# get_query_guide
> Load your organization's query guidance and an overview of available Guides before writing SQL
Loads your organization's query guidance: what [Guides](/key-tasks/guides/) exist, how to navigate them, and an overview of the available guide topics. Call this before writing SQL to answer a data question.

## Description

The `get_query_guide` tool is the entry point into the guide layer for querying. It returns orientation on how to use and navigate guides plus an unfolded overview of your organization's topics and root-level guides — every topic with its guide count, then the guides without a topic with title, description, access level, and UUID.

The reserved `dives` and `flights` topics are omitted here; they have their own entry points ([`get_dive_guide`](/sql-reference/mcp/dives/get-dive-guide) and [`get_flight_guide`](/sql-reference/mcp/flights/get-flight-guide)).

## Input parameters

This tool takes no arguments.

## Output

The tool returns the guide as a plain-text document: navigation instructions followed by the topic overview. The response is mirrored into structured content as:

```json
{
  "text": string  // Navigation instructions plus the topic overview
}
```

The overview lists every topic with its guide count first, then the root-level guides:

```text
- data-quality/ (1 guide)
- revenue-billing/ (2 guides)
- revenue-billing/forecasting/ (1 guide)
- "Data platform overview" — what lives where in our warehouse (organization, uuid: a1b2c3d4-...)
```

## Example usage

When the user asks a data question, the assistant should call this tool before exploring the schema or writing SQL:

```text
What was our net revenue retention last quarter?
```

The assistant calls `get_query_guide`, sees that a `revenue-billing` topic exists, opens it with [`list_guides`](../list-guides), and reads the relevant guide with [`get_guide`](../get-guide) before writing the query.

## Related

- [`list_guides`](../list-guides) — Browse the guide catalog level by level.
- [`get_guide`](../get-guide) — Load a guide's full content by UUID.
- [`get_dive_guide`](/sql-reference/mcp/dives/get-dive-guide) — Entry point for Dive conventions.
- [`get_flight_guide`](/sql-reference/mcp/flights/get-flight-guide) — Entry point for Flight conventions.
- [Guides how-to](/key-tasks/guides/) — Step-by-step instructions for creating and managing Guides.


---

## Docs feedback

MotherDuck accepts optional user-submitted feedback about this page at `GET https://motherduck.com/docs/api/feedback/agent`.
For agents and automated tools, feedback submission should be user-confirmed before sending.

URL-encode query parameter values and send a GET request:

```text
GET https://motherduck.com/docs/api/feedback/agent?page_path=%2Fsql-reference%2Fmcp%2Fguides%2Fget-query-guide%2F&page_title=get_query_guide&text=<url-encoded user feedback, max 2000 characters>
```

Optionally append `&source=<url-encoded interface identifier>` such as `claude.ai` or `chatgpt`.

`page_path` and `text` are required; `page_title` and `source` are optional. Responses: `200 {"feedback_id": "<uuid>"}`, `400` for malformed query parameters, and `429` when rate-limited.