Tool Verb Naming

Name tools after the action they perform so a model chooses correctly from the name alone

Use when: a new tool is being added and the name is still free-form

Avoid when: the server exposes one tool and naming ambiguity cannot arise

Procedure

1. Write the one sentence the tool performs, in verb-first form
2. Derive the name from that verb and its object, in snake_case
3. Check the name against existing tools for collisions and near-duplicates
4. Avoid generic verbs such as run, do, execute or process
5. Put the distinguishing detail in the description, not the name
6. Re-read the final name as a model would, with no other context

Signals

• the name states what happens, such as get_skill or search_skills
• no two tools differ only by a suffix
• the description adds constraints rather than repeating the name
• a reader can predict the return shape from the name

Patterns

1. Verb object

search_skills, get_skill, list_packs

2. Avoided names

run_task, do_thing, execute_action

3. Distinct pair

search_skills versus get_skill: one query, one fetch

Pitfalls

• Naming a tool after its implementation, such as index_lookup
• Two tools whose names differ only by a word the model cannot see the effect of
• Encoding prerequisites in the name instead of the schema

Done when

• every tool name is verb-first and unique
• each name's return shape is guessable before reading the schema

References

• MCP - tools
• Anthropic - tool use