Fetch Yardbarker top stories to get recent story metadata and short summaries from its public homepage; use sections to discover supported sports, teams, schools, and topics.
Get Yardbarker top stories. Returns recent Yardbarker story metadata and short summaries from its public homepage. Use /yardbarker/sections to discover the supported sports, team, school, and topic sections.
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Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
v1.17.9Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?
No annotations are provided, so the description carries the burden. It does disclose the data source (public homepage) and the shape of the payload (story metadata plus short summaries), implying a safe read. It omits pagination, result limits, and freshness/update cadence, which matter for a news feed.
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 sentences, front-loaded with the action and resource, then return payload, then the routing hint. Every sentence carries content, though the third sentence could have been placed earlier since it affects tool selection.
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 input schema fields, no annotations, and no output schema, the description does the necessary work by naming what is returned and where it comes from. Missing only sibling differentiation and any limits on how many stories are returned.
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, so there is nothing to document and the baseline is 4. The description correctly implies an unfiltered homepage feed, matching the empty schema.
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 Yardbarker top stories') and scopes it to the public homepage, which is useful. However, it does not differentiate itself from the close sibling yardbarker_headlines, so an agent cannot tell from the description alone which of the two to pick for a feed of stories.
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?
It gives a useful routing hint to the sections tool for discovering supported sports/team/school/topic sections, which is implied ecosystem guidance. It does not state when to use this tool instead of yardbarker_headlines or yardbarker_article, so the when-to-use decision 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.