In BesluitBron, a connector is defined as one MCP address with one toolbox, one switch in the settings and one connection page. It is the unit through which a user connects and which an administrator uses to enable and disable access.
A connector is not the same as a Bronplatform. All but one of the connectors represents exactly one source platform. That one, Alle Bronnen, does not read anything itself: it provides the tools from all the others at a single address, each with the source’s name prefixed. There is therefore always one more connector than there are sources.
Why every source has its own address
An AI assistant selects a tool based on its description. The more tools are visible on screen at the same time, the more often the choice turns out to be wrong. This is because the model then devotes more attention to the selection process rather than to the question itself. Seven toolboxes at once amount to well over sixty descriptions competing for attention.
The practical rule that follows from this is: select the source that corresponds to your query. If you are looking for a local authority decision, Open Raadsinformatie is all you need. If you are asking a question that relates to several levels of government at once, go to Alle Bronnen and accept the wider range of options.
What all connectors have in common
Each connector provides two tools that do not relate to the content, regardless of the source behind it:
list_capabilities: which tools this address contains, which question each tool answers, and which source underlies it. An assistant calls upon this tool if it is unclear which source can answer the question. The answer also specifies which version of BesluitBron provided the response (serverandserver_version). That number should be included in a fault report, as without it, it is impossible to determine which build generated the response;list_platform_calls: which calls were made to the source platform during this session, along with their duration and size. This makes it possible to check retrospectively what a response is based on; see Logging en Verantwoording;platform_status: whether the source is still receiving new data, from the same measurement as Laadstatus, available from version 1.3.36 onwards. An assistant should check this before concluding that something does not exist: an empty search result from a source that has stopped updating is not proof that nothing exists. The response provides the status for each source, and for the two local sources, it also indicates how many organs have stopped updating and until when their data is current.
In addition, any tool that returns a list of results is required to specify how accurate that result is. This rule is set out in Zoekprecisie and is enforced by a test. A search tool that omits these fields will not pass the build.
What a tool reveals about itself
Each tool carries three pieces of information that are already known before the call is made:
- a name used by the model to make a selection, for example
search_documents; - a title in plain language that a user reads, for example, “Search for council documents”. The source for this can be found at Alle Bronnen, as several connectors have a tool called “Upcoming meetings”;
- the message stating that the tool is read-only. BesluitBron does not change for a source platform, so every tool displays that message.
That last message saves work. Many clients run a read-only tool without asking for confirmation on every call. Up to version 1.3.35, the thirteen tools from Open Raadsinformatie did not include that message, meaning a user had to confirm each call separately. From version 1.3.36 onwards, all tools for all connectors include both a title and that message.
Whlist_capabilitiess says about the installation
In addition to the description of each source, the answer includes six pieces of information relating to this installation rather than to the material:
serverandserver_version: which software responded and which version. This is the number that should appear in a fault report;server_time_utc: the server’s own clock. Every date filter and every tool relating to upcoming meetings calculates from today. An assistant who gets the date wrong will set up the wrong time range without anything going wrong;current_throughper source: the date until which coverage applies. Without this information, ‘not found’ cannot be distinguished from ‘outside the scope of coverage’. For the two local sources, this varies by organisation; see Bronplatform;limitsper source: how much a single call returns, and how quickly this installation is prepared to make a request. These values are taken from the settings and have not been retyped, so that a changed setting does not distort the response;attributionper source: which platform is credited, and how a discovery should be cited. See Bronvermelding;availabilityper source: whether recent live requests to that platform were successful. This is observed from the traffic and not measured by means of an additional request; a cached response does not count. A source that fails returns an empty response that looks the same as ‘nothing found’. That distinction is made here.
‘Turn off’ means ‘off’
Once a connector has been deactivated, it is no longer available to anyone. The address no longer exists, the connection page disappears, the link in the footer disappears, and /health no longer mentions the connector. There is no situation in which a page promotes an address that is no longer active. The way this works is explained at Connectorregister.
Hiding is not the same as switching off
In addition to the switch that turns a connector on and off, there is a second switch that simply determines whether the address is mentioned in the site’s footer. These two answer different questions. The first indicates whether the address exists, whilst the second indicates whether the address is promoted.
From version 1.3.54 onwards, the footer lists just one address: that of Alle Bronnen. The seven source connectors continue to work as normal. Anyone who has already set up one of these addresses will not notice any difference. Up to and including version 1.3.53, all eight addresses were listed in the footer.
The reason lies in the choice itself. Listing eight links in a row requires a visitor to make a decision that cannot yet be made, whilst a single link contains all the sources. The links for each source can be found at Connectoren and on each source’s page, so they haven’t disappeared but are located where they are discussed.
Hiding only affects the footer. The landing page, the selection page, the explorer, llms.txt and sitemap.xml all refer to each enabled connector as normal. An address that works but cannot be found anywhere would be worse than one that isn’t listed at the top.