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

Annotations already declare the safe read-only/idempotent profile, and the description adds substantial behavioral context on top: cost tiers, the api_key-vs-x402 payment branch, free coverage_gap refusals, quota sharing with the answer tools, the optional Ed25519 receipt only on paid success, and the verification path. This is exactly the beyond-annotation detail an agent needs.

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?

A single dense paragraph that leads with pricing rather than the tool's purpose, and repeats the receipt/certified-extract distinction that also appears verbatim in the schema. Every fact is relevant, but the ordering and duplication cost readability.

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 an output schema present, the description needn't explain return values, and it still covers pricing, coverage limits, refusal semantics, payment flow, and receipt verification. Nothing an agent needs to call this 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?

Schema coverage is 100%, so the baseline is 3, and the description goes further by stating gross is in each country's own currency with no conversion, listing the allowed country brands, and confirming 2-5 hires. Those currency and range clarifications are genuine meaning beyond the schema fields.

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+resource and enumerates the exact outputs (employer cost, employer/employee contributions, on-cost percent, wage-floor verdict) computed 'side by side and ranked' for 2-5 hires. This implicitly separates it from single-hire siblings like compute_employment_cost and cost_hire, but never names them, so the differentiation is inferred rather than explicit.

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?

Gives clear operating context: 2-5 countries from a fixed list, pricing tiers ($0.75 for 2, $1.00 for 3-5), free refusal for unanswerable requests, and shared 3-free-calls-per-IP quota. It stops short of telling the agent when to prefer a sibling tool (e.g. compute_employment_cost for a single hire) or when not to call this at all.

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