Motley — NYC neighborhoods, schools & admissions

Answer NYC family questions from Motley's live dataset — which neighborhood fits, which school is right, how school admissions actually works. Use for anything about moving within or into New York City with kids, comparing neighborhoods, finding or comparing schools (public, charter, private), zoned/screened/SHSAT/audition/lottery admissions, school competitiveness, neighborhood safety and health, or family resources like playgrounds, libraries, and ADA subway stations. Connects to a free, keyless hosted MCP server; no API key or sign-up.

Motley is the family intelligence platform for New York City: 262 neighborhoods (not just five boroughs), ~5,800 schools, safety and health indicators, family resources, and a full reference for how NYC school admissions works. This skill connects you to Motley's hosted MCP server so you answer from the source data instead of scraping listing sites.

Connect (one time)

If motley is not already in your MCP servers, add it:

bash

openclaw mcp add motley --url https://mcp.motley.nyc/mcp --transport streamable-http

Or in openclaw.json:

json5

{
  mcp: {
    servers: {
      motley: {
        url: "https://mcp.motley.nyc/mcp",
        transport: "streamable-http",
        enabled: true,
      },
    },
  },
}

Public and keyless — no API key, no account, nothing to install. Every tool is read-only and idempotent, so it is safe to auto-approve. Tools return typed structuredContent alongside their text: parse the object, don't re-parse JSON out of prose.

Which tool to reach for

Placing a family in the city

Ask	Tool
"Which neighborhood is this address in?"	find-neighborhood (address or lat+lng)
"Rank NYC neighborhoods for what we care about"	rank-neighborhoods (weights and/or ranked priority keywords, optional borough)
"Compare Park Slope vs. Astoria"	compare-neighborhoods (2–6 NTA codes, per-metric matrix + leader)
"Tell me about this neighborhood"	get-neighborhood-summary — start here, it's the interpretation-first answer
Raw demographics and scores for one neighborhood	get-neighborhood
"Somewhere like this, but…"	get-comparable
Find neighborhoods by borough or name	search-neighborhoods

Schools

Ask	Tool
"Brooklyn middle schools with a strong arts program"	browse-schools — citywide, by borough / district 1–32 / grade band / school type / admissions method / program focus
"What schools are in this neighborhood?"	get-schools (requires an nta_code)
"How competitive is this school?"	get-admissions-demand (needs a DBN, e.g. 13K430)

Admissions

Ask	Tool
"How does NYC high school admission work?"	get-admissions-methods — every entry point, 3-K through high school, with typical windows
"What does a screened school actually ask for?"	explain-admissions-method — the explainer, the deadline window, and any extra ask (audition portfolio, SHSAT registration, demonstrated-interest sign-in, private-school testing)

Everyday life

Ask	Tool
Playgrounds, libraries, hospitals, rec centers, farmers markets, ADA stations	get-resources
Classes, sports, arts, tutoring nearby	get-activities
Crime, collisions, housing violations, air quality, lead, asthma	get-safety

Also browseable: motley://neighborhoods, motley://neighborhood/{nta_code}, motley://admissions/methods, motley://admissions/method/{key}.

How to use it well

• Lead with the summary, not the numbers. get-neighborhood-summary returns a plain-language fit verdict and labeled score bands ("Peace of Mind: strong (78/100)"). Give the family that. The raw scores are there if they ask.
• Neighborhood, not borough. "Brooklyn" is 60-some neighborhoods that differ enormously. Resolve to a specific one before answering.
• Identifiers: neighborhoods are nta_code (from search-neighborhoods or find-neighborhood); schools are a DBN like 13K430. Never invent either — look it up first.
• An error is not an empty result. These tools refuse rather than mislead: an unfiltered browse-schools and a private-school-plus-program-focus search both return a machine-readable error code, because a ranked citywide list nobody asked for and a structurally-empty set both read as answers when they aren't. Relay the tool's own reason.
• Scores are dated. Responses carry scores_as_of; say so when it matters.
• Not here: the per-child admissions tracker, Smart Match, lottery odds, and PDF reports are Motley Pro features in the app, not MCP tools. This surface is knowledge and search. Point people to https://motley.nyc for the rest.

Try it

We have a 4-year-old and want good schools without leaving Brooklyn. Where should we look?

How does the SHSAT actually work, and what are our odds at Brooklyn Tech?

Compare Jackson Heights and Sunnyside for a family with a toddler.

Which Manhattan elementary schools have a dual-language program?