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Why does a tool that works fine called directly get ignored the moment I ask normally?
What you'll have at the end
A renamed tool and description that gets called correctly across five different everyday phrasings of the same request
You need
A running MCP server exposing one tool, connected to a client with a model in the loop, where a direct call to the tool by name works but an ordinary phrasing of the same request does not reach it.
Not covered
Untangling several tools that could all plausibly match one request once the model can already see more than one of them; this covers only a single tool being missed entirely.
Catch a broken MCP tool with Inspector
confirms a tool's own request and response once it is called directly; it has no model deciding which tool to reach for, so it cannot show whether an everyday phrasing would ever reach this tool in the first place.
MCP tool overload makes your model pick the wrong one
once this tool gets picked reliably on its own, this is where to go when several tools in the same server could all plausibly match the same request.
Checked 15 Aug 2026
Part of the MCP Servers Implementation cookbook