Autodesk Product Help MCP

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnly, idempotent, non-destructive, and closed-world, so safety is covered. The description adds the meaningful extra that the catalog is a closed set — implying results are complete and not paginated or filtered — but does not state anything about size, caching, or stability across calls.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Four short lines, front-loaded with what the tool returns, followed by when to use it and a terminology disambiguation. Every sentence carries distinct information with no repetition of the title or annotations.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a zero-parameter read tool with an output schema and full annotations, the only real risk is misreading field semantics — and the description preempts that by distinguishing release_codes from release_name with a concrete example. Nothing needed to call it correctly is missing.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

The tool takes zero parameters, so there is nothing for the description to disambiguate; baseline is 4. The description correctly spends no words on input and instead invests in output-field terminology.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb and resource ('Returns the canonical Autodesk product catalog') and immediately defines its scope as a 'closed set' with an enumerated field list. Nothing is left ambiguous about what comes back, and the single sibling (search_help_content) is obviously a different resource.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Explicitly states the use case ('discover or validate product values for other product-scoped tools') and an explicit exclusion ('Not required if valid product context is already available'), which is exactly the decision an agent needs to make before spending a call.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Beyond annotations, the description discloses cross-parameter precedence ('product_code takes precedence'), the same-product consistency constraint, best-effort filtering semantics, a no-guessing policy, and a safety constraint on query content. Annotations already cover read-only/idempotent, and the description still adds substantial operational context.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Long but front-loaded and sectioned into Use when / Call shape / Behavior / Returns, so an agent can skim. The Returns bullet partially repeats the output schema and is the one section that does not fully earn its space; a few lines (e.g. the locale step) restate the schema description.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

With seven parameters, large enums, a sibling validation tool, and an output schema, the description covers everything needed to call correctly: defaults, precedence, validation escape hatch, query shaping, and locale sourcing. Return-value detail can be left to the output schema.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100%, so the baseline would be 3, but the description adds value the schema cannot: query construction strategy (product + feature nouns, exact error text, user wording, language matching locale), what to pass by default, and when to validate product/release values. It supplies genuinely actionable semantics for the two required and three optional filter parameters.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb and resource ('Search Autodesk Help/Support documentation') plus the outcome ('return the most relevant documents for a user question'). It is clearly distinguishable from the only sibling, get_available_products, which is referenced as a validation helper rather than an alternate search path.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Explicit 'Use when' list names three concrete trigger scenarios (how-to question, error report, troubleshooting/reference need). It also provides explicit conditions for routing to get_available_products (unknown product, user-specified different product, unvalidated release, malformed value) and tells the agent to omit fields rather than guess.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.