Fetch fresh Townhall section headlines for news, columnists, or key topics like elections, Congress, and economy. Pass a section slug to get clean JSON headlines from that feed.
Get Townhall section headlines. Returns fresh headlines from one public Townhall section: the news feed, the columns feed, or a topic hub page.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| section | Yes | Townhall section slug |
Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
v1.17.5Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?
With no annotations, the description carries the full burden. It conveys that this is a retrieval operation with no side effects through "Get" and "Returns fresh headlines," which is adequate baseline disclosure. It stops short of stating freshness meaning, headline count, ordering, pagination, or error behavior, but for a simple headlines fetcher these are comparatively minor gaps.
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?
Two sentences totaling roughly 30 words, with the core purpose front-loaded in the first sentence and the parameter scope in the second. There is minor overlap between "section headlines" and "headlines from one Townhall section," but the description has no wasted words and is appropriately sized for a one-parameter tool.
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 tool is genuinely simple — one enum-constrained parameter — and the description covers what it returns and the valid section scope. But with no output schema and no annotations, the agent gets no sense of the return shape (headline list structure), no way to choose among the ten section values for a given intent, and no differentiation from the adjacent townhall_news tool.
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, but the description adds real meaning by grouping the ten enum slugs into three conceptual categories: news feed, columns feed, and topic hub page. This helps an agent understand what the section parameter represents beyond the schema's terse "Townhall section slug" label.
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?
"Get Townhall section headlines" provides a specific verb and resource, and the second sentence sharpens the scope to "one public Townhall section" with three concrete page types. It distinguishes implicitly from siblings like townhall_article, townhall_author, and townhall_sections via the headline-from-one-section framing, though it never names those alternatives explicitly.
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 description implies the use case — fetching fresh headlines from a specific Townhall section — and clarifies what kinds of sections qualify (news feed, columns feed, topic hub). However, it gives no explicit when-to-use versus when-not-to guidance and does not route the agent toward siblings like townhall_news, townhall_article, or townhall_sections, so selection between them is left to inference.
Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.