[mcp-analysis] MCP Structural Analysis - 2026-09-10

[github-actions[bot]]

GitHub MCP tool responses were tested across all 9 available toolsets plus the injected workflow-context block on 2026-09-10 (12th measured day since 2026-08-25). Results are broadly stable: the actions (via mcpscripts wrapper) and workflow_context sources remain the best-rated (5/5, near-zero overhead), while list_issues remains the worst (2/5, blocked every single day by an integrity-policy redaction on one issue). code_security carries the heaviest payload today (~5,450 tokens for 12 open critical/high alerts) but stays highly actionable thanks to CodeQL's runnable remediation examples.

Full Structural Analysis Report

Executive Summary

Metric	Value
Tools Analyzed	10
Total Tokens (Today)	10,116
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

Tool	Toolset	Rating	Assessment
github_context	workflow_context	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Excellent - zero-cost identity block
list_workflows (mcpscripts)	actions	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Excellent - clean JSON, explicit pagination, no bloat
list_code_scanning_alerts	code_security	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good - actionable but verbose across scanners
list_pull_requests	pull_requests	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good - minimal, flat, directly actionable
search_code	search	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good - inline code fragments avoid follow-up calls
get_file_contents	repos	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate - fixed icon _meta overhead dominates small files
get_label	labels	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate - tiny payload buried in icon overhead
list_discussions	discussions	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate - good pagination/relationships, same overhead issue
search_users	users	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate - minimal identity fields only
list_issues	issues	⭐⭐	Limited - redacted item blocks visibility every day

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	Fixed ~2.2k-char base64 icon block on every call
list_issues	array	2	number, title, state, labels	One item consistently redacted by integrity policy
list_pull_requests	array	1	number, title, state, html_url	Flat, no icon overhead
list_workflows (wrapper)	object	2	total_count, workflows[].id/name/path/state	Best-in-class: explicit pagination, zero bloat
list_code_scanning_alerts	array	3	rule.id, rule.severity, full_description, help, location	Schema inconsistent across CodeQL vs 3rd-party scanners
list_discussions	object	3	discussions[].category/user, pageInfo, totalCount	Rich relationships, same icon overhead
get_label	object	1	name, color, description, id	Tiny payload, disproportionate overhead
search_users	object	2	items[].login/id/profile_url, total_count	No name/bio/role fields
search_code	object	2	items[].name/path, text_matches[].fragment	Fragments reduce follow-up calls; rate-limit prone

Response Size Analysis

Toolset	Avg Tokens (30d)	Tools Tested
code_security	2,268	12
repos	2,133	12
labels	927	12
discussions	687	12
search	623	12
users	614	12
actions	171	12
workflow_context	94	12
issues	61	12
pull_requests	38	12

Tool-by-Tool Analysis (Today, 2026-09-10)

Tool	Toolset	Tokens	Schema	Rating	Notes
github_context	workflow_context	90	markdown	5	Zero-cost identity block, consistent 12/12 days
list_workflows	actions	172	object	5	mcpscripts wrapper, clean pagination, 12/12 days
list_code_scanning_alerts	code_security	5,450	array	4	12 open critical/high alerts, mixed CodeQL/3rd-party schema
list_pull_requests	pull_requests	32	array	4	Minimal single-item array
search_code	search	700	object	4	Inline fragment avoided follow-up read; no rate-limit today
get_file_contents	repos	1,660	object	3	.gitignore content identical to 2026-09-04 (stable 6 days)
get_label	labels	610	object	3	Tiny content, icon overhead dominates
list_discussions	discussions	705	object	3	Good relationships, same overhead pattern
search_users	users	635	object	3	Minimal identity fields only
list_issues	issues	62	array	2	One issue redacted by integrity policy, 12/12 days

30-Day Trend Summary

Metric	Value
Data Points	120
Unique Measured Days	12 (2026-08-25 → 2026-09-10)
Average Daily Tokens	7,615
Average Rating Trend	Stable (~3.6/5, dips to 3.3 on 2026-09-02/09-09 from search_code rate-limit failures)

Recommendations

• High-value tools (rating 4-5): github_context (free), list_workflows via mcpscripts wrapper, list_pull_requests, list_code_scanning_alerts, search_code.
• Tools needing improvement: list_issues — the integrity-policy redaction has blocked one item every single measured day (12/12) with zero visible content; needs either a partial-content surface or a clearer redaction reason for agents.
• Context-efficient tools (low tokens, high rating): github_context (90 tokens, free), list_workflows wrapper (172 tokens), list_pull_requests (32 tokens).
• Context-heavy tools (high tokens): list_code_scanning_alerts (2,268 avg, up to 6,900 on high-alert days), get_file_contents (2,133 avg, highly target-dependent — a README pull once cost ~7,500 tokens vs ~1,660 for .gitignore). Recommend using directory-listing mode (fields-filtered) before fetching full file content, and preferring mcpscripts-style wrappers (which so far show zero icon/_meta overhead) over raw GitHub MCP tools where available.
• Persistent inefficiency: every non-wrapper tool (get_file_contents, list_discussions, get_label, search_users, search_code) repeats a fixed ~2.2k-char base64 _meta.serverInfo icon block on every single call across all 12 measured days — this is pure overhead with no agentic value and could be stripped or cached client-side.

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 · 159.8 AIC · ⌖ 12.1 AIC · ⊞ 11.5K · ◷

• expires on Sep 11, 2026, 4:06 AM UTC-08:00

[github-actions[bot]]

This discussion has been marked as outdated by GitHub MCP Structural Analysis.

A newer discussion is available at Discussion #60263.