Islam West Africa Collection (IWAC)

Search newspaper articles

search_articles

Read-onlyIdempotent

Search IWAC newspaper articles by keyword (title + OCR + AI abstracts, French and English), country, newspaper, subject, and date range. Use French concept keywords regardless of the user's report language. Matching is accent- and case-insensitive.

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description
`exact`	No	AND values. Fields: subject/spatial/author/language/country/newspaper/topic_id/min_prob/scored_by; country_raw=whole cell; polarity:<model>.
`limit`	No	Default 20, max 100 (10 and 25 with with_description)
`offset`	No
`country`	No	Exact country name: Benin \| Burkina Faso \| Côte d'Ivoire \| Niger \| Togo (accents optional)
`date_to`	No	YYYY-MM-DD (or YYYY)
`keyword`	No	Concept keyword; every word must occur (any order) in the title, OCR or French/English AI abstracts; "quote" a phrase. Prefer French for the OCR; an English term still matches via the English abstract
`subject`	No
`date_from`	No	YYYY-MM-DD (or YYYY)
`newspaper`	No
`hijri_year`	No	Islamic (Umm al-Qura) year, e.g. 1445
`hijri_month`	No	Islamic lunar month: 1-12, or a name (Ramadan, Chaabane, Chawwal, Dhu al-Hijja). Pulls the articles behind an observance peak — matches only items with a full YYYY-MM-DD date.
`keyword_mode`	No	literal: the whole keyword as one substring
`keyword_aliases`	No
`with_description`	No	Include each article's ~500-char AI abstract (description_ai) for triage without get_article. Adds ~125 tokens/row, so `limit` defaults to 10 and caps at 25 while this is on.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed3 schema fields changedOct 29, 2026

addedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +false
```

changedInput schema / properties / keyword / description

Previous value: -"Concept keyword; substring match on title, OCR text, and the French and English AI abstracts. Prefer French for the OCR; an English term still matches via the English abstract"New value: +"Concept keyword; every word must occur (any order) in the title, OCR or French/English AI abstracts; \"quote\" a phrase. Prefer French for the OCR; an English term still matches via the English abstract"

addedInput schema / properties / keyword_mode / description

Added value: +"literal: the whole keyword as one substring"

Changed9 schema fields changedOct 6, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / exact

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {
+    "items": {
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "maxItems": 20,
+    "minItems": 1,
+    "type": "array"
+  },
+  "description": "AND values. Fields: subject/spatial/author/language/country/newspaper/topic_id/min_prob/scored_by; country_raw=whole cell; polarity:<model>.",
+  "propertyNames": {
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "object"
+}

removedInput schema / properties / hijri_year / maximum
```
Removed value: -9007199254740991
```
removedInput schema / properties / hijri_year / minimum
```
Removed value: --9007199254740991
```

addedInput schema / properties / keyword_aliases

Added value: +{
+  "items": {
+    "minLength": 1,
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "maxItems": 12,
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / keyword_mode

Added value: +{
+  "enum": [
+    "literal",
+    "all_terms"
+  ],
+  "type": "string"
+}

removedInput schema / properties / limit / maximum
```
Removed value: -9007199254740991
```
removedInput schema / properties / limit / minimum
```
Removed value: --9007199254740991
```
removedInput schema / properties / offset / maximum
```
Removed value: -9007199254740991
```
removedInput schema / properties / offset / minimum
```
Removed value: --9007199254740991
```

Changed1 schema field changedAug 7, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / keyword / description

Previous value: -"French concept keyword; substring match on title, OCR text, and AI abstract"New value: +"Concept keyword; substring match on title, OCR text, and the French and English AI abstracts. Prefer French for the OCR; an English term still matches via the English abstract"

Changed2 schema fields changedAug 4, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / limit / description

Previous value: -"Default 20, max 100"New value: +"Default 20, max 100 (10 and 25 with with_description)"

changedInput schema / properties / with_description / description

Previous value: -"Include each article's ~500-char AI abstract (description_ai) for triage without get_article. Adds ~125 tokens/row, so pass a smaller limit (≤10) when enabling it."New value: +"Include each article's ~500-char AI abstract (description_ai) for triage without get_article. Adds ~125 tokens/row, so `limit` defaults to 10 and caps at 25 while this is on."

Changed2 schema fields changedJul 31, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / hijri_month

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Islamic lunar month: 1-12, or a name (Ramadan, Chaabane, Chawwal, Dhu al-Hijja). Pulls the articles behind an observance peak — matches only items with a full YYYY-MM-DD date.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedInput schema / properties / hijri_year

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Islamic (Umm al-Qura) year, e.g. 1445",
+  "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+  "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+  "type": "integer"
+}

Changed1 schema field changedJul 29, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

Changed6 schema fields changedJul 6, 2026
- removedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Removed value: -false
```
- changedInput schema / properties / keyword / description
```
Previous value: -"Substring match on title, OCR text, and AI abstract"New value: +"French concept keyword; substring match on title, OCR text, and AI abstract"
```
- addedInput schema / properties / limit / maximum
```
Added value: +9007199254740991
```
- addedInput schema / properties / limit / minimum
```
Added value: +-9007199254740991
```
- addedInput schema / properties / offset / maximum
```
Added value: +9007199254740991
```
- addedInput schema / properties / offset / minimum
```
Added value: +-9007199254740991
```
First observedJul 5, 2026

TDQS

A3.9/5.0

Behavior4/5

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

Annotations already declare readOnly/idempotent/non-destructive/closed-world, so the safety profile is covered. The description adds real behavioral context beyond that: which fields are indexed for matching and that matching is accent- and case-insensitive, which directly affects how an agent should phrase queries.

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

Conciseness5/5

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

Three dense sentences, no filler, with the resource and searchable fields front-loaded and the query-language advice placed last where it is most actionable. Every clause carries information.

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

Completeness4/5

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

For a 14-parameter, nested-object search tool with no output schema, the description covers the searchable axes and the matching rules, which is enough to construct a correct call. It is silent on what a result row contains and on pagination behavior (limit/offset semantics live only in the schema), a minor residual gap.

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

Parameters4/5

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

At 71% schema coverage the baseline is 3, but the description adds meaning the schema only partially carries: the keyword semantics (every word must occur, any order, across title/OCR/abstracts) and the French-preference rationale. It does not, however, clarify the `keyword_mode` enum, whose `all_terms` value is undocumented in both schema and description.

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

Purpose4/5

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

States a specific verb and resource ("Search IWAC newspaper articles") and enumerates the filterable axes: keyword, country, newspaper, subject, date range, plus which text fields the keyword hits (title, OCR, French/English AI abstracts). It does not explicitly name sibling search tools such as semantic_search_articles or search_publications, so an agent must infer the lexical-vs-semantic split itself.

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

Usage Guidelines3/5

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

The one guidance sentence — "Use French concept keywords regardless of the user's report language" — is genuinely useful query-formulation advice. However, it says nothing about when to choose this tool over semantic_search_articles or explore_corpus, and sets no exclusions or prerequisites.

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

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Search newspaper articles

Input Schema

Schema Changelog

TDQS

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