googleapis/mcp-toolbox · error

description is required for tool %q

Error message

description is required for tool %q

What it means

Configuration-time validation in Initialize: the Dgraph tool entry in tools.yaml omits its description, which Toolbox requires for every registered tool's manifest.

Source

Thrown at internal/tools/dgraph/dgraph.go:71

	Type             string                 `yaml:"type" validate:"required"`
	Source           string                 `yaml:"source" validate:"required"`
	Statement        string                 `yaml:"statement" validate:"required"`
	IsQuery          bool                   `yaml:"isQuery"`
	Timeout          string                 `yaml:"timeout"`
	Parameters       parameters.Parameters  `yaml:"parameters"`
	Annotations      *tools.ToolAnnotations `yaml:"annotations,omitempty"`
}

// validate interface
var _ tools.ToolConfig = Config{}

func (cfg Config) ToolConfigType() string {
	return resourceType
}

func (cfg Config) Initialize(context.Context) (tools.Tool, error) {
	if cfg.Description == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("description is required for tool %q", cfg.Name)
	}

	return Tool{
		BaseTool: tools.NewBaseTool(
			cfg,
			tools.GetAnnotationsOrDefault(cfg.Annotations, tools.NewReadOnlyAnnotations),
			tools.Manifest{Description: cfg.Description, Parameters: cfg.Parameters.Manifest(), AuthRequired: cfg.AuthRequired},
			cfg.Parameters,
		),
	}, nil
}

// validate interface
var _ tools.Tool = Tool{}

type Tool struct {
	tools.BaseTool[Config]
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 8cc6e09de2)

Solutions

1. Add a non-empty description to the tool entry in tools.yaml
2. Check YAML indentation so description parses as a string rather than null

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at internal/tools/dgraph/dgraph.go:71 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of googleapis/mcp-toolbox@8cc6e09de2 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/135b48c5fc2bb515. Report an issue: GitHub.