WooCommerce: List orders

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

readOnlyHint=true already covers the safety profile, and the description adds real behavioral context beyond it: the default response is a privacy-safe summary and opting out exposes PII-like customer/billing/payment fields. It says nothing about pagination behavior or what the summary actually contains, so not a 5.

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 tight sentences, front-loaded with the resource and the privacy default. The "[UNIFIED]" prefix is noise, but nothing else is wasted.

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?

For a 10-parameter list tool with no output schema and no parameter documentation, the description leaves most of the calling surface unexplained — an agent cannot tell how to filter by status, customer, or date range, nor how paging works.

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 description coverage is 0% across 10 parameters, so the description must carry parameter meaning — but it only explains `summary`. Filters like status, customer, after/before, per_page, anonymize_ids and include_line_items are undocumented in both schema and description.

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 ("List WooCommerce orders") plus a scope detail about the default privacy-safe summary. It is distinguishable from woocommerce_get_order by the list-versus-single framing, though no sibling is named 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 gives one explicit rule: keep the default summary unless there is "explicit operational needs" for customer/billing/payment details, with summary=false as the escape hatch. It offers no guidance on choosing this tool over woocommerce_get_order or the reporting tools, so tool-level routing 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.