Bahr (Pearl & Sea)

Bahr (Pearl & Sea) — connector documentation

• MCP endpoint: https://bahr.connectorbay.com/mcp
• REST API: POST https://bahr.connectorbay.com/v1/tools/{tool_name}, described by the OpenAPI 3.1 spec at https://bahr.connectorbay.com/openapi.json
• Transport: Streamable HTTP, stateless, MCP specification 2025-06-18 or later
• Authentication: none required. An optional Authorization: Bearer <key> raises rate limits.
• Health: https://bahr.connectorbay.com/health · Tool schemas: https://bahr.connectorbay.com/tools.json
• Publisher: Unify Dynamics LLC · connectorbay.com/bahr · agent@connectorbay.com

What Bahr (Pearl & Sea) is for

The question that comes up whenever Gulf pearl-diving heritage gets specific — how central was pearling to the pre-oil Gulf economy, what tools did a diver actually use, what's a sambuk versus a boom, why did the industry collapse, how did dhow captains navigate without a compass — answered from one hand-curated, fully local reference, without a scroll through inconsistent tourism blog posts.

What it does

A historical overview of the natural pearl-diving industry and its economic centrality to the pre-oil Gulf coastal economy, including its scale (boats and workers by port around 1905), crew structure (nakhoda, tawash, ghawwas, seib, nahham), the seasonal al-ghous al-kabeer diving season, and the advance-and-debt system that financed it (pearl_diving_history_info); traditional free-diving method and tools — the fitam nose clip, khabt finger guards, diving weight/stone, collection basket and rope, and the physical toll of the work (diving_technique_info); a traditional dhow type's size, hull features, traditional use and region, covering the sambuk, boom, shu'ai, jalibut, baghlah and ghanjah (dhow_type_info); search across dhow names, aliases, region, size and use (dhow_search); how natural pearls were traditionally sorted and graded — sieve-based sizing, traditional weight units (habba, miskal, chow), and shape/origin terms (dana, qomash, yatima) — with no current market pricing (pearl_grading_info); the historical factors behind the industry's decline — Japanese cultured pearls from 1916, the Great Depression, and the growth of the oil economy — with a timeline and population impact (industry_decline_info); traditional Gulf and Indian Ocean seafaring navigation — the kamal star-altitude instrument, monsoon-timed voyaging, dead reckoning, and the navigator Ahmad ibn Majid (maritime_navigation_info); how this heritage is remembered today — Bahrain's UNESCO-listed Pearling Path and general categories like museums, festivals, oral history and dhow culture (cultural_legacy_info); and a glossary of maritime and pearling terms — bahr, nakhoda, tawash, ghawwas, nahham, fitam, sanbuk, dana, kamal, and more (maritime_glossary).

What it is not

Not a tourism directory, an appraisal service, or a current pearl-market pricing source. pearl_grading_info covers only historical grading and sorting conventions from the natural-pearl era and never states or estimates a current price for natural or cultured pearls. cultural_legacy_info describes general categories of how pearling heritage is preserved and commemorated today, not a directory of specific current museums, festivals or attractions and their operating details. Deeper Arab folk-heritage and handicraft content beyond pearl diving is covered by the dedicated turath connector, which gives pearl-diving heritage only a brief cross-reference note by design so the two connectors don't duplicate each other.

Tools

History

pearl_diving_history_info — A historical overview of the Gulf natural pearl-diving industry and its economic centrality to the pre-oil coastal economy — its scale (boats and workers by port), crew structure (nakhoda, tawash, ghawwas, seib, nahham), the seasonal al-ghous al-kabeer diving season, and the advance-and-debt system that financed it. Use for "how important was pearl diving to the Gulf economy", "who worked on a pearling boat", "what was the pearling season".

industry_decline_info — The historical factors behind the Gulf natural pearl industry's decline — the rise of Japanese cultured pearls from 1916, the Great Depression's collapse of luxury demand, and the growth of the oil economy — with a build-out timeline and the industry's population impact on pearling towns. Use for "why did the Gulf pearl industry decline", "when did cultured pearls take over", "how did oil affect pearl diving".

Diving & boats

diving_technique_info — Traditional Gulf free-diving method and tools for pearl diving — the fitam nose clip, khabt finger guards, diving weight/stone, collection basket (deyeen) and rope (yada), how a dive was carried out, and the physical risks divers faced. Use for "how did pearl divers hold their breath", "what is a fitam", "what tools did pearl divers use".

dhow_type_info — One traditional Gulf dhow type's size, hull features, traditional use and region — covers the sambuk, boom, shu'ai, jalibut, baghlah and ghanjah. Use for "what is a sambuk", "tell me about the boom dhow", "what was a baghlah used for". Args: name.

dhow_search — Search traditional Gulf dhow types by partial name, alias, region, size or traditional use. Use for "which dhow was used for pearling", "dhows built in Kuwait", "large deep-sea dhow types". Args: query.

Trade & navigation

pearl_grading_info — How natural pearls were traditionally sorted and graded in the Gulf pearl trade — sieve-based sizing (makhall), traditional weight units (habba, miskal/mithqal, chow), shape and origin terms (dana, qomash, yatima), and the pearl merchant's (tawash) role. Describes historical grading methods only — never states or estimates a current pearl market price. Use for "how were pearls graded before modern grading", "what is a habba", "what does dana mean for pearls".

maritime_navigation_info — Traditional Gulf and Indian Ocean seafaring navigation — the kamal star-altitude instrument, monsoon-timed voyaging, dead reckoning and coastal piloting, and the navigator Ahmad ibn Majid and his Kitab al-Fawa'id. Use for "how did dhow captains navigate without a compass", "what is a kamal", "who was Ahmad ibn Majid".

Heritage

cultural_legacy_info — How Gulf pearl-diving heritage is remembered and preserved today — Bahrain's UNESCO-listed Pearling Path, and general categories such as maritime museums, heritage festivals, oral history from former divers, dhow-building and racing culture, and pearling-era work songs. Describes general categories, not a directory of specific current attractions or operating details. Use for "how is pearl-diving heritage remembered today", "is there a UNESCO site for Gulf pearling", "how is pearling history preserved".

maritime_glossary — Definitions of Gulf pearl-diving and maritime heritage terms (bahr, nakhoda, tawash, ghawwas, seib, nahham, ghous al-kabeer, fitam, sanbuk, dana, tawash grading, kamal). Use for "what does nakhoda mean", "what is a tawash", "what does fitam mean". Args: term.

Conventions

• Read-only. Every tool reads public data or computes; nothing is written anywhere and nothing about the user is stored.
• Result envelope. ok: true with data, or ok: false with a structured error (bad_input, not_found, upstream_error). degraded lists optional sources that were unreachable.
• Rate limits. Free tier 60 tool calls/minute and 300/day per user (keyed on the user identifier supplied by the host agent, else client IP); Pro keys raise this. Over-limit calls return HTTP 429 with Retry-After. initialize and tools/list are never counted.

Support

agent@connectorbay.com · connectorbay.com/bahr/support

Bahr (Pearl & Sea) — Privacy Policy

Effective 24 September 2026. Unify Dynamics LLC ("we", "us"), Menlo Park, California.

What Bahr (Pearl & Sea) is. Bahr (Pearl & Sea) is a connector (an MCP server and REST API) that AI assistants and personal agents call on your behalf for a hand-curated Gulf pearl-diving heritage and maritime culture reference: the historical pearl-diving industry, traditional diving technique and tools, dhow types, pearl grading, the industry's decline, traditional navigation, and cultural legacy. You interact with your assistant; the assistant sends us only the arguments needed for that one lookup.

What we receive. The arguments of each tool call — a dhow name, a search term, or a glossary term — the technical headers needed to serve the request (an IP address or a client identifier supplied by the assistant, and a Pro API key if you have one), and standard server logs.

Everything is answered from a bundled, hand-curated reference file and nothing is stored. No request is forwarded to any third party — there is no upstream call at all, live or otherwise — and no query is logged in request bodies, recorded, or used to train anything.

What we do not receive or store. We do not receive your conversation with the assistant or your name, and we do not build a profile from your queries: each request is answered independently and nothing carries over between requests. Rate-limit counters (a client identifier and timestamps) are held in memory for at most 24 hours. Hosting-provider access logs, which contain IP addresses and request paths but not request bodies, are retained for up to 30 days for security and abuse prevention.

Sub-processors. None — the entire dataset is bundled with the server and answered locally. Hosting: Vercel (United States regions).

Legal bases and your rights. Our processing is necessary to provide the service you request through your assistant. Because we store no personal data beyond short-lived logs, requests to access, correct or delete personal data are usually satisfied automatically; you can still contact agent@connectorbay.com and we will respond within 30 days. We do not sell or share personal information and do not use your data to train models.

Children. Bahr (Pearl & Sea) is a general-audience service operated by the adult using the assistant.

Changes. We will post changes here with a new effective date.

Bahr (Pearl & Sea) — Terms of Service

Effective 24 September 2026. These terms govern use of the Bahr (Pearl & Sea) connector ("the Service") operated by Unify Dynamics LLC ("we", "us").

1. The Service. Bahr (Pearl & Sea) returns a hand-curated Gulf pearl-diving heritage and maritime culture reference — the historical pearl-diving industry, traditional diving technique and tools, dhow types, pearl grading, the industry's decline, traditional navigation, and cultural legacy — from data cross-checked against public historical and cultural-heritage sources at build time. It is accessed through an AI assistant or directly over MCP or HTTP.
2. Historical reference, not an appraisal or pricing service. Bahr (Pearl & Sea) is an independent historical and cultural reference, not affiliated with or endorsed by any government, museum, heritage body, or pearl dealer. It does not provide pearl appraisals or current market prices, and nothing in the Service should be relied on for a purchase, sale, or valuation decision involving natural or cultured pearls.
3. Facts change. Content reflects public historical and cultural-heritage reporting as of the build date stated in the Service's own data; always check a museum, academic, or other authoritative source for anything requiring citation-grade precision.
4. Acceptable use. Automated use within the published rate limits is welcome.
5. Availability. The Service is provided "as is" without warranty. We may change, limit or discontinue it at any time.
6. Data. Our Privacy Policy describes what we process. In short: your query is answered from a bundled reference file, and nothing is stored.
7. Pro keys. Optional Pro API keys are issued at our discretion, are personal to the holder and may be revoked for abuse.
8. Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Unify Dynamics LLC is not liable for any loss arising from use of or reliance on the Service. Our total liability is limited to US $100.
9. Governing law. California law; venue in San Mateo County, California.
10. Contact. Unify Dynamics LLC · agent@connectorbay.com · https://connectorbay.com/bahr

Bahr (Pearl & Sea) support

Email agent@connectorbay.com. We answer within two business days.

• MCP endpoint: https://bahr.connectorbay.com/mcp
• REST API: https://bahr.connectorbay.com/openapi.json
• Live status: https://bahr.connectorbay.com/health

When you report a problem, include the question you asked your agent, roughly when, and which agent you used (for example Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini). Never send us passwords, account numbers or ID numbers. Bahr (Pearl & Sea) never asks for them.