Write extremely detailed, unambiguous descriptions
description
A tool description should explain exactly what the tool does, what each parameter means, what the tool returns, and any important caveats -- err on the side of more detail rather than less, since the model has no other context about the tool beyond its name, description, and schema.
good example
"Get the current weather in a given location. Returns temperature in the unit specified. If no unit is given, defaults to the location's local convention (Celsius outside the US, Fahrenheit within it)."
bad example
"Gets weather."
source note
Anthropic's published tool-use / function-calling guidance on writing clear, complete tool descriptions.
provenance
created 2026-07-02 08:28:30 · JSON