[mcp-analysis] MCP Structural Analysis - 2026-08-31

[github-actions[bot]]

GitHub MCP tools tested today: 10 (one per toolset), totaling ~4,385 tokens, average usefulness 3.6/5. Best: github_context / list_workflows (mcpscripts wrapper, 5/5). Worst: list_issues (2/5, blocked by a redacted issue every day this week). Across 5 measured days (2026-08-25 → 2026-08-31), ratings have been remarkably stable (3.6–3.7/5), and a recurring pattern is now confirmed: every non-wrapper GitHub MCP tool response carries a fixed ~2.2–2.8k-char base64 icon block in _meta.serverInfo that often outweighs the actual payload for small lookups.

Full Structural Analysis Report

Executive Summary

Metric	Value
Tools Analyzed	10
Total Tokens (Today)	4,385
Average Usefulness Rating	3.6/5
Best Rated Tool	github_context & list_workflows: 5/5
Worst Rated Tool	list_issues: 2/5

Usefulness Ratings for Agentic Work (2026-08-31)

Tool	Toolset	Rating	Assessment
github_context	workflow_context	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Excellent — zero-cost injected identity block
list_workflows (mcpscripts)	actions	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Excellent — clean JSON, explicit pagination metadata, no icon bloat
list_code_scanning_alerts	code_security	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — trivial when empty, rich remediation data when populated
list_pull_requests	pull_requests	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — flat, minimal, directly actionable
search_code	search	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — code snippets embedded in text_matches[].fragment
get_file_contents	repos	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — icon _meta overhead now roughly matches content size
get_label	labels	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — tiny payload dwarfed by fixed icon overhead
list_discussions	discussions	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — good relationships, but icon overhead dominates
search_users	users	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — minimal identity fields, needs follow-up call
list_issues	issues	⭐⭐	Limited — one issue redacted by integrity policy, 5th day in a row

Schema Analysis

Tool	Type	Depth	Key Fields	Notes
github_context	markdown	1	actor, repository, workspace, workflow-run-id	Prompt-injected, no MCP call
get_file_contents	object	3	content.resource.text, _meta.serverInfo	Icon block adds fixed overhead
list_issues	array	2	number, title, state, labels	Redaction hides one item entirely
list_pull_requests	array	1	number, title, state, html_url	Flat, clean
list_workflows (wrapper)	object	2	total_count, per_page, workflows[]	Best-in-class, no icon bloat
list_code_scanning_alerts	array	1–3	rule.id, rule.severity, most_recent_instance.location	Empty today; rich when populated
list_discussions	object	3	discussions[].category.name, pageInfo, totalCount	Good pagination metadata
get_label	object	1	name, color, description, id	Tiny payload, fixed icon overhead
search_users	object	2	items[].login, items[].id, total_count	Identity-only fields
search_code	object	2	items[].path, items[].text_matches[].fragment	Snippets included today

Response Size Analysis

Toolset	Avg Tokens (5-day)	Tools Tested
repos	2,044	5
labels	902	5
discussions	674	5
search	629	5
users	580	5
code_security	428	5
actions	174	5
workflow_context	100	5
issues	60	5
pull_requests	36	5

Tool-by-Tool Analysis (2026-08-31)

Tool	Toolset	Tokens	Schema	Rating	Notes
github_context	workflow_context	90	markdown	5	Zero MCP cost, consistent daily
list_workflows (mcpscripts)	actions	150	object	5	Clean JSON; wrapper's own audit-log writer hit ENOENT (/tmp/gh-aw/mcp-cli-audit/) — CLI noise only, payload unaffected
list_code_scanning_alerts	code_security	10	array	4	No open critical alerts today
list_pull_requests	pull_requests	35	array	4	Single open PR, minimal fields
search_code	search	775	object	4	Two code fragments returned inline
get_file_contents	repos	1,300	object	3	.gitignore grew since 08-27; icon overhead ~matches content
get_label	labels	630	object	3	~30 tokens of real data, rest is icon _meta
list_discussions	discussions	690	object	3	totalCount 10,239; icon overhead dominates
search_users	users	645	object	3	Identity-only, no bio/role
list_issues	issues	60	array	2	Issue #57422 redacted by integrity policy (5th consecutive day)

30-Day Trend Summary

Metric	Value
Data Points	50
Days Measured	5 (2026-08-25, 26, 27, 28, 31)
Average Daily Tokens	5,627
Average Rating Trend	Stable (3.6 → 3.7 → 3.6 → 3.6 → 3.6)

Recommendations

• High-value tools (rating 4–5): github_context, list_workflows (mcpscripts wrapper), list_pull_requests, list_code_scanning_alerts, search_code. Prefer these first when building agentic flows over this repo.
• Tools needing improvement: list_issues — the integrity-policy redaction has silently hidden a matching issue on every single measured day (5/5), with zero visible content for the agent to reason about. This is a recurring blind spot, not a one-off.
• Context-efficient tools (low tokens, high rating): github_context (90 tokens, prompt-injected), list_workflows via mcpscripts wrapper (150 tokens, no icon bloat), list_pull_requests (35 tokens).
• Context-heavy tools: get_file_contents (2,044-token 5-day average) — driven by a fixed ~2.2–2.8k-char base64 icon block in _meta.serverInfo present on nearly every raw GitHub MCP call (not the mcpscripts wrapper), which is pure overhead unrelated to the actual data requested. This same fixed overhead inflates get_label, list_discussions, search_users, and search_code disproportionately for small lookups — wrapper-style tools that omit it (like the list_workflows mcpscripts wrapper) are consistently more efficient.

Visualizations

Response Size by Toolset

Usefulness Ratings

Daily Token Trend

Size vs Usefulness

Warning

Firewall blocked 1 domain

The following domain was blocked by the firewall during workflow execution:

• api.anthropic.com

To allow these domains, add them to the network.allowed list in your workflow frontmatter:

network:
  allowed:
    - defaults
    - "api.anthropic.com"

See Network Configuration for more information.

Generated by 🔍 GitHub MCP Structural Analysis · claude · agent · 147.2 AIC · ⌖ 9.81 AIC · ⊞ 11.5K · ◷

• expires on Sep 1, 2026, 4:02 AM UTC-08:00