# Steady Steel: a guide for AI agents

Steady Steel Inc is a steel fabrication shop in Newmarket, Ontario. This guide is for an assistant working for a person: pricing cut plate or a catalog product for them, or passing the shop a job it prices by hand. No key, no account and no sign-in.

## Connect

- MCP server: https://www.steadysteel.org/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no auth; revisions 2026-07-28, 2025-11-25, 2025-06-18)
- REST API: https://www.steadysteel.org/api/v1
- OpenAPI 3.1: https://www.steadysteel.org/api/v1/openapi.json
- Docs: https://www.steadysteel.org/docs/api

## How a job goes

1. Look first. list_materials (GET /api/v1/materials) lists every plate material and thickness the shop cuts. search_products (GET /api/v1/products) lists each product and the tiers you can quote. The MCP tools leave out the design tier (the drawing package); REST lists and quotes it. Quote only what those lists hold: never invent a material, a thickness, a product or a tier.
2. Quote. quote_plate or quote_product (POST /api/v1/quotes). A price is firm until the quote's expires_at, 7 days out. A quote never changes: to change anything, ask for a new one.
3. Show the person the quote: the price of each item, the HST, the total, the lead time and every issue, as the quote states them. A blocked quote is a part the shop cannot make as asked. Tell them why, change it with them and quote again.
4. Hand off. create_handoff_link (POST /api/v1/handoffs) turns up to 10 items from ready quotes into one link to a page on steadysteel.org. The person checks each item there and orders it on the site. Give the link to the person and no one else: anyone holding it can open the page.
5. Work the tools cannot price (a part from a drawing, a weldment, a repair): create_rfq_link (POST /api/v1/rfq-links) opens the quote request form with the job filled in. The person adds their own name and contact details and sends it. The link works for 30 days.

## Rules

- Nothing is bought through the API or the MCP server. The person orders on steadysteel.org.
- Never present an estimate as a firm price. A quote with price_type "estimate" carries a notice: pass it on as written.
- Send nothing about the person: no name, email, phone number or address. A description carrying a link, an email address or a phone number is refused, and an item label carrying one is dropped.
- Money is whole CAD cents, in fields ending _cents. HST (13%, Ontario) is its own figure. Lengths are inches (_in) and weights pounds (_lb).
- Hand-off links are private to the person.

## Limits

Per client IP address. Assistants hosted by one company reach us from a few shared addresses, so the numbers are sized for many people behind one.

- Reading (materials, products, quotes): 120 a minute
- Pricing (new quotes): 60 a minute, 2,000 a day
- Order links: 30 a minute, 200 a day
- Quote request links: 10 a minute, 100 a day
- Requests to /mcp, of any kind: 600 a minute

A tool call also counts toward the limit of the REST route it mirrors. Past a limit, REST answers 429 with Retry-After in seconds and a tool answers isError with retry_after_seconds. Wait that long.

## Errors

Every REST error is one envelope: {"error": {"type", "code", "message", "param", "request_id", "retryable", "doc_url", "details"}}. A 422 names the field at fault in param. A tool that cannot do what was asked answers isError: true with the same code and message.

## Tools

- list_materials: List the plate materials Steady Steel laser cuts, each with every thickness sold in it (thickness_in, inches), whether it is stocked, and a lead time in business days.
- search_products: Find the pre-designed steel products Steady Steel sells on steadysteel.org/products, by words in their name or description; send no query to list them all.
- quote_plate: Price one flat plate of steel, stainless or aluminum, laser cut to an outline with holes, slots and bends, at a firm price from the engine behind the plate quoter on steadysteel.org.
- quote_product: Price a catalog product at its firm unit price: the slug and a tier from search_products (kit or welded), only a tier marked orderable. quantity is 1 to 50.
- get_quote: Get a quote quote_plate or quote_product made, by its id, exactly as it was priced.
- create_handoff_link: Make the link the person orders from: one page on steadysteel.org showing what was quoted, with a button for each item that opens the page selling it (a plate in the plate quoter, a product on its order page), where they check it and pay.
- create_rfq_link: For work quote_plate and quote_product cannot price (a part from a drawing, a weldment, a repair, plate past the laser): describe the job in words, sizes in inches, and get a link to Steady Steel's quote request form with it filled in.

## Contact

Steady Steel Inc, 42 Wilstead Dr, Newmarket, Ontario L3Y 4T9
Phone +1-416-560-9330, email orders@steadysteel.org, hours Mo-Fr 06:00-15:30 (Eastern Time).