design/overlap-cluster
Tools whose descriptions substantially overlap force the model to pick between near-synonyms — the classic cause of wrong-tool calls. Clusters are usually one tool wearing several names; consolidate with include-flags or a mode parameter.
- Category
- design
- Default severity
- warn
- Weight
- 4
- Max deduction
- 16
Why this category matters
The interesting half. Whether the surface is shaped around your users' intents or around your REST endpoints.
A rule deducts weight points from its category for each non-info finding, capped at maxDeduction. The composite is the mean of the six category scores — so a single noisy rule can never sink a whole surface on its own. Read the full scoring model.
Configuration
Override these in .mcp-surface-lintrc.json to match your own thresholds.
{
"rules": {
"design/overlap-cluster": {
"options": {
"similarity": 0.55,
"minPrefixCluster": 3
}
}
}
}