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AI Footprint

by nickjlamb · remote · no sign-in to list tools · v1.0.4 · published by GitHub user nickjlamb

Water and energy footprint of AI use: chat prompts, agent sessions, methodology and sources.

Changes · 3
CompareRegistry entry

4 tools: 3 change things and 1 only read.

Scanned Oct 21, 2026

1 check matched something in the tool definitions. No finding is not a safety guarantee. How the checks work.

claude mcp add --transport http ai-footprint https://footprint.pharmatools.ai/mcp

Findings

Matches of fixed checks, with the text they matched.

1 warn
  • Warncompare_water_use

    The server marks "compare_water_use" read-only (readOnlyHint: true), and its own name, description or input give the class "write".

    Matched text

    annotations: {"readOnlyHint":true,"destructiveHint":false,"idempotentHint":true,"openWorldHint":false}; The name "compare_water_use" says "compare": a word for reading.

    What this check looks for

Tools

Open a tool for its reasons and full description. Descriptions are the publisher's own words, shown as they are.

4 tools

Changes things 3Claude Code: ask
  • compare_water_useConvert a volume of water (mL) into everyday comparisons: teaspoons, 500 mL bottles, shower time, and lifecycle items (A4 sheet, almond, cup of tea, beef burger), plus the number o…1 finding

    Why it is in this group

    • The name "compare_water_use" says "compare": a word for reading.
    • The description's first verb is "convert": a word for a change.
    • The server marks it read-only (readOnlyHint: true), but an annotation never lowers a class.

    Findings

    • Warn

      The server marks "compare_water_use" read-only (readOnlyHint: true), and its own name, description or input give the class "write".

      Matched text

      annotations: {"readOnlyHint":true,"destructiveHint":false,"idempotentHint":true,"openWorldHint":false}; The name "compare_water_use" says "compare": a word for reading.

      What this check looks for
    Description, as the server wrote it
    Convert a volume of water (mL) into everyday comparisons: teaspoons, 500 mL bottles, shower time, and lifecycle items (A4 sheet, almond, cup of tea, beef burger), plus the number of typical AI text prompts it equals. Includes the boundary caveat that lifecycle footprints are not like-for-like.

    Annotations the server declares

    • title: Put an amount of water in everyday context
    • readOnlyHint: true
    • destructiveHint: false
    • idempotentHint: true
    • openWorldHint: false
  • estimate_ai_footprintEstimate the water (mL) and energy (Wh) used by chat-style AI prompts (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini etc.).No findings

    Why it is in this group

    • Nothing in its name or description says what it does, so it is counted as a write.
    • The server marks it read-only (readOnlyHint: true), but an annotation never lowers a class.
    Description, as the server wrote it
    Estimate the water (mL) and energy (Wh) used by chat-style AI prompts (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini etc.). queries_per_day: prompts per day. usage: 'simple' (text chat, ~0.34 Wh/prompt), 'mixed' (~1 Wh), 'intensive' (image generation / deep reasoning, ~3 Wh). boundary: 'onsite' (data-centre cooling only, as vendors report) or 'comprehensive' (adds water used to generate the electricity – the wider boundary most researchers use). days: number of days to total over (e.g. 250 workdays, 365). Returns per-prompt, per-day and total figures with everyday equivalents, assumptions and a source link. For agentic/coding sessions use estimate_session_footprint instead.

    Annotations the server declares

    • title: Estimate AI water & energy footprint
    • readOnlyHint: true
    • destructiveHint: false
    • idempotentHint: true
    • openWorldHint: false
  • estimate_session_footprintEstimate the water and energy of an AI session (e.g.No findings

    Why it is in this group

    • Nothing in its name or description says what it does, so it is counted as a write.
    • The server marks it read-only (readOnlyHint: true), but an annotation never lowers a class.
    Description, as the server wrote it
    Estimate the water and energy of an AI session (e.g. an agent or coding-assistant run) from its token usage. Pass the SUM across all model calls: input_tokens (uncached prompt tokens), output_tokens (including any reasoning/thinking tokens) and cached_input_tokens (prompt-cache reads). model_class: 'small' (Haiku/mini/Flash-class), 'frontier' or 'reasoning'. Returns a central estimate and a 0.3x–3x range – this is an order-of-magnitude estimate calibrated to published per-prompt figures, not a measurement.

    Annotations the server declares

    • title: Estimate an AI session's footprint from token counts
    • readOnlyHint: true
    • destructiveHint: false
    • idempotentHint: true
    • openWorldHint: false
Only reads 1Claude Code: allow
  • get_methodologyReturn the per-prompt energy and water figures, accounting boundaries, sources, limitations, a citation line, and the reasons published AI water estimates differ by ~100x (0.3 mL t…No findings

    Why it is in this group

    • The name "get_methodology" says "get": a word for reading.
    Description, as the server wrote it
    Return the per-prompt energy and water figures, accounting boundaries, sources, limitations, a citation line, and the reasons published AI water estimates differ by ~100x (0.3 mL to 50 mL per prompt). Use it to explain or check a published AI water or energy figure.

    Annotations the server declares

    • title: AI water footprint methodology and sources
    • readOnlyHint: true
    • destructiveHint: false
    • idempotentHint: true
    • openWorldHint: false

This is not a safety rating, and no finding is not a safety guarantee. The groups and findings come from fixed checks of the tool definitions the server returned on the date shown, not from its code or what it does when called. How the checks work.

Install

Pinned to version 1.0.4. Values in angle brackets are yours to fill in.

claude mcp add --transport http ai-footprint https://footprint.pharmatools.ai/mcp

Run in a terminal.

Claude Code permissions

Allow the reads, ask before a change, deny the deletes. Paste into .claude/settings.json.

.claude/settings.json
{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "mcp__ai-footprint__get_methodology"
    ],
    "ask": [
      "mcp__ai-footprint__estimate_ai_footprint",
      "mcp__ai-footprint__compare_water_use",
      "mcp__ai-footprint__estimate_session_footprint"
    ],
    "deny": []
  }
}

Tools that only read are allowed, tools that change things ask first, tools that delete or cancel are denied. It assumes the server is installed as ai-footprint. Review it before you use it.