explain_item silently ignores the category parameter and always returns facts: [] #233

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-08-12 23:15:22 +00:00 by coilyco-ops · 0 comments

coilyco-ops commented

2026-08-12 23:15:22 +00:00

Member

QA sweep, 2026-08-12.

Observed

explain_item(name="Wheat", category="plant") returns:

{"name":"Wheat","category":null,"title":"Wheat","description":"Wheat is a group of wild and
 domesticated grasses of the genus Triticum. …","facts":[],"image_credit":null,
 "source":"Wikipedia","not_found":false}

Two gaps against the tool's own contract:

category is accepted and discarded. It is documented as "used to disambiguate the item name"; the response echoes category: null. Nothing in the payload shows the hint was applied. Either it disambiguates and should be echoed back, or it does nothing and should be dropped from the schema.
facts: []. The description promises "category-specific facts". None are returned — which is consistent with the category being ignored, and may be the same bug.

Also image_credit: null while an image is returned. get_species does populate photoAttribution for its images, so the attribution path exists elsewhere.

Expected

Category applied to the Wikidata lookup and echoed in the response; facts populated, or the field and parameter removed from the contract.

QA sweep, 2026-08-12. ## Observed `explain_item(name="Wheat", category="plant")` returns: ```json {"name":"Wheat","category":null,"title":"Wheat","description":"Wheat is a group of wild and domesticated grasses of the genus Triticum. …","facts":[],"image_credit":null, "source":"Wikipedia","not_found":false} ``` Two gaps against the tool's own contract: 1. **`category` is accepted and discarded.** It is documented as "used to disambiguate the item name"; the response echoes `category: null`. Nothing in the payload shows the hint was applied. Either it disambiguates and should be echoed back, or it does nothing and should be dropped from the schema. 2. **`facts: []`.** The description promises "category-specific facts". None are returned — which is consistent with the category being ignored, and may be the same bug. Also `image_credit: null` while an image is returned. `get_species` does populate `photoAttribution` for its images, so the attribution path exists elsewhere. ## Expected Category applied to the Wikidata lookup and echoed in the response; `facts` populated, or the field and parameter removed from the contract.

coilyco-ops referenced this issue

2026-08-12 23:34:54 +00:00

Tracking: 2026-08-12 full-surface QA sweep of the eco MCP (22 tools, 23 findings) #240

coilyco-ops referenced this issue

2026-08-12 23:36:09 +00:00

Tracking: 2026-08-12 full-surface QA sweep of the eco MCP (22 tools, 23 findings) #240

coilyco-ops referenced this issue

2026-08-12 23:47:23 +00:00

Tracking: 2026-08-12 full-surface QA sweep of the eco MCP (22 tools, 23 findings) #240

coilyco-ops referenced this issue from a commit

2026-08-13 06:11:23 +00:00

fix(explain_item): apply the category, echo it, and explain empty facts