days_until_christmasHow many days until Christmas — counted in sleeps, not hours, and right across time zones. A HelpySelf tool (helpyself.com).
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| day | No | ||
| month | No | ||
| today | No |
Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?
With no annotations, the description carries the transparency burden. It adds useful behavioral context by stating 'counted in sleeps, not hours' and 'right across time zones', but it does not disclose how the optional parameters affect behavior or what the output looks like.
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?
The first sentence is front-loaded and concise, communicating the core value immediately. The second sentence is promotional branding ('A HelpySelf tool (helpyself.com)') and adds no functional value for tool selection or invocation.
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?
The purpose is clear and the tool is relatively simple, but there is no output schema and no parameter guidance. The description fails to cover the meaning of day/month/today, leaving an agent without enough information to confidently invoke the tool with custom inputs.
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 description coverage is 0%, and the description does not explain any of the three parameters (day, month, today). The defaults give hints, but the agent is left guessing what these parameters mean or how to use them correctly.
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?
The description clearly states the tool calculates time until Christmas in sleeps rather than hours and is timezone-aware. The 'days until Christmas' phrasing gives a specific, unambiguous purpose that distinguishes it from generic sibling tools like countdown_timer or date_difference.
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?
The use case is implied: if you need a Christmas countdown in sleeps or across time zones, use this tool. However, it doesn't explicitly say when to prefer it over alternatives like countdown_timer, business_days, or date_difference.
Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.
Add one secure layer between your agents and this server.
Most tools are clearly single-purpose and described well, but several clusters overlap heavily: image_resizer, bulk_image_resizer, compress_to_size, and image_compressor all address image size or compression, and contrast_checker/contrast_fixer/contrast_grid plus random_picker/wheel_of_names create near-duplicate choices. An agent can often use descriptions to pick, but with 104 tools the boundary between close options is easy to mis-select.
Overall the naming is consistent snake_case with strong noun-operator patterns like pdf_merge, image_converter, and barcode_generator. Minor deviations such as what_is_my_ip, days_until_christmas, send_a_secret, and request_a_file break the pattern slightly, but they remain understandable.
104 tools far exceeds the reasonable scope for a single MCP server and hits the '50+' extreme-mismatch threshold. This creates huge prompt overhead and makes tool selection a major obstacle, especially since most tools are trivial standalone utilities rather than related operations.
The server covers many categories: text, PDFs, images, files, calculations, generators, conversions, and network utilities, and no obvious workflow dead-ends appear within those tools. But because it is a flat grab-bag rather than a scoped domain, several neighboring utility categories are missing or unevenly represented, such as CSS/JS compression, PDF text extraction, and broader date or currency workflows.