solar__solar_conditions (and band_outlook) return nulls for SFI/Kp due to SWPC endpoint format changes

[KI7MT]

Diagnosis

The solar__solar_conditions MCP tool (and dependent solar_band_outlook) consistently returns nulls:

{"sfi":null,"sfi_timestamp":null,"kp":null,"kp_timestamp":null,"noaa_r_scale":"0","noaa_s_scale":"0","noaa_g_scale":"0"}

While other solar tools (solar_alerts, solar_wind, solar_xray, solar_forecast) succeed with live data.

Root Cause (cite-by-grep in client.py)

In src/solar_mcp/client.py:conditions() (called by the tool):

• SFI fetch: self._get_json(f"{_SWPC}/products/summary/10cm-flux.json")

  • Current response (verified live): [{"flux":128,"time_tag":"..."}] (list of dicts)
  • Code assumption: if isinstance(sfi_data, dict): ... .get("Flux") or .get("flux") (and TimeStamp). Skips for list → sfi=None.

• Kp fetch: self._get_json(f"{_SWPC}/products/noaa-planetary-k-index.json")

  • Current: list of dicts [{"time_tag":"...","Kp":0.67,...}, ...]
  • Code assumption: if isinstance(latest, list) and len(latest)>=2: float(latest[1]) (legacy list-of-lists). Fails → kp=None.

• Scales parse partially succeeds but yields raw "0" (instead of "R0" etc.).

No exception raised (graceful degradation), so server.py:solar_conditions returns the partial null dict (not {"error":...}).

_get_json + caching + or {} / or [] hid the shape mismatch.

Other tools use different endpoints (still compatible).

Mocks were also in legacy format.

This matches the observed behavior in fleet (e.g., Grok solar brief calls).

Evidence

• Direct curl + python inspection of live SWPC endpoints (2026-06-15).
• solar__get_version_info: solar-mcp 0.2.0 / noaa-swpc-v1.
• Live repro via MCP tool calls + fallback web/NOAA pages.
• Code review of client.py:125-187 (and band_outlook:411-416 which bails on nulls).

The endpoints were updated post-0.2.0 release (code written ~May 2026 for older shapes).

Solution (implemented on branch)

• Made conditions() parsing robust: handles current list-of-dicts + legacy formats for both SFI and Kp.
• Normalize scales "0" → "R0"/"S0"/"G0" for consistency with tests/docs.
• Updated _MOCK_* data to current shapes (unit tests now exercise new paths).
• Added to Unreleased in CHANGELOG.md.
• Verified: live client.conditions() now returns real SFI=128, Kp=0.67 (latest), normalized scales, band_outlook.
• (Editable install in workspace picks up src via .pth; MCP calls succeed.)

Branch: fix/solar-conditions-parsing
PR will follow.

Recommended follow-ups

• Run full L3 live tests: pytest tests/test_live.py --live
• Consider defensive {"error": ...} if parse still fails.
• Bump __spec_version__ on next release if more drifts.
• Monitor these two endpoints (NOAA JSON shapes not guaranteed stable).
• Fleet: re-deploy solar-mcp 0.2.1+ across nodes (M3, 9975WX, etc.) once tagged.

This restores solar_conditions for the observability plane / HF propagation use (cross-ref ionis-mcp, observability-plane.md, etc.).

Fixes the nulls seen in recent solar brief queries.