ask-mcp-achieves-accurate-bounded-tool-use
OUT derived (depth 2)
MCP tool integration in ask() achieves both bounded safety (iteration caps, error tolerance, transport timeouts at two layers) and accurate tool discovery (catalog reflects current server capabilities rather than a stale snapshot).
Summary
The ask function's MCP integration was considered to provide both safe execution limits and up-to-date tool discovery, but this conclusion is currently retracted. It depended on claims about error handling with iteration caps and timeout bounds at connection and execution phases, at least one of which no longer holds.
Justifications
SL — Accurate tool catalog requires live refresh rather than connect-time snapshot
Antecedents (all must be IN):
- ask-mcp-integration-is-safely-bounded — MCP tool calls in `ask()` are both error-tolerant (exceptions caught and fed back as context for alternative tool selection) and iteration-bounded (5 tool-call rounds max), preventing both crashes from MCP server failures and runaway tool loops.
- mcp-bridge-is-timeout-bounded-at-all-phases — MCP bridge operations are timeout-bounded at both connection establishment (30s) and per-tool execution (60s), preventing indefinite blocking on unresponsive MCP servers at any lifecycle phase.
Unless (any of these IN defeats this justification):
- mcp-bridge-tools-snapshot-at-connect — The tool catalog and server instructions are populated once during `connect()` and never refreshed — there is no mechanism to pick up tools added after the initial handshake.