Skip to content

[plan] Fix safe output MCP tool parameter validation errors #7950

@github-actions

Description

@github-actions

Overview

This tracking issue addresses the recurring parameter validation failures in safe output MCP tools, particularly the add_comment tool which has a 6.67% failure rate due to missing required parameters.

Source: Discussion #7934 - Safe Output Health Report (2025-12-27)

Problem Summary

The Safe Output Health Monitor identified systematic issues:

  • 4 out of ~60 add_comment calls fail with "missing or empty 'item_number'" errors
  • This issue has persisted across multiple audits without improvement
  • Overall safe output success rate is 96.67%, down from ideal 100%

Root Cause

Agents (particularly Copilot) are not consistently providing required MCP tool parameters, indicating:

  1. Insufficient clarity in MCP tool schema documentation
  2. Generic error messages that don't guide agents to self-correct
  3. No pre-validation layer to catch errors early

Planned Tasks

This work is broken down into focused sub-issues:

  1. Enhance MCP tool schema documentation - Add clear parameter descriptions with examples
  2. Improve MCP error messages - Provide actionable guidance when validation fails
  3. Add parameter validation tests - Ensure schema changes prevent regressions
  4. Monitor and verify fix - Track success rate improvement over 7 days

Success Criteria

  • add_comment failure rate drops below 1%
  • MCP tool schemas include clear examples for all required parameters
  • Error messages include actionable guidance and examples
  • Validation tests prevent future schema regressions

References

AI generated by Plan Command for discussion #7934

Sub-issues

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions