Fetch Newsweek top stories as clean JSON with titles, URLs, and optional summaries, authors, and timestamps. Use it to monitor current headlines or power news research workflows.
Get Newsweek top stories. Returns the current Newsweek top stories, with no parameters. Each item has a title and URL, and may include summary, author, publication time and image. Use newsweek-headlines to read one section.
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Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
v1.17.5Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?
No annotations are provided, so the description carries the full burden, and it does disclose useful behavior: no parameters are accepted and the payload shape (title, URL, optional summary/author/publication time/image). It omits any mention of authentication, rate limits, or result count/pagination, which are the remaining gaps for a no-annotation tool.
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?
Three short, front-loaded sentences with no padding, and the sibling routing is placed last where it belongs. The second sentence slightly restates the first ('Returns the current Newsweek top stories' after 'Get Newsweek top stories'), a minor redundancy rather than a defect.
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 no output schema and no annotations, the description is responsible for explaining the return shape, and it does so (title/URL plus optional fields) while also confirming the zero-parameter signature. The main missing piece is volume/ordering expectations for a 'top stories' feed, but nothing needed to invoke the tool correctly is absent.
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, which is the baseline-4 case, and the description explicitly confirms this ('with no parameters') so an agent will not hunt for a section or query argument. No additional parameter meaning is needed or possible.
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 ('Get Newsweek top stories') and explicitly differentiates itself from the sibling newsweek_headlines by noting that tool is for reading a single section. An agent can distinguish this top-stories feed from newsweek_headlines, newsweek_sections and newsweek_article without opening any schema.
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?
Provides an explicit alternative and the condition that selects it ('Use `newsweek-headlines` to read one section'), which is real routing guidance. It stops short of a full when/when-not statement (e.g. it never says to use newsweek_article for full story text), so it is clear but not exhaustive.
Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.