Multi-agent observability: cascade failure detection, heartbeats, and forensic replay
AgentWatch provides 13 tools with consistent naming (verb_noun pattern) and complete Zod schemas. All tools have descriptions and input parameters are typed. However, descriptions are brief (avg 80 chars, below the 194-char baseline), lack WHEN-to-use guidance, and output schemas are not documented. Error handling is minimal, tools return JSON without recovery guidance. No tool annotations (readOnlyHint/destructiveHint) despite clear read/write distinction. Parameter descriptions are sparse; many lack format/constraint details. The server follows basic patterns but lacks LLM-optimization depth.
Record an alert with automatic deduplication and severity escalation
Find the root cause chain for a failure event - walks parent links to find where the cascade started
Generate a new trace UUID for grouping related events
Fleet health overview - shows all agents, their status, uptime, and active alert counts
Fleet health overview as a formatted ASCII table
Get health status of all agents with uptime percentages
List active (unresolved) alerts, optionally filtered by agent
Output schemas not documented. Tools return JSON via text content type, but LLMs cannot infer field structure, types, or which fields are safe to chain downstream. E.g., agentwatch_get_trace returns events but structure is undocumented.
Descriptions lack WHEN-to-use guidance and prerequisites. E.g., 'Find the root cause chain for a failure event' does not explain when to call this vs agentwatch_replay, or that it requires a failure_event_id from agentwatch_get_failures.
No tool annotations (readOnlyHint/destructiveHint/idempotentHint). Tools are marked READ_ONLY or WRITE in metadata but not exposed via MCP tool annotations, preventing clients from applying safety policies.
| Scored | Grade | Overall | Spec posture | Rubric |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-23 | D | 59 | 2026-07-28+ | v2 |
List recent trace failures, optionally filtered by agent
Get all events in a trace by trace ID
Replay all cascade chains in a trace - finds every failure and correlates each
Report a heartbeat for an agent. Call this periodically to track agent health.
Mark an alert as resolved
Record a trace event for cross-agent action tracking
Error handling provides no recovery guidance. Tools return 'No events found for trace X' or 'No trace event found with id Y' but do not suggest next steps (e.g., 'Try agentwatch_get_failures to find valid event IDs').
Parameter descriptions lack format/constraint details. E.g., 'context' in agentwatch_report_heartbeat is 'JSON string with additional context' but does not specify expected keys, max size, or validation rules.