rowsmith-mcp

An MCP server for Rowsmith: fake test data (CSV, JSON or SQL INSERTs) generated from a table schema. It is a thin client of the public Rowsmith API, free and rate-limited.

Quickstart (60 seconds)

1. Add Rowsmith to Claude Desktop, Cursor or another MCP client:

   {"mcpServers":{"rowsmith":{"command":"npx","args":["-y","rowsmith-mcp"]}}}

2. Ask: "Generate 20 orders with a fixed seed as CSV"
3. Or call the API directly:

   curl -s https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev/v1/generate -H 'content-type: application/json' \
     -d '{"rows":20,"seed":42,"format":"csv","columns":[{"name":"order_id","type":"sequence","prefix":"ord_","pad":4},{"name":"email","type":"email"},{"name":"total_usd","type":"decimal","min":1,"max":500}]}'
   curl -s 'https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev/v1/invalid?kind=email&count=5&seed=42'
   ID=$(curl -s https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev/v1/sandbox -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{"seed":42}' | sed -E 's/.*"id":"([^"]+)".*/\1/')
   curl -s https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev/v1/sandbox/$ID/charges -H 'content-type: application/json' \
     -d '{"amount":1999,"currency":"usd","card":"4242424242424242"}'

   Python's standard-library urllib is blocked by Cloudflare before it reaches the API (403, error code 1010) when it sends its default User-Agent. Set your own, e.g. User-Agent: my-tests/1.0. In our tests on 2026-10-18, requests, httpx, aiohttp, Node and curl worked with their defaults.

• Free, rate-limited, no account, no API key.
• The same schema and seed give byte-identical output for the same generator version.
• An invalid-values catalogue with the reason each value is invalid.
• A payment sandbox that never moves money: a sandbox and everything in it is deleted 1 hour after it is created. It accepts only card numbers from Stripe's published testing list and stores no free text you send.
• Listed on the official MCP Registry as io.github.meiorz/rowsmith.

What the data is

• No real person's data is used as input, and no record is derived from a real person. Emails, phone numbers, card numbers, SSN-shaped and IBAN-shaped values come only from reserved or invalid ranges.
• The same schema and seed give byte-identical output for the same generator version (sent as x-generator-version), so fixtures are reproducible.
• Send schemas only. Never send real data.

Tools

| Tool | What it does | |---|---| | generate_test_data | columns (1-50) or schema (a JSON Schema object, or {openapi, component}), optional rows (1-500), seed, format (csv, json, sql), table, output_path, overwrite, chaos; or tables instead, for related tables in one call (see below) | | list_column_types | the supported column types and their options | | invalid_values | invalid-on-purpose TEST DATA values with the reason each is invalid: kind (email, card, address, unicode, iban, ssn, all), count, seed, fields, chaos | | sandbox_create (listed only when the service advertises the sandbox) | create a payment sandbox (TEST DATA; deleted 1 hour after creation): optional seed | | sandbox_payments (listed only when the service advertises the sandbox) | sandbox_id, action (charge, refund, list, get, reset), amount, currency, card, charge, reference, limit, fields, chaos |

At startup the server reads /pricing.json once (30 s timeout, cached for the process) and lists the two sandbox tools only if the service advertises /v1/sandbox there. If that request fails, the sandbox tools stay hidden and the server's instructions and list_column_types output say why; restart to check again. Tool-definition size, measured as characters of the tools/list JSON (names, titles, descriptions and input schemas) divided by 4: 3 tools, about 1370 tokens (5477 characters); 5 tools, about 1978 tokens (7910 characters). Measure with node scripts/tool-tokens.js.

For more than about 50 rows, pass output_path: the server writes the file and returns a summary (rows, bytes, sha256, the header line) instead of putting the data in the model's context. Files can only be written inside the write root: the server's working directory by default, or ROWSMITH_OUT_DIR when set (which moves or narrows it). Paths with .. segments or outside the root are refused, and an existing file is replaced only with overwrite: true.

Instead of columns, generate_test_data takes schema: a JSON Schema object (type object with properties), such as a Pydantic (model_json_schema()) or Zod export, or an OpenAPI component as {"openapi": <document>, "component": "Order"}. The service maps it to columns and names the properties it could not map (arrays, patterns and other unsupported forms) at the end of the result; nothing is guessed. Before sending, the server removes example, examples, default, const and x-* keys from the schema, so their values do not leave your machine and are not in the reproduce curl; the service ignores them too. For an OpenAPI component, only the named component and the schemas it references are sent. The mapping is described at https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev/openapi.json.

The tools form a chain, and each description says which comes next: generate_test_data first (with list_column_types for a type's options), then invalid_values for values your code should reject, then sandbox_create and sandbox_payments for a payment flow when they are listed.

Every generate_test_data result ends with a reproduce line: the exact curl, with the seed the service used and the generator version pinned, that regenerates the same bytes. Chaos options are left out of it. A pinned version is served as long as the service runs; a retired version answers 409. A version's output is not changed in place: a golden test checks its bytes on every build. Above the reproduce line, a result that returns the data carries Output sha256 <hex>, the sha256 of the data's bytes (the service's X-Output-SHA256); with output_path the summary's sha256 line is that value. Pin it in a golden manifest to detect drift (format: https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev/llms.txt).

chaos makes the service misbehave on purpose, to test error handling: fail (e.g. "[email protected]"; also 500, 503), latency_ms (at most 3000), empty_result, attempt. Outcomes are fixed by seed and attempt.

The payment sandbox is a fake card processor: it moves no money and contacts no payment provider. It accepts only card numbers from Stripe's published testing list (4242424242424242 succeeds; invalid_values with kind card lists the declining numbers and their codes), and refuses any other card-like number in any field. Every object is marked "livemode": false, "sandbox": true and TEST DATA.

Column types: uuid, sequence, integer, decimal, boolean, enum, date, datetime, first_name, last_name, full_name, email, phone, test_card, ssn_invalid, iban_invalid, text.

Use

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rowsmith": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "rowsmith-mcp"],
      "env": { "ROWSMITH_OUT_DIR": "/path/to/your/project/fixtures" }
    }
  }
}

ROWSMITH_OUT_DIR is optional. Without it, files can only be written inside the directory the server runs in; set it to choose a specific folder, such as your project's fixtures directory.

Example call:

{ "rows": 3, "seed": 42, "format": "csv",
  "columns": [ { "name": "order_id", "type": "sequence", "prefix": "ord_", "pad": 4 },
               { "name": "email", "type": "email" },
               { "name": "total_usd", "type": "decimal", "min": 1, "max": 500 } ] }

Related tables in one call: pass tables instead of columns (it calls POST /v1/dataset). A column {"name": "customer_id", "type": "ref", "table": "customers", "column": "id"} takes its values from the primary key generated for an earlier table in the same call, so the keys agree; refs resolve only inside the request and nothing is stored. format is sql (CREATE TABLE and INSERTs written in the dialect common to PostgreSQL and SQLite 3.23 or later; the tests execute it in SQLite, not in PostgreSQL) or json; at most 10 tables and 500 rows in total. The result adds Rows sha256 per table, the same for the SQL and the JSON form of one request, and the reproduce curl pins the dataset version too. Example call (the tool's arguments):

{"seed":42,"format":"sql","tables":[{"name":"customers","rows":3,"columns":[{"name":"id","type":"uuid"},{"name":"email","type":"email"}]},{"name":"orders","rows":5,"columns":[{"name":"id","type":"sequence"},{"name":"customer_id","type":"ref","table":"customers","column":"id"},{"name":"total","type":"decimal","min":5,"max":500}]}]}

GitHub Action: fixtures in CI

fixtures/action.yml is a composite action that writes a fixture file with one call to /v1/generate. Inputs: schema (path to a JSON file holding a columns array or a full request), out (the file to write), and optional seed, rows and format (csv, json or sql), which replace the file's values when given. On any answer other than 200 the step fails with the service's error and its next step. Nothing is cached, and no key is needed. Use the tag meiorz/rowsmith-mcp/[email protected] (or @main to try the latest).

name: fixtures
on: [push]
jobs:
  fixtures:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: meiorz/rowsmith-mcp/[email protected]
        with:
          schema: test/fixtures/orders.schema.json
          seed: "42"
          rows: "200"
          format: csv
          out: test/fixtures/orders.csv
      - run: npm test

with test/fixtures/orders.schema.json:

[{ "name": "order_id", "type": "sequence", "prefix": "ord_", "pad": 4 },
 { "name": "email", "type": "email" },
 { "name": "total_usd", "type": "decimal", "min": 1, "max": 500 }]

The same schema and seed give byte-identical output for the same generator version, so the file is the same on every run until the generator version changes. The step's generator-version output reports the version used. Each run counts against the daily limit of the runner's address. GitHub-hosted runners share addresses, so the limit can be reached by other users' runs.

Optional extra-header (since v0.2.3; not in v0.2.2) adds one request header, as Name: value in printable ASCII. It is empty by default, which sends no extra header.

.github/workflows/canary.yml is our hourly uptime check: it sends the fixed canary request (the golden request, exactly these body bytes) with x-rowsmith-canary: 1 and fails unless the answer's sha256 is 50db558e2e8c54353ac38a3125deb91642895db302eec334afeec2406537f821. The service treats a call as its canary only with that header and that exact body; any other call with the header is an ordinary call. The workflow also probes Python's urllib with its default User-Agent (an ordinary call, without the canary header) and writes the result (blocked or passing) to the job summary, without failing the job.

Limits and terms

Up to 500 rows and 50 columns per call, with daily limits per caller; over a limit the tool returns the service's 429 message with the retry time. Calls time out after 30 s. The server holds no keys and writes nothing unless you pass output_path. Calls go to https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev (override with ROWSMITH_URL).

The MIT licence covers this wrapper's code only. Use of the Rowsmith service stays under its terms of use, which bind whoever runs the agent.

Terms of use: https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev/terms · Data notice: https://testdata-api.re-jam620.workers.dev/privacy · Published by meiorz · Contact: [email protected]

Privacy, data and deletion requests: [email protected] only, never in a public issue.