅

Tool Naming Conventions

PagerDuty MCP Server tools follow consistent naming conventions to make them intuitive:

list_* - Returns a collection of resources (e.g., list_incidents, list_services)
get_* - Retrieves a single resource by ID (e.g., get_incident, get_service)
create_* - Creates a new resource (e.g., create_incident, create_team)
update_* - Modifies an existing resource (e.g., update_service, update_team)
delete_* - Removes a resource (e.g., delete_team, delete_alert_grouping_setting)
add_* - Adds a component to a resource (e.g., add_note_to_incident, add_responders)
remove_* - Removes a component from a resource (e.g., remove_team_member)
manage_* - Performs multiple operations (e.g., manage_incidents for bulk updates)

Common Parameters

Many tools share common parameter patterns:

Identifiers

id - The unique identifier for a resource (e.g., incident ID, service ID)
user_id - The ID of a PagerDuty user
team_id - The ID of a team
service_id - The ID of a service

Filtering and Pagination

limit - Maximum number of results to return (default varies by tool)
offset - Number of results to skip for pagination
query - Search query string for filtering results
since - Start date/time for time-based filtering
until - End date/time for time-based filtering

Common Filters

statuses - Filter by status (e.g., triggered, acknowledged, resolved)
urgencies - Filter by urgency level (e.g., high, low)
team_ids - Filter by team membership
service_ids - Filter by service
user_ids - Filter by user

All parameters are handled by the AI assistant based on your natural language request. You don’t need to memorize parameter names or formats.

Error Handling

The PagerDuty MCP Server provides clear error messages when operations fail:

Common Errors

Authentication errors - Invalid or missing API token
Permission errors - Insufficient permissions for the requested operation
Not found errors - Resource does not exist or is not accessible
Validation errors - Invalid parameters or missing required fields
Rate limit errors - Too many requests in a short time period

Best Practices

Start with read-only operations to verify connectivity and permissions
Use specific resource IDs when possible to avoid ambiguity
Check error messages for guidance on resolving issues
Verify write operations are enabled with the --enable-write-tools flag
Review PagerDuty account permissions if you encounter access errors

Write operations (create, update, delete) modify your live PagerDuty account. Always verify your request before confirming destructive operations.

Safety Features

The PagerDuty MCP Server includes built-in safety annotations that help AI assistants handle tools appropriately:

readOnlyHint: true - Indicates the tool only reads data and cannot modify resources
destructiveHint: true - Marks tools that can modify or delete resources
idempotentHint: true - Signals that repeated calls produce the same result

These annotations help AI assistants:

Request confirmation before destructive operations
Retry idempotent operations safely
Explain the impact of each action

Next Steps

Read vs Write Tools

Learn about tool safety and the —enable-write-tools flag

Incident Management

Explore common incident management workflows

Security Best Practices

Configure secure access to your PagerDuty account

Read vs Write Tools

Understand read-only and write operations

Overview

Incidents

Alerts

Services

Schedules & On-Call

Event Orchestrations

Teams

Users

Escalation Policies

Incident Workflows

Change Events

Log Entries

Alert Grouping

Status Pages

​Introduction to MCP Tools

​How Tools Work with AI Assistants

​Tool Categories

Incidents

Services

Schedules

Teams

Users

On-Call

Escalation Policies

Event Orchestrations

Alert Grouping

Change Events

Status Pages

Log Entries

​Complete Tools Reference

​Tool Naming Conventions

​Common Parameters

​Identifiers

​Filtering and Pagination

​Common Filters

​Error Handling

​Common Errors

​Best Practices

​Safety Features

​Next Steps

Read vs Write Tools

Incident Management

Security Best Practices

Read vs Write Tools

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Introduction to MCP Tools

How Tools Work with AI Assistants

Tool Categories

Complete Tools Reference

Tool Naming Conventions

Common Parameters

Identifiers

Filtering and Pagination

Common Filters

Error Handling

Common Errors

Best Practices

Safety Features

Next Steps