Metis · News Radar — Scan News

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

With no annotations, the description provides one behavioral insight: deduplication by URL makes repeated runs safe. However, it omits details like authentication requirements, failure handling, or whether it appends or overwrites existing items.

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 sentences, 57 words, front-loaded with the core action. Each sentence serves a purpose: main action, sources, and safety behavior.

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?

Given no parameters and presence of output schema, the description is largely complete. It explains the action, sources, and idempotency. The only minor gap is lack of detail on output structure, but the output schema likely covers that.

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?

Zero parameters, so baseline is 4. The description adds no parameter-specific info but explains the tool's purpose effectively, which compensates for the lack of parameters.

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?

The description clearly states the action ('Fetch RSS feeds and add new items to news_briefs') and lists specific sources, but does not explicitly differentiate from sibling tools like 'get_news_briefs' or other scanning tools.

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?

No guidance on when to use this tool versus alternatives such as 'scan_literature' or 'scan_pubmed_alerts'. The description only covers functionality, not usage context.

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