The generic zero-state systems_hint never converts: identical on every
record, maximal in scope, asked at wrap-up time — Minstrel reached 282
records with zero Systems while vocabularied projects grew organically.
What converts is the project's own evidence at the moment of action.
bootstrap_systems_ask (mcp/tools/systems.py) fires only in a project
with >=20 records and no Systems: it names the record count and recent
titles, and asks for a concrete deliverable — propose 3-6 Systems,
confirm with the operator, create_system the set. Self-retiring: the
first System ends it everywhere. Wired at both moments the task named:
untagged_systems_hint escalates to it at write time, and enter_project
carries it as systems_bootstrap at arrival (attached only when it
applies). Young projects keep the mild question; populated vocabularies
never pay the count query.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
FastMCP validates tool arguments with a pydantic model whose extra-field
policy is 'ignore', so create_note(content=...) — a plausible near-miss
for body=, primed by add_task_log's content — ran successfully, stored
body: '', and left a record embedding/search cannot see. Two real notes
were persisted body-less before the pattern was noticed; create_task
only 'worked' because those calls happened to use the right name.
StrictArgsFastMCP rejects any tool call carrying arguments the tool does
not declare, before dispatch, with a did-you-mean hint when one is close
and the declared list when none is. Applied at the dispatch seam so
every tool gets the guarantee — an error the caller sees once beats data
half-written forever.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>