`resolve_material_name` tool

Resolves a commercial or common name, a formula or a Chemia ID to one canonical material, with its Chemia ID, formula and dataset. It needs one of these grants: professional_database or trial_database. It is not charged against the daily allowance.

At a glance
Tool	`resolve_material_name`
Title	Resolve material name
Group	Look up a material
Needs one of	`professional_database` or `trial_database`
Charged	No
Read-only	Yes
Parameters	2, of which 1 required
Data as of	2026-10-04
Server release	1.5.0, read from the live server on 2026-10-04

What parameters does resolve_material_name take?

Parameters of `resolve_material_name`
Parameter	Type	Required	Default	What it does
`name`	`string`	Yes	none	What to resolve: a common name such as "sapphire", a formula such as Al2O3, a Chemia ID such as CH-MAT-1599, or an internal id. Resolution tries the Chemia ID, then the internal id, then the name table (which pins one structure for a known name), then a formula match in the dataset.
`source_id`	`string` or null	No	not set	Dataset to resolve in, an `id` from list_material_sources. Null (the default) uses the server's default dataset. `source`, `requested_source` and `source_downgraded` in the response say what ran. An id that is not in the catalogue falls back to the registry default without an error.

Which grants does resolve_material_name need, and is it charged?

Grants: professional_database or trial_database. One of them is enough.
Charged: no, it never uses the daily allowance (as of 2026-10-04).

Grants and the allowance are explained in Access, grants and limits.

Annotations the server sets on `resolve_material_name`
Annotation	Value	Meaning
`idempotentHint`	true	If true, calling the tool again with the same arguments has no additional effect.
`openWorldHint`	false	If true, the tool may interact with an open world of external entities.
`readOnlyHint`	true	If true, the tool does not modify its environment.

What does a call to resolve_material_name look like?

A common name.

Example arguments for resolve_material_name

{
  "name": "sapphire"
}

These arguments validate against the tool's input schema, checked when the snapshot was taken on 2026-10-04. They show the shape of a call; they are not a recorded response. Examples says where worked examples stand.

How should I read resolve_material_name results?

Convention. The tool answers with one material by design. A formula that fits several structures returns status "ambiguous" with up to 8 candidates, the full total and the ground_state. The candidates are in Chemia ID order, not stability order, so the first is not the most stable; find_material_entries lists every entry.
Trap. A common name is pinned to one specific structure. When that structure is not in the dataset you queried, the lowest-energy entry of the formula in that dataset stands in, so the Chemia ID returned can be a different structure than the name usually means.

A Convention is a field or behaviour whose meaning is not obvious, a Trap looks right and is not, and a Gap is something we do not hold or do not check. Reading results explains the classes.

How does the server describe resolve_material_name?

This is the server's own description, which a client passes to the model, lightly normalised for display.

Resolve a commercial or common material name to one canonical material, for example "sapphire" -> "Al2O3".

Returns that material's chemia_id (the user-facing Chemia identifier), its canonical formula, and the dataset_tag it belongs to. status is "found" (exactly one match), "ambiguous" (several matched, check candidates), or "not_found". This tool answers with ONE material by design; for "how many entries exist for X", that is a different question than this tool answers.

Resolved against the database, so it is dataset-scoped like every other lookup here: source_id explicitly picks a dataset from list_material_sources, and source/source_downgraded on the response report which one actually ran and whether your request was narrowed.

resolve_material_name is in the group "Look up a material". The other tools in it:

classify_material: Classifies materials as metal, semi-metal, semiconductor or insulator from their band gap, one result per input in the same order.
find_material_entries: Lists every entry that matches a formula, a common name or a Chemia ID, with its structure and stability, so you can see all the polymorphs of a compound and pick the one you mean.
get_all_material_properties: Lists every stored property of one material in a single call, each with its value, unit and kind of evidence, plus the material's structure.
get_material_property: Reads one stored property of one material, with its unit, the kind of evidence it comes from, and the material's structure.

The Tool reference lists every tool.

resolve_material_name tool