[mcp-analysis] MCP Structural Analysis - 2026-09-24

[github-actions[bot]]

Tested 10 representative GitHub MCP tools across 9 toolsets plus the injected workflow-context block. list_workflows (actions, via mcpscripts wrapper) and the workflow context block remain the two cleanest, most actionable responses (5/5). list_issues remains the weakest link (2/5) — every measured day for 18 days running has had at least one issue redacted by an integrity policy filter with zero visible content, blocking assessment entirely. code_security alerts are unchanged since 2026-09-15 (same 5 alerts, no remediation).

Full Structural Analysis Report

Executive Summary

Metric	Value
Tools Analyzed	10
Total Tokens (Today)	9,554
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, immediately actionable identity metadata
list_workflows	actions	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Excellent — clean JSON, explicit pagination, zero icon/_meta bloat
get_file_contents	repos	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — content complete, but icon overhead dominates small files
list_pull_requests	pull_requests	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — flat, minimal, directly actionable
search_code	search	⭐⭐⭐⭐	Good — inline code fragment avoids follow-up fetch
list_code_scanning_alerts	code_security	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — bounded perPage keeps it under limits, but verbose boilerplate per alert
list_discussions	discussions	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — good pagination/relationship metadata, icon overhead persists
get_label	labels	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — tiny payload swamped by fixed _meta block
search_users	users	⭐⭐⭐	Adequate — minimal identity fields only, needs follow-up for profile detail
list_issues	issues	⭐⭐	Limited — redacted item blocks assessment every day measured

Schema Analysis

Tool	Type	Depth	Key Fields	Notes
github_context	markdown	1	actor, repository, workspace, workflow-run-id	Prompt-injected, no MCP overhead
get_file_contents	object	3	content.resource.text, _meta.serverInfo	Fixed ~2235-char base64 icon block on every call
list_issues	array	2	number, title, state, labels	Redacted items show as filtered placeholders
list_pull_requests	array	1	number, title, state, html_url	Flat, no nesting, no overhead
list_workflows	object	2	total_count, workflows[].id/name/path/state	mcpscripts wrapper — clean pagination metadata
list_code_scanning_alerts	array	3	rule.id, rule.full_description, most_recent_instance.location	Verbatim boilerplate repeated per alert
list_discussions	object	3	discussions[].category/user, pageInfo, totalCount	Good relationship embedding
get_label	object	1	name, color, description, id	Trivial payload, disproportionate overhead
search_users	object	2	items[].login/id/profile_url, total_count	Identity-only, no profile depth
search_code	object	2	items[].path, text_matches[].fragment	Fragment includes match context inline

Response Size Analysis

Toolset	Avg Tokens (30-day)	Tools Tested
code_security	6,782	list_code_scanning_alerts
repos	2,381	get_file_contents
labels	821	get_label
discussions	697	list_discussions
search	619	search_code
users	618	search_users
actions	171	list_workflows
issues	92	list_issues
workflow_context	90	github_context
pull_requests	87	list_pull_requests

Tool-by-Tool Analysis (Today)

Tool	Toolset	Tokens	Schema	Rating	Notes
github_context	workflow_context	89	markdown	5	Zero-cost identity block, consistent 18/18 days
get_file_contents	repos	655	object (depth 3)	4	CODEOWNERS file — tiny content, icon overhead ~75% of payload
list_issues	issues	60	array (depth 2)	2	One issue (#63166) redacted, empty visible list, 18/18 days
list_pull_requests	pull_requests	40	array (depth 1)	4	Single open PR (#63045), flat and actionable
list_workflows	actions	172	object (depth 2)	5	mcpscripts wrapper, total_count 375 (down from 376)
list_code_scanning_alerts	code_security	5,950	array (depth 3)	3	Same 5 alerts (#936-940) unchanged since 2026-09-15
list_discussions	discussions	730	object (depth 3)	3	totalCount 10,886 (up from 10,855); top hit same-day Typist audit
get_label	labels	610	object (depth 1)	3	'bug' label, icon overhead dominates
search_users	users	615	object (depth 2)	3	pelikhan lookup, identity-only fields
search_code	search	660	object (depth 2)	4	Inline fragment from cmd/linters/main.go

30-Day Trend Summary

Metric	Value
Data Points	180
Days Measured	18
Average Daily Tokens	12,357
Average Rating Trend	Stable (first-half avg 3.58 vs second-half avg 3.47)

Recommendations

• High-value tools (rating 4-5): list_workflows (mcpscripts wrapper), github_context, list_pull_requests, search_code, get_file_contents — prefer these when the task allows.
• Tools needing improvement: list_issues — the persistent integrity-policy redaction (18/18 days) makes this toolset unreliable for any issue-triage automation; investigate whether the redaction criteria can be surfaced or worked around.
• Context-efficient tools (low tokens, high rating): list_workflows (172 tokens, 5/5), list_pull_requests (40 tokens, 4/5), github_context (89 tokens, 5/5).
• Context-heavy tools: list_code_scanning_alerts (5,950 tokens even at perPage=5) — the repeated ~1600-char full_description/help boilerplate per alert is the single biggest efficiency drag across all measured toolsets; a wrapper that dedupes rule descriptions from per-instance data would cut this dramatically.
• Persistent overhead pattern: the fixed ~2235-char base64 icon block in _meta.serverInfo adds disproportionate overhead to every non-wrapper GitHub MCP call (get_file_contents, get_label, list_discussions, search_users, search_code) — this has been true on all 18 measured days. Wrapper tools (mcpscripts list_workflows) avoid it entirely and should be the preferred pattern going forward where available.

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 · 112.8 AIC · ⌖ 9 AIC · ⊞ 11.7K · ◷

• expires on Sep 25, 2026, 4:00 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 #63430.