With server space on Wikimedia servers unsuitable for auxiliary web programs ("apps" in modern parlance), several Wikimedia Chapters decided to provide their own services. Of these "toolservers", the most successful was, and still is, operated by Wikimedia Deutschland, occupying the domain name http://toolserver.org.
Although the Toolserver has been part-funded by the WMF, it remains a project privately owned and operated by the German Wikimedia chapter, who currently budget €60k a year for its upkeep (according to the notes from a discussion about Toolserver governance at last month's Wikimedia Conference). Progress on bringing other chapters into Toolserver governance have been slow, but several chapters (including those representing the United Kingdom and Italy) have begun to donate funds towards its upkeep. But for all the tangles over operational issues, the project has boomed. Over 500 developers currently have space on its servers to operate scripts relating to Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap projects, including bots and tools with graphical user interfaces. In addition to the space, developers can also create their own database and access replicated versions of central WMF databases. The project has its own mailing list toolserver-l, and the whole system is monitored by a paid employee of Wikimedia Deutschland, River Tarnell.
Although no comprehensive list of all projects on the Toolserver exists, many tools exist to fill a specific purpose and are linked to from Wikimedia projects directly. For example, Magnus Manske provides a tool that aids in the research of chemical identifiers, and links to it are provided directly from the {{CAS}} template. Some projects also have a much broader scope, such as WikiMiniAtlas tool, from which maps are loaded for the co-ordinate templates dropdowns.
The future of the Toolserver is uncertain. The Foundation has announced a $1.5 million project to develop Wikimedia Labs, which will build upon the "trailblazing" work of the Toolserver pioneers, and has accordingly stopped funding the Toolserver directly. The project is unlikely to be ready until well into 2012, and even then, the Toolserver will undoubtedly still be needed for a neat migration to occur.
Not all fixes may have gone live to WMF sites at the time of writing; some may not be scheduled to go live for many weeks.
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