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feat(google_adk): add ADK-115, ADK-116 tool description quality rules - #89

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feat(google_adk): add ADK-115, ADK-116 tool description quality rules#89
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bradAGI:feat/adk-description-quality

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@bradAGI bradAGI commented Aug 24, 2026

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Ports the CSDK-017/018 description-quality pair (merged in #40) to the Google ADK. ADK-001 only checks that a docstring exists, so a tool whose docstring reads """TODO: describe this tool.""" or """Gets data.""" passes today while giving the model no selection signal.

Two ADK-specific points:

  • The docstring does double duty. The ADK parses it for the per-parameter descriptions that accompany the generated schema, so a placeholder or one-clause docstring strips argument-level guidance at the same time as tool-level guidance. Both fixes ask for documented parameters, not just a longer summary.
  • In an agent tree, mis-selection doesn't stay local. A tool picked wrongly inside one branch produces output the following agents treat as established fact — the error gets laundered into shared session state rather than surfacing where it began.

ADK-116 also names the mitigation people would reach for and why it isn't one: ADK-102 and ADK-107's before_tool_callback can block a call it recognizes as wrong, but it can't supply the judgment the description was meant to provide. A callback doesn't compensate for a thin description.

Numbered ADK-115/116 to leave room for ADK-111 in the open PR #51 and the IDs used by my other open PRs (#79, #86).

Verification — engine built at main:

$ trustabl rules validate .
OK: 85 rule pack(s), 208 rule(s) valid under rule schema version 14

Fire (one FunctionTool-wrapped function with """TODO: describe this tool.""", one with """Gets data."""): ADK-115, ADK-116, ADK-201
Silent (full docstring with an Args: section): ADK-201

ADK-116 pairs description_length_lt: 40 with has_docstring: true so it doesn't double-report against ADK-001 on an empty docstring, same as CSDK-018.

No new predicates, so no schema_version bump.

Ports the CSDK-017/018 description-quality pair to the Google ADK.
ADK-001 only checks that a docstring exists, so a tool whose docstring
reads "TODO" or "Gets data." passes today while giving the model no
selection signal.

Two ADK-specific points. The ADK parses the docstring for the
per-parameter descriptions that accompany the generated schema, so a
placeholder or one-clause docstring strips argument-level guidance at the
same time as tool-level guidance. And in an agent tree the mis-selection
does not stay local: a tool picked wrongly inside one branch produces
output the following agents treat as established fact, so the error is
laundered into shared session state rather than surfacing where it began.
ADK-102/107's before_tool_callback can block a call it recognizes as
wrong but cannot supply the judgment the description was meant to give.

Numbered ADK-115/116 to leave room for ADK-111 in the open PR trustabl#51 and the
IDs used by my other open PRs.
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