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fix: keep parameter descriptions for docstrings without a summary line#3795

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winklemad:fix/docstring-args-without-summary
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fix: keep parameter descriptions for docstrings without a summary line#3795
winklemad wants to merge 1 commit into
openai:mainfrom
winklemad:fix/docstring-args-without-summary

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@winklemad

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No linked issue — found while reading function_schema.py.

Summary

A function tool silently loses all of its parameter descriptions when the docstring omits a summary line and opens directly with the Args: section — a very common style when the opening """ is on its own line:

@function_tool
def lookup(query: str, limit: int):
    """
    Args:
        query: the search query
        limit: max results to return
    """
    ...

Before this change the generated schema for query/limit has no description, and the function description wrongly becomes the raw Args: block, so the model never sees the parameter descriptions.

Root cause

generate_func_documentation passes inspect.getdoc(func) to griffe's Docstring. griffe's Google parser treats the docstring's first line as the summary, and inspect.getdoc() strips the leading blank line that would otherwise mark an empty summary. An Args:-first docstring therefore has its whole section swallowed as the summary and every parameter description dropped.

Fix

Re-add a leading newline before parsing, so griffe sees an empty summary and parses the section normally:

docstring = Docstring("\n" + doc, ...)

This only changes the previously-broken case. I ran a matrix over google/numpy/sphinx docstrings with and without summaries — every shape except the broken one is byte-identical, and docstrings that begin with a summary keep their description exactly as before.

Test

Added test_docstring_without_summary_keeps_param_descriptions to tests/test_function_schema.py (fails before, passes after). test_function_schema.py, test_function_tool.py, test_function_tool_decorator.py, and test_strict_schema.py pass (104 tests); ruff check + format clean.

`generate_func_documentation` passes `inspect.getdoc(func)` to griffe,
whose Google parser treats the docstring's first line as the summary.
`inspect.getdoc()` strips the leading blank line, so a docstring that opens
directly with `Args:` has the whole section swallowed as the summary and
every parameter description is dropped from the generated tool schema. Add
a leading newline so the section is parsed. Only the previously-broken case
changes; docstrings that start with a summary are unaffected.
@seratch

seratch commented Jul 10, 2026

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Thanks for investigating this. I traced the example through the locked griffelib==2.0.1 implementation, and the proposed change is a no-op: Docstring immediately applies inspect.cleandoc(...), which removes the added leading newline. More importantly, the Google parser already treats an Args: header at offset 0 as a valid section, so the added test should also pass unchanged on the PR's base.

I am going to close this PR because it does not demonstrate a base failure or change runtime behavior.

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